BGM - 109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile The Ground Launched Cruise Missile , or GLCM , ( officially designated BGM - 109G Gryphon ) was a ground - launched cruise missile developed by the United States Air Force in the last decade of the Cold War . Overview . The BGM - 109G was developed as a counter to the mobile medium - and intermediate - range ballistic nuclear missile s deployed by the Soviet Union in Eastern Bloc European countries . The GLCM and the U . S . Army ' s Pershing II may have been the incentives that fostered Soviet willingness to sign the Intermediate - Range Nuclear Forces Treaty ( INF treaty ) , and thus possibly reduced the threat of nuclear war s in Europe . GLCM is also a generic term for any ground - launched cruise missile . Since the US deployed only one modern cruise missile in the tactical role , the GLCM name stuck . The GLCM was built by General Dynamics . History . Design & employment . A conventionally configured cruise missile , the BGM - 109 was essentially a small , pilotless flying machine , powered by a turbofan engine . Unlike ballistic missile s , whose aimpoint is usually determined by gravitic trajectories , a cruise missile is capable of complicated aerial manoeuvres , and can fly a range of predetermined flight plans . Also , it flies at much lower altitudes than a ballistic missile , typically with a terrain - hugging flight plan . The trade - off for this low - observability flight is strike time ; cruise missiles travel far more slowly than a ballistic weapon , and the GLCM was typical in this regard . GLCM was developed as a ground - launched variant of the Tomahawk missile in use by the U . S . Navy ( along with an undeveloped air - launched version , the Medium Range Air to Surface Missile [ MRASM ] . ) Unlike other variants of the Tomahawk , the GLCM carried only a nuclear warhead ; no conventional capability was provided . The W84 warhead was a variable - yield kiloton - range weapon . Some estimates put the yield at between 10 and 50 kt . This tactical warhead contrasts with the W80 warhead found on other versions of the Tomahawk , and on the ALCM , which had a yield of 200 kt . The Pentagon credited the GLCM with a range of 2000 – 2500 kilometers . Like other US cruise missiles of this period , accuracy after more than 2000 km of flight was within half the width of an American football field or 100 ft ( approximately 30 meters ) . The missile was entirely subsonic , powered by a turbofan engine with a rocket booster assisting at launch . Militarily , the GLCM was targeted against fixed targets — at the outer edge of its range , the missile ' s flight time with its subsonic turbofan was more than 2½ hours . The missiles were launched from an elevated launcher , with the missile ejected from its canister for about 13 seconds of solid rocket booster flight . The fins extended at 4 seconds , the air inlet and wings deployed at 10 seconds and the jet engine started at the end of the boost phase . Flying at low level , the missile was guided by TERCOM ( terrain contour matching ) to the target . This contrasted sharply with Pershing II , which had a flight time of 10 – 15 minutes . However , the range of the GLCM gave it the ability to strike deep within then - Soviet territory , and the weapon ' s guidance , and low radar cross - section would have made it far more difficult to intercept a GLCM even if the launch were detected in time . BGM - 109G personnel were trained at Davis - Monthan AFB , Arizona , by the 868th Tactical Missile Training Squadron from 1 July 1981 to 1 October 1985 , when it became the 868th Tactical Missile Training Group . The group was inactivated on 31 May 1990 . An area near Fort Huachuca , Arizona was used for field training for GLCM flights . GLCM testing was conducted at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah , with many of the people involved in the testing going to operational wings as they were activated . NATO Deployment & protests . BGM - 109G missiles would be based at six locations throughout Europe ; in the United Kingdom ( at RAF Greenham Common and RAF Molesworth ) , Belgium , Netherlands , Germany , and Comiso Air Station in Italy . Each location had its own unique problems , but all required extensive construction by the USAF . Initial operating capability ( or IOC ) occurred in 1983 . Normal basing was in shelters at military installations . Each BGM - 109G station was controlled by a Wing , that consisted of a Tactical Missile Squadron ( TMS ) which was responsible for operation and deployment of the missiles , and a Tactical Missile Maintenance Squadron ( TMMS ) which was responsible for the support of the system . Each TMS consisted of several flights , made up of 69 people and 22 vehicles . The missile was designed to operate in a flight with sixteen missiles . The flight would be normally on base , with the missiles and vehicles secured in the hardened storage area called the GAMA ( GLCM Alert and Maintenance Area ) . Four transporter erector launcher s ( TEL ) each carried four BGM - 109G missiles in their containers and ready for launch . Two launch control centers ( LCC ) , each with two launch officers , were connected to the TELs and interconnected for launch . Each TEL and LCC was towed by a large MAN KAT1 8x8 tractor and was capable of traversing rough terrain . There were 16 support vehicles for the flight commander , normally a captain , 19 maintenance technicians , a medical technician and 44 security personnel . During periods of increased tension , the flights would be deployed to pre - surveyed , classified locations in the countryside away from the base . The members of the flight would dig in , erect camouflage netting to hide the vehicles and prepare for launch . Flight commanders were tasked to survey and select more than one possible deployment site , with all details closely held , and the commander selected the location preferred when the flight deployed from the base . When deployed , the flight was self - sustaining , and secured with special intrusion detection radar . The launchers ( sans warheads ) were sent out on a number of simulated scrambles . Although deployed in the face of a range of Soviet IRBM s , including the brand - new and extremely capable SS - 20 Saber , the GLCM ( sometimes referred to by its phonetic nickname , Glick - em ) faced widespread public protest in Europe . Many anti - nuclear Europeans felt that the United States was deploying weapons meant to win a tactical nuclear war , without adequate consideration of the effects that even a ' victory ' would bring . Critics also argued that the Reagan Administration was unduly escalating tensions in Central Europe . Between them , GLCM and Pershing II made a lethal combination . GLCM missiles could be launched , undetected , followed 2 hours later by a Pershing strike , which would fly so quickly that it was possible no response could be made before the Pershings struck . Aside from presenting an attractive course of action to NATO commanders in the event of Soviet aggression , it put the Kremlin leaders ( in range of the GLCM and possibly the Pershing , even in Moscow ) in a position of fearing a decapitating NATO first strike , which could have moved them toward a launch on warning policy as the only way to maintain deterrence . However , the USSR did have submarine - launched missiles ( i . e . Golf and Hotel class SSBN s armed with R - 27 Zyb and SS - N - 5 s ) available during this time , so any fears of a decapitating first strike were not necessarily justified . Intermediate - Range Nuclear Forces Treaty . Despite initial fears of greater instability , the deployment of GLCM ultimately caused Soviet leaders to enter into negotiations for , and finally signature of , the INF treaty . The recognition by Soviet leaders of the threat posed by the GLCM and Pershing II missiles made them far more inclined to agree to negotiate their own intermediate - range weapons , especially the SS - 20 , out of service , in exchange for the elimination of the threat posed by the GLCM and the Pershing II . Unlike SALT II or START I , which set limits to maximum nuclear arsenals , the INF Treaty banned whole categories of intermediate - range tactical nuclear weapons outright . All ground - launched cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with ranges greater than 500 but less than 5500 kilometers were barred to the U . S . and USSR under this treaty . This meant the withdrawal of GLCM and Pershing II on the American side ; the Soviets withdrew the SS - 4 Sandal , SS - 5 Skean , SS - 12 Scaleboard , SS - 20 Saber , SS - 22 Scaleboard B , and SS - 23 Spider MRBM / IRBM / LRBM ballistic missiles , in addition to the GLCM ' s most direct counterpart : the SSC - 4 or RK - 55 ( dubbed the Tomahawksi in the Western press ) and its supersonic follow - on , the SSC - X - 5 cruise missiles . GLCM was removed from Europe beginning in 1988 , and over the next three and a half years all units were transported to Davis Monthan AFB and destroyed or converted into displays by 1991 . Eight missiles survive for inert static display only . No follow - on design has been authorized . Note : Each GLCM squadron was further subdivided into several flights . Each flight included 2 Launch Control Vehicles ( LCC ) and 4 Transporter Erector Launchers ( TEL ) , totalling 16 missiles per flight . Each TEL could carry 4 missiles .