the first operational missile squadron in the U.S. Air Force, the 1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron, was deployed to Bitburg Air Base, Germany. Launches at Holloman and Cape Canaveral continued until 1963, at which time the missile was redesignated again as the MGM-1 Matador. In 1954, an improved missile, the TM-76A Mace (later redesignated the CGM-13 Mace began development at Holloman AFB, with its first launch in 1956. The ATRAN (Automatic Terrain Recognition and Navigation) Mace "A" was launched from a mobile transporter/launcher while the inertially guided Mace "B" was launched from a hardened bunker. Both used a solid fuel booster rocket for initial acceleration and an Allison J33 turbojet for flight. The TM-76B, redesignated as CGM-13B remained on alert until 30 April 1969 with the 71st Tactical Missile Squadron at Bitburg AB, and until October 1969 with the 498th Tactical Missile Group at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. As TAC was responsible for training crews that were assigned to both PACAF and USAFE, the only tactical missiles in TAC's inventory were the training missiles of the 4504th Missile Training Wing at Orlando AFB, Florida. Ninth Air Force (TAC), while headquartered at Shaw AFB, South Carolina, maintained the USAF Tactical Missile School at Orlando AFB under command of the 4504 MTW from 1956 until 1966, when the MGM-13A was phased out and the remaining CGM-13Bs were transferred to the Lowry Technical Training Center at Lowry AFB, Colorado. The U.S. Army had largely assumed the tactical ground launched nuclear missile program until the 1980s when TAC's BGM-109G "Gryphon" ground launched cruise missile (GLCM) was deployed along with the Army's Pershing II ballistic missile to counter the mobile medium- and intermediate- range ballistic nuclear missiles deployed by the Soviet Union in Eastern Bloc countries. This entire class of weaponry was eliminated by the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF treaty) and removed by 1990, thus reducing both the number and the threat of nuclear warheads. Cuban Missile Crisis The Cold War took on a frightening phase in October 1962. Following the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev increased Soviet aid to Cuba, including military supplies. In August 1962, the Soviet Union, with Cuban cooperation, began to build intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) and medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) sites on the island. The American intelligence community, suspicious of the construction on the island, needed tangible proof that Soviet ballistic missiles were being deployed to