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V-2

Aggregat-4/Vergeltungswaffe-2
Fusée V2.jpg
Type single-stage ballistic missile
Place of origin Nazi Germany
Service history
In service 1944–1952
Used by German Army
SS
Post-war:
United Kingdom
United States
Soviet Union
Production history
Designer Peenemünde Army Research Center
Manufacturer Mittelwerk GmbH
Unit cost 100,000 RM January 1944, 50,000 RM March 1945
Produced 16 March 1942 – 1945 (Germany)
Some assembled post-war
Specifications
Weight 12,500 kg (27,600 lb)
Length 14 m (45 ft 11 in)
Diameter 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Warhead 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) Amatol
Detonation
mechanism
impact

Wingspan 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in)
Propellant 3,810 kg (8,400 lb) 75% ethanol/25% water
4,910 kg (10,820 lb) liquid oxygen
Operational
range
320 km (200 mi)
Flight altitude 88 km (55 mi) maximum altitude on long-range trajectory,
206 km (128 mi) maximum altitude if launched vertically
Speed

maximum:5,760 km/h (3,580 mph)

at impact: 2,880 km/h (1,790 mph)
Guidance
system
Gyroscopes to determine direction
Müller-type pendulous gyroscopic accelerometer for engine cutoff on most production rockets
Launch
platform
Mobile (Meillerwagen)

maximum:5,760 km/h (3,580 mph)

The V-2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2"), technical name Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-rangeguided ballistic missile. The missile with a liquid-propellant rocket engine was developed during the Second World War in Germany as a "vengeance weapon", assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. The V-2 rocket also became the first artificial object to cross the boundary of space with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.

Research into military use of long range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army. A series of prototypes culminated in the A-4, which went to war as the V-2. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary, the attacks from V2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, and a further 12,000 forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons.

As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—raced to capture key German manufacturing sites and technology. Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans. Eventually, many of the original V-2 team ended up working at the Redstone Arsenal. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, and moved it to the Soviet Union.


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Wikipedia

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