Pershing was a family of solid-fueled two-stage medium-range ballistic missiles designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable theater-level weapon. The Pershing systems lasted over 30 years from the first test version in 1960 through final elimination in 1991. It was named after General John J. Pershing. The systems were managed by the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) and deployed by the Field Artillery Branch.

In 1956, George Bunker, the president of The Martin Company, paid a courtesy call on General John Medaris of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at Redstone Arsenal. Medaris noted that it would be advantageous to the Army if there were a missile plant in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral. Martin began construction of their Sand Lake facility in Orlando, Florida and opened it in late 1957. Ed Uhl, co-inventor of the bazooka, was the vice-president and general manager of the new facility.

The U.S. Army began studies in 1956 for a ballistic missile with a required range of 500–750 nautical miles (930–1,390 km; 580–860 mi). Later that year, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson issued the Wilson Memorandum that stripped the U.S. Army of all missiles with a range of 200 miles (320 km) or greater. When the memorandum was rescinded in 1958, ABMA began development of the class of ballistic missile. Initially called the Redstone-S, where the S meant solid propellant, the name was changed to Pershing.