HGM-25A intercontinental ballistic missile Titan-1

The Titan-1 has had its pedigree since January 1955, when the U.S. Air Force decided to "duplicate" the then first U.S. Atlas ICBM by choosing another group of major contractors, as well as by using a different set of basic design solutions - primarily through the use of a sequential connection of stages, as well as by using a standard type of missile design (with a power pack). The study of this concept, however, began in July 1954 under the terms of the ICBM Scientific Advisory Committee. This concept as a whole was approved by the U.S. Air Force General Headquarters in April 1955, and in October 1955, after considering a number of options, the contractor for the development of the missile itself and a number of its systems was named "Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company" (later "Martin Marietta"). It was also named the main contractor for the project as a whole. Then the missile received its own name "Titan" and the designation SM-68A (in 1962, after changing the designation system in the U.S. Air Force missile received the designation HGM-25A). The development of the engines of both marching stages was entrusted to Aerojet General Corporation. The radio-inertial guidance system was developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Remington Rand UNIVAC. The development of the combat unit was entrusted to the firm AVCO. The entire program was developed within the framework of the WS-107A-2 weapon system. In October 1957, after the launch of the first Sputnik by the Soviet Union, it was decided to accelerate the deployment of 4 squadrons of ICBM data, but quite quickly this number was increased to 12. However, in 1960, after the start of research and development work on the Titan-2 ICBM (created by almost the same group of contractors using the Titan-1 ICBM R&D facility), a decision was made to reduce the number of Titan-1 ICBM squadrons to six.

The first launch of the new ICBM took place in February 1959 (Patrick Airbase, Florida), with the second march stage filled with water instead of fuel components and an inseparable mock-up was used instead of the standard head end. The first step separation (the second step was still a mock-up) was performed during the fourth launch. The first successful launch with a standard second stage and a telemetry capsule instead of a HF was carried out in February 1960. The first successful launch of the rocket with a conventional second stage and a capsule with telemetry equipment instead of a HT was carried out in August of the same year. December 2, 1960 was activated the first squadron, which was to put on combat duty new ICBMs. A day later, from the Vandenberg air base, using a prototype of a stationary combat missile system, the first attempt was made to launch the Titan-1 ICBM from the West Coast (unsuccessful, Sputnik was destroyed by an explosion, later did not recover). The first successful launch of a new ICBM using a stationary missile system was made from Vandenberg Air Base in May 1961. The first squadron, which had in service new missiles (9 ICBM), began to carry out combat duty in April 1962 (air base Lauri, Colorado). By October 1962, squadrons at Lowry Air Force Base (9 ICBMs, making this the largest air base with 18 ICBMs), Mountain Home (Idaho, 9 ICBMs), Beale (California, 9 ICBMs), Larson (Washington, DC, 9 ICBMs), Ellsworth (South Dakota, 9 ICBMs) were also on duty on new military equipment. In addition, at Vandenberg Air Force Base (California) there was one deployed with this type of ICBM (3 SLBMs), but U.S. sources claim that these SLBMs were not used for combat duty, which is highly questionable.

The Titan-1 ICBMs, like other first-generation ICBMs, were not safe to handle - in different years (during launch attempts and during refueling procedures) the explosions destroyed two launch positions (START). One of them was later recovered.

Successful testing and deployment of second-generation ICBMs led to the approval of the Air Force Headquarters as early as May 1963 to retire a number of first-generation ICBMs (including the Titan-1) between January 1965 and December 1968. Later it was decided to expedite the process - in 1964, Defense Minister McNamara released a plan (known as "Project Added Effort"), according to which most of the first-generation ICBMs (except Atlas-F) were off duty by December 1965. In November of the same year, the "Project Added Effort" plan was extended to all first-generation ICBMs, whose decommissioning was further accelerated by the decision to decommission the last first-generation ICBM no later than the end of June 1965. The first Titan-1 ICBM was decommissioned in January 1965, and in March of the same year was the last launch of this ICBM. The last Titan-1 ICBM was decommissioned in April 1965, while the last squadron of these ICBMs (Lauri Air Base, Colorado) was deactivated in June of the same year. The short history of the Titan-1 ICBM came to an end - the missiles were on active duty for only three years. All deactivated missiles were deployed at Miro Loma Aviation Station (California).

The Titan-1 ICBM was not used (as opposed to Atlas or Titan-2 ICBMs, for example) as an LV or for research launches - a year after its deactivation, in April 1966, all the stowed missiles were written off and their individual parts were later used for various experiments on Earth. A total of 155 missiles were produced, of which 70 were used in launches (17 launches failed). While on active duty, the Titan-1 ICBM was used for a number of test launches, primarily to test a number of systems of the Titan-2 advanced ICBM - an inertial navigation system, an anti-missile defense system, and a gas-dynamic launch of a heavy liquid-propellant ICBM. "Titan-1 was also used in the program for testing early American missile defense systems.