The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage theater ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as the primary nuclear-capable theater-level weapon of the United States Army and replaced the MGM-1 Matador cruise missiles operated by the German Air Force. Pershing later replaced the European-based MGM-13 Mace cruise missiles deployed by the United States Air Force and the German Air Force. Development began in 1958, with the first test missile fired in 1960, the Pershing 1 system deployed in 1963 and the improved Pershing 1a deployed in 1969. The U.S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983 while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) managed the development and improvements while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems and developed tactical doctrine. Pershing 1 Development George Bunker, president of 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. 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 . Later that year, Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson issued the "Wilson Memorandum" that removed from the U.S. Army all missiles with a range of or more. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) rescinded the memorandum in 1958 and ABMA began development of the class of ballistic missile.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 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