Editing Atlas II (section)

== Background ==
In May 1988, the US Air Force chose [[General Dynamics]] (now [[Lockheed Martin]]) to develop the Atlas II vehicle, primarily to launch [[Defense Satellite Communications System]] payloads under the Medium Launch Vehicle II (MLV-II) program.<ref>{{cite news|title=General Dynamics will build a half-billion-dollar rocket fleet|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/05/03/General-Dynamics-will-build-a-half-billion-dollar-rocket-fleet-to/2468578635200/|date=May 3, 1988|access-date=September 27, 2022|work=UPI.com}}</ref> Additional commercial and U.S. Government sales resulted in production increases leading to greater than 60 vehicles being produced and launched.

Atlas II was developed from the [[Atlas I]] and featured numerous upgrades over that vehicle.<ref name=a2dsgn />

Atlas II was launched from [[Launch Complex 36]] at [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station]] in Florida as well as [[Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 3|Space Launch Complex 3E]] at [[Vandenberg Space Force Base]] in California. All launches were successful.