On 8/9/2011 1:56 PM, John Savard wrote:

My point is - they are "ballistic rockets" too, so if the fact that a
rocket is also used as a ballistic missile makes it more normal to
launch it in foul weather, this would apply to the American ones as
well.

I don't know about Atlas, but the Titan II ICBM at least was designed to
launch in pretty foul weather, with its silo giving it a lot of
protection up till the launch itself.
Minuteman III has the advantage of its jettisonable nose cone giving
some protection against hail and lightning to the three (now just one*)
warheads housed inside of it. In the case of the earlier ICBMs and IRBMs
the RV was exposed to the exterior weather during ascent and could have
been damaged by passing through hail or a lightning strike on the
missile's nose.

* A W87 taken off of a deactivated MX "Peacekeeper" missile.
Since each missile now carries only a single warhead, ABMs are now a
practical concept from an economic point of view again.

Pat