Missile of the Day: Sprint Missile

The Sprint ABM(Anti-Ballistic Missile) was one of two missiles that made up America's Sentinel Program, which was invented protect the United States against ballistic attack in the event of a war. The Sprint ABM began development in 1963, to backup Sentinel's original ABM, the Spartan. The Spartan was capable of intercepting incoming nuclear warheads at a range of 360 miles, if it failed to do so the Sprint missile would be used to destroy the incoming warhead at a close range of 24 miles.

The greatest accomplishment of the Sprint took place on the Kwajalien Atoll in 1970, when a sprint missile shot down the nose cone of a Minuteman ICBM which was launched over 4000 miles away on the continental United States. This test proved that the Sprint was capable of defeating an ICBM 

In the mid 1970s both Sprint and Spartan ABMs were deployed at a single site in Grand Forks North Dakota to defend American Minuteman ICBM launch sites. But Safeguard was quickly shut down due to it's inefficiency. Although the Spartan and Sprint ABMs were effective weapons, thousands of them would have to be installed to provide Adequate protection against a full scale attack. Another concern was that by building ABM missiles, other superpowers like the Soviet Union would create more offensive missiles to overwhelm the America's ICBM shield. 

Nevertheless the Sprint missile was very advanced for it's time, and along with the Spartan missile, it's the one of the only American missiles ever built truly capable of shooting down an ICBM. 

Sprint Missile Launch

Sprint Missile Being Loaded into it's silo by truck

Sources

Taylor, Michael. Missiles of the World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972. Print.

Maynard, Chritoper. Weapons and Warfare. Willowsip Press, 1986. Print.