Editing V-2 rocket (section)

{{Short description|German long-range ballistic missile}}
{{Redirect|V-2|other uses|V2 (disambiguation){{!}}V2}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox weapon
| is_missile         = yes
| name               = V2
| image              = Fusée V2.jpg
| image_size         = 200
| caption            = [[Historical Technical Museum, Peenemünde|Peenemünde Museum]] [[replica]] of V2
| origin             = [[Nazi Germany]]
| type               = Single-stage [[ballistic missile]]
| used_by            = {{plainlist|
*[[Wehrmacht]]
*[[Schutzstaffel|SS]]
'''Post-war:'''
* [[United Kingdom]]
* [[United States]]
* [[Soviet Union]]}}
| manufacturer       = [[Mittelwerk]] GmbH
| designer           = [[Peenemünde Army Research Center]]
| unit_cost          = {{plainlist|
*January 1944: 100,000 [[Reichsmark|RM]]
*March 1945: 50,000 RM<ref name="Kennedy" />}}
| propellant         = {{plainlist|
* {{cvt|3810|kg|lb}} 75% [[Ethanol]]
* 25% [[water]]
* {{cvt|4910|kg|lb}} [[liquid oxygen]]}}
| production_date    = {{plainlist|
*16 March 1942{{snd}}1945 (Nazi)
*Some assembled post-war}}
| service            = 1944–[[List of V-2 test launches#Launches of captured V-2 rockets in the United States after 1945|1952]]
| engine             = 
| weight             = {{cvt|12500|kg|lb}}
| length             = {{cvt|14|m|ftin}}
| height             = 
| diameter           = {{cvt|1.65|m|ftin}}
| wingspan           = {{cvt|3.56|m|ftin}}
| speed              = {{plainlist|
*Maximum: {{cvt|5760|km/h}}
*At impact: {{cvt|2880|km/h}}}}
| vehicle_range      = {{cvt|320|km|mi}}
| ceiling            = 
| altitude           = {{plainlist|
*{{cvt|88|km|mi}} maximum altitude on long-range trajectory
*{{cvt|206|km|mi}} maximum altitude if launched vertically}}
| filling            = {{cvt|1000|kg|lb}}; [[Amatol]] (explosive weight: 910&nbsp;kg)
| guidance           = {{plainlist|
*Gyroscopes to determine direction
*[[Mischgerät (V-2 guidance computer) | Electronic course correction autopilot]]
*[[Müller-type pendulous gyroscopic accelerometer]] for engine cutoff on most production rockets<ref>10% of the [[Mittelwerk]] rockets used a guide beam for cutoff.</ref><ref name=Neufeld />{{Rp|225}}}}
| detonation         = Impact
| launch_platform    = Mobile ([[Meillerwagen]])
| number             = Over 3,000
}}

The '''V2''' ({{langx|de|[[V-weapons|Vergeltungswaffe]] 2|lit=Vengeance Weapon 2}}), with the technical name ''[[Aggregat (rocket family)|Aggregat]]-4'' ('''A4'''), was the world's first long-range<ref>[http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.htm "Long-range" in the context of the time. See NASA history article] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107190509/http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.htm |date=7 January 2009}}</ref> [[missile guidance|guided]] [[ballistic missile]]. The missile, powered by a [[liquid-propellant rocket]] engine, was developed during the [[Second World War]] in [[Nazi Germany]] as a "[[V-weapons|vengeance weapon]]" and assigned to attack [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] cities as retaliation for the [[Strategic bombing during World War II#The British later in the war|Allied bombings of German cities]]. The {{nowrap|V2}} rocket also became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the [[Kármán line]] (edge of space) with the vertical launch of [[MW 18014]] on 20 June 1944.<ref>Neufeld, 1995 pp [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951/page/158 158], 160–162, 190</ref>

Research of military use of long-range rockets began when the graduate studies of [[Wernher von Braun]] were noticed by the [[German Army]]. A series of prototypes culminated in the A4, which went to war as the {{nowrap|V2}}. Beginning in September 1944, more than 3,000 {{nowrap|V2s}} were launched by the [[Wehrmacht]] against Allied targets, first [[London]] and later [[Antwerp]] and [[Liège]]. According to a 2011 [[BBC]] documentary,{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=89}} the attacks from {{nowrap|V-2s}} resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while a further 12,000 laborers and [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] prisoners died as a result of their [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced participation in the production of the weapons]].<ref name="Thimm">"Am Anfang war die V2. Vom Beginn der Weltraumschifffahrt in Deutschland". In: Utz Thimm (ed.): ''Warum ist es nachts dunkel? Was wir vom Weltall wirklich wissen''. Kosmos, 2006, p. 158, {{ISBN|3-440-10719-1}}.</ref>

The rockets travelled at [[supersonic speed]]s, impacted without audible warning, and proved unstoppable.  No [[Missile_defense#History|effective defense]] existed. Teams from the [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]]—the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union—raced to seize major German manufacturing facilities, procure the Germans' [[Missile Technology Control Regime|missile technology]], and capture the V-2s' launching sites. Von Braun and more than 100 core [[Research and development|R&D]] {{nowrap|V-2}} personnel surrendered to the Americans, and many of the original {{nowrap|V-2}} team transferred their work to the [[Redstone Arsenal]], where they were relocated as part of [[Operation Paperclip]]. The US also captured enough {{nowrap|V-2}} hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the {{nowrap|V-2}} manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established {{nowrap|V-2}} production, and moved it to the Soviet Union.