Editing MGM-31 Pershing (section)

===Development===
[[File:Pershing and Redstone.jpg|thumb|Pershing missile (34.6 feet length, 460-mile range) and Redstone missile (69.3 feet length, 201-mile range)|alt=Pershing missile next to Redstone missile illustrating the difference in height and range]]
George Bunker, president of [[Glenn L. Martin Company|the Martin Company]], paid a courtesy call on General [[John Medaris]], USA, of the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]] (ABMA) at [[Redstone Arsenal]], [[Alabama]] in 1956.<ref name="harwood"/> Medaris noted that it would be helpful to the Army if there was a missile plant near the [[Air Force Missile Test Center]] (present-day [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]]) in Florida. The Martin Company subsequently began construction of their Sand Lake facility in [[Orlando, Florida]] which opened in late 1957. [[Edward Uhl]], the co-inventor of the [[bazooka]], was the vice-president and general manager of the new factory, which continues to operate today as the [[Lockheed Martin]] Missiles and Fire Control facility.

The [[U.S. Army]] began studies in 1956 for a ballistic missile with a range of about {{convert|500|–|750|nmi}}. Later that year, [[U.S. Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Charles Erwin Wilson]] issued the "Wilson Memorandum" that removed from the U.S. Army all missiles with a range of {{convert|200|mi|km|-1}} or more.<ref name="time1956"/> The [[United States Department of Defense]] (DoD) rescinded the memorandum in 1958 and ABMA began development of the class of ballistic missile.

The missile was initially called the '''Redstone-S''', where the S meant solid propellant (and the name Redstone came from the [[PGM-11 Redstone|Redstone missile]] it was supposed to replace), but renamed to Pershing in honor of [[General of the Armies]] [[John J. Pershing]]. ABMA selected seven companies to develop [[engineering]] proposals: [[Chrysler]], the [[Lockheed Corporation]], the [[Douglas Aircraft Company]], the [[Convair|Convair Division of General Dynamics]], the [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone Corp.]], the [[Sperry Corporation|Sperry-Rand Company]], and the Martin Company.<ref name="harwood"/>

The [[U.S. Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]], [[Wilber M. Brucker]], the former governor of [[Michigan]] – was apparently under pressure from his home state to award the contract to a company in Michigan.<ref name="harwood"/> Chrysler was the only contractor from Michigan, but Medaris persuaded Brucker to leave the decision entirely in the hands of the ABMA. After a selection process by General Medaris and Dr. [[Arthur Rudolph]], the Martin Company (later [[Martin Marietta]] after a merger in 1961) was awarded a CPFF (cost-plus-fixed-fee) contract for research, development, and first production of the Pershing system under the technical supervision and concept control of the government. Martin's quality control manager for the Pershing, [[Philip B. Crosby|Phil Crosby]] developed the concept of [[Zero Defects]] that enhanced the production and reliability of the system.

The first launch of the XM14 [[Research and development|R&D]] Pershing 1 test missile (P-01) was on 25 February 1960. The first launch from the tactical [[transporter erector launcher]] (TEL) was on 26 July 1960 (P-06).<ref name=wade /> For training there was an inert Pershing 1 missile designated XM19. In June 1963, the XM14 and XM19 Pershing missiles were redesignated as XMGM-31A and XMTM-31B, respectively. The production version of the tactical missile was later designated as MGM-31A and the XMTM-31B designation was dropped.