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Home > Fact Sheets > Peacekeeper Re-entry Vehicles & Deployment Bus
PEACEKEEPER RE-ENTRY VEHICLES & DEPLOYMENT BUS
The LGM-118A Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was more powerful and more accurate than the Minuteman III. It carried ten nuclear weapons in its Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) warhead.
The warhead was part of the missile's fourth stage, which consisted of the deployment module, ten cone-shaped Avco MK-21 re-entry vehicles, and an aerodynamic shroud. The shroud covered the re-entry vehicles during launch and was ejected after the Peacekeeper reached space. Each MK-21 held a nuclear weapon and was covered with a heat shield to protect it during re-entry into the atmosphere.
The deployment module, or "bus," carried the MK-21s and housed the electronics that released the re-entry vehicles. When deployed from the bus, each weapon followed a separate ballistic path to its individual target. The U.S. eliminated Peacekeeper ICBMs as part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II (START II), and the last one was retired from alert in 2005.
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