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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1805.PDF
6 December 1957 895 Sperry Sparrow I AAM- N-2 Air-to-air. Solid sus- tainer motor. Length, 12ft 6in; body diameter, 8in; wing span, 27in; firing weight, 295 lb; burn-out speed, Mach 2.8; range, up to 5 miles. Development Division at Downey and thatguidance and allied components should be assigned to the Autonetics Division. The com-pany have complete systems responsibility and the project is in charge of Dale Myers, pre-viously chief engineer of M.D.D. A drawing on page 897 gives a provi-sional indication of the configuration chosen. Supersonic cruise propulsion is provided by asingle Pratt and Whitney turbojet, a surpris- ingly heavy and expensive engine for anexpendable application. Turbojet propulsion was chosen in order to provide plenty of roomfor future growth of the missile, and the gross weight is probably of the order of 15,000 lb.During the past two months contracts have been formulated, and these are expected tototal between $2 5m and $34m from FY58 funds. The contract will cover the develop-ment of the weapon only and it will have to be fully proven before production is ordered. TheU.S.A.F. priority assigned to it is high. SURFACE-TO-AIR Antis For almost a decade the U.S. Army,Air Force and various government agencies and other institutions have been conductingfar-ranging feasibility studies into the prob- lem of intercepting an ICBM warhead at asafe distance. Several programmes have been the subject of study contracts and a numberof these were listed in our 1956 review. At present there are two major systems; one isan extension of the Army Nike system (Zeus) and the other is the Air Force Wizard systemwith an appreciably more advanced perform- ance. These are described below. The key tothe whole picture is the availability of tracking radars with an r.f. power of millions of wattsyet capable of being kept at instant readiness. Recent demonstrations of Soviet prowess in thelarge-rocket field have thrown the whole pic- ture of Antis into the limelight, and althoughSenator Symington said in September that "the idea that the anti-missile is around thecorner or only five years away is absolutely false," tremendous forces are being marshalledto produce an operational system at the earliest possible moment. Bomarc At present this is the only weaponin service in the western world intended for area defence—as distinct from point defence—against attacking aircraft of all types. Its genesis can be traced back to the pioneer workon ramjet propulsion conducted by the Boeing Airplane Co. in 1945-9. The history was out-lined on p. 899 of our 1956 missile review. As a programme for an operational weaponfor the U.S. Air Force the work dates from 1949, and experimental prototypes were firstfired in 1952. These were originally numbered according to the U.S.A.F. piloted-aircraftsystem as XF-99s, but were later redesignated IM-99 (intercepter missile). Several dozenYlM-99s have been fired from Patrick A.F.B., with increasingly good results. Unlike most anti-aircraft missiles the IM-99Bomarc has an aircraft-type configuration, and consequently has to bank before it can turn. Raytheon Sparrow III AAM-N-6 Air-to-air. Solid sustainer motor. Length, approximately 12ft; wing span, 3S.5in; firing weight, 350 Ib; burn-out speed, about Mach 2.8. The wing has a thickness, ratio of about threeper cent and a plan-form modified from a true 50-deg delta shape by tips cut off at the Machangle. The entire outboard portion of each wing is pivoted to act as an aileron, and simi-larly the tip of the vertical tail and almost the entire horizontal tail surfaces are pivoted.Propulsive power is provided by twin Mar- quardt RJ43 ramjets, each of 28in diameterand with intakes of magnesium alloy coated with temperature-resistant paint. The RJ43 isnow in full production at Ogden, Utah, against a $30m contract. Each engine is carried on apylon beneath the cylindrical body and is fed from kerosine tanks which occupy the wholemid-fuselage section. Launching of the IM-99 is truly vertical,from a special stand equipped with an elevat- ing arm. Boost propulsion is provided by anAerojet-General liquid-oxygen/kerosine rocket motor mounted in the tail of the fuselage. Thismotor has a single gimbal-mounted chamber, the pivoting of which provides flight control inthe launching phase. There are no e.g. prob- lems as the rocket propellants are burnt, sincethe flight-path is vertical. Later IM-99s will have a solid boost which can be jettisoned,thereby saving much dead-weight. There are several guidance systems asso-ciated with this weapon. For the realization of its full theoretical value the IM-99 requiresto be operated in conjunction with SAGE, the automatic electronic environment planned tocover the whole U.S.A. Radar guidance (Western Electronics Division) applied throughSAGE, together with a computer (Remington Rand) and a ground/air data-link (Motorola)controls IM-99 to the vicinity of its target, whereupon the terminal guidance, comprisingairborne active-homing radar supplied by the Westinghouse Air Arm Division, takes over.Transmitter and receiver dishes are located in the nose, the latter being a Pastushin glass-fibre/resin moulding which minimizes radar distortion. The Farnsworth Division of I.T.and T. is another major guidance contractor, who in April announced a $12m sub-contractfor ground support and go/no-go operational test gear. Multiple control and accessorycircuits are taken outside the cylindrical fuse- lage beneath a prominent axial fairing whichstarts in the guidance section and fades out into the fin. The warhead can be of the h.e.or nuclear type and it has an arming device by Erco. Although the development to the operationalconfiguration has been somewhat protracted, the weapon has achieved success. Earlier thisyear the U.S.A.F. decided to put it into the inventory of Air Defense Command and it isworth noting that it was probably the first weapon system to be purchased on the "time-phased procurement" policy which now applies throughout the U.S.A.F. In mid-May a con-tract for $7,109,195 provided for tooling and continued development, and the first inventorycontract was placed at the beginning of Fiscal Year 1958, amounting to $139,315,444 (fromFY57 funds). It has been suggested that Air Defense Command has completed inventory Martin Bullpup Air-to- surface. Solid sustainer motor. Length, 11ft; body diameter, 12in; wing span, 37in; launch- ing weight, 600 Ib; flight speed, about Mach 1.8; maximum slant range, reported to be 15,000ft. procurement of the F-104 and that the twentysquadrons of IM-99s which will begin to be operational late next year will replace thataircraft. A production IM-99 is calculated to cost $350,000. Boeing were anxious to establish a separatedivision to manufacture the production IM-99 but, U.S.A.F. support for a new facility not be- "ing forthcoming, assembly operations are be- ing conducted at Plant 2 in Seattle. Fully 70per cent of the weapon system is sub-con- tracted, and production is building up rapidly(assisted by 100,000 sq ft of a facility taken over early this year from the Army Corps ofEngineers). Boeing are still flying a B-57 with the first 17ft of IM-99 (including the completeairborne guidance system plus nitrogen and ammonia systems for cooling and pressuriza-tion) mounted in the nose and controlling the flight of the bomber. Numerous tests againsttarget drones have taken place recently. Boe- ing achieved a spectacular "splash" of a QB-17in mid-October, when an unarmed IM-99 was fired at Patrick A.F.B. (nearest controlpoint more than ten miles from the pad), climbed to its operational height of 60,000ft,found the drone over one hundred miles from the coast, dived on it and destroyed it by im-pact. Current test programmes include: an investigation at Los Alamos and Arco into theeffect of nuclear blast and radiation on the guidance transistors; testing undertaken byBoeing's Pilotless Aircraft Division in which airframes are being subjected to thermal test-ing in an oven; and bombardment with poly- ethylene pellets from a 0.22 rifle in simulationof flight through a rainstorm. At Harbor Island, Seattle, Boeing have established a trainingschool, simulating a complete IM-99 base, which is now passing out personnel from theU.S.A.F. and sub contractors. Several advanced versions of IM-99 are onpaper and initial studies are being made with Boeing money. The increased warning timenow available to A.D.C. units may lead Boe- ing to produce a super-Bomarc with high-energy "zip" fuel and greater range to meet the I.M.X. specification. Nevertheless, it ispertinent to quote Rep. Mahon who pointed out that complete IM-99/SAGE coverage"might run the total picture to $50B or 100B for the defense of the U.S." Hawk Developed for Army Ordnance bythe Raytheon Manufacturing Company (under Redstone supervision), the Hawk system is com-plementary to the Nike system, with its cap- ability of destroying low-altitude attackers.Compared with previous American anti-air- craft systems, Hawk is relatively simple andsingularly mobile, being transportable by air- craft or helicopter and capable of deploying upto forward areas of a battlefront. It is remarkable that Raytheon, an electronicscompany, should be prime contractors in two major weapon systems (the other is SparrowIII). Their guidance made the Fairchild Lark the first "Western" missile to destroy an air-craft. In recent weeks their Missile Systems Division has been moving to a new 40,000 sq ftoffice and laboratory at Waltham. As the drawing (p. 898) shows, Hawk has acruciform of one-piece cast wings, with about 80 deg leading-edge sweep, which are boltedaxially to the body. The boat-tail fairing con- ceals four jacks which operate the hinged trail-ing-edge control surfaces. The external skin of the rear body is actually the wall of thesolid-propellant sustainer, thus greatly reduc- ing weight. Thiokol was the original power-plant contractor, but production Hawks have an Aerojet-General motor incorporating twosolid charges in one chamber, the first being a rapid-burning portion to give high initialthrust. Semi-active monopulse (Doppler ?) radardetects and tracks the target "in the blind spots of conventional radar." The lamp set has twodishes of unusual form, and is situated in the vicinity of the launcher. At the end of Octoberthe Army stated that the radar "can pick out reflection from a moving target at low altitudefrom a mass of signals reflected from ground objects." The missile itself has an ogival noseradome. Films have shown that Hawk can discriminate between numerous targets and pickon one previously selected. In October Northrop Aircraft (AnaheimDivision) were awarded $20m for the develop- ment and manufacture of airframes. Northrophave responsibility for aerodynamic perform-
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