Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant

Army facility used by Thiokol for production of solid rocket motors for Nike Hercules, Falcon, Lacrosse, Honest John, Sergeant, and Pershing missiles.

This World War II era facility in Marshall, both produced and destroyed missiles. Reactivated in 1952 during the Korean War, Longhorn took on an expanded mission that included loading, assembling, and packing rocket motors and pyrotechnic ammunition.

The Thiokol Corporation, which operated a facility at Redstone Arsenal, received the contract to rehabilitate a World War II era liquid fuel facility into a solid fuel rocket motor plant. Production on the original Nike-Hercules program for sustainer motors began at this plant in 1956. Thiokol also produced propellants and motors for the Falcon, Lacrosse, Honest John, and Sergeant missiles.

As production increased, so did capacity. In 1959 a Main Rocket Motor Assembly Building (45E) was constructed along with a Static Test Building (25T). With this added capacity, this facility produced both the first and second stages of the Pershing IA missile.

With the signing of the INF Treaty on December 8, 1987, Longhorn took on a new mission. Along with Pueblo Depot, Colorado, this facility was used to destroy Pershing IA and II missiles to comply with the treaty. After a static burn, the missiles were crushed.