Activated by the US Army in 1962 to replace the
MGM-5 Corporal, it was deployed in Europe and South Korea by 1963, and to German units by 1964. The Sergeant weapon system was to be replaced by the
MGM-52 Lance in the early 1970s but delays in the Lance caused it to remain in service. The last US Army battalion was deactivated in 1977. Sergeant Missile Systems were usually assigned to the
field army with the mission of "general support to a
corps." Operation of the Sergeant was recognized to be an interim stage in the development of battlefield missiles. It avoided the Corporal's liquid-fuel-handling drawbacks, but still requiring extensive setup and checkout before launch, together with a train of semi-trailer support vehicles. More advanced missiles, such as the contemporary
Blue Water and later
Lance, would reduce setup time. The Sergeant had a takeoff thrust of , a takeoff weight of , a diameter of , a length of and a fin span of . The Sergeant missile had a minimum range of , and a maximum range of .
Thiokol developed the Sergeant rocket motors, and the Castor rocket stages derived from them, at the
Redstone Arsenal near
Huntsville, Alabama.
Derivatives The
Castor rocket stage, a Sergeant derivative, was used as the second stage of the
Scout satellite launcher, and later as part of the first stage of some
Little Joe rockets. The Pollux motor was also a derivative of the Sergeant, and also saw use on the Little Joe, along with other sounding rockets. Clusters of Sergeant-derived rockets (the "Baby Sergeant") were used in the second and third stages of the
Jupiter-C sounding rocket, as well as in the second, third, and fourth stages of the
Juno I and
Juno II launch vehicles, the former of which launched the first United States
satellite,
Explorer 1. ==Operators==