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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0771.PDF
450 FLIGHT International, 19 March (964 Missiles and Spaceflight VIGILANTS IN KUWAIT Fifteen Kuwaiti soldiers were recently given a simulator course on how to fire and guide the British Aircraft Corporation Vigilant wire-guided anti-tank missile, which the Kuwait Army has had in service for nearly two years. They were then taken out to a desert range and there, in a temperature of well over 100°F, told to fire their first actual Vigilant round at a tank over half a mile away. All fifteen missiles actually struck the tank. This, say BAC, affords "literally striking proof of the British claim that Vigilant is so easy to steer that infantry soldiers can kill tanks with their first shots." In all, during these test firings in Kuwait—on some of which the latest CML (Constructions Mecaniques du Leman SA) hollow- charge warheads were used—27 missiles were fired at both static and moving targets at varying ranges, 23 of them scoring hits and the other four being near-misses. None of the Kuwaiti soldiers taking part in the shoot had fired previously. Vigilant, which can be carried and used by a single infantryman, is manufactured by BAC's Guided Weapons Division at Stevenage, Herts. The missile has been chosen by three overseas governments (Saudi Arabia, whose order has just been announced, Kuwait and Finland), as well as by the British Army. Indonesian SAM Tests Last month the Indonesian Air Force successfully launched a number of Russian-supplied missiles "of the type used to shoot down the American U-2 ..." The firings took place during manoeuvres at Surabaja. This Nike-like weapon has been supplied to at least 20 nations. Improved Soviet ICBMs Several of the writers of patriotic declarations associated with the 46th anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces make the claim that Russian ICBMs have "undergone improvements" in recent years. They are said to be able to defeat "any anti-missile defence yet developed in the West." Wilson on Polaris During the past ten days Mr Harold Wilson, leader of the Labour Party, has stated that he would repudiate the UK/US Polaris agreement, and—unless construction had proceeded too far—would convert the British missile submarines into a purely tracking (and presumably submarine-killing) role. He said his party would seek to convert the Holy Loch base from being a UK/US commitment into a NATO one. German Rocket Firm According to a spokesman of Waffen und Luftruestrung AG, of Hamburg, the company is developing an anti-missile missile "based on a new theory." The president and chairman of the company resigned after a protest from the Soviet Union at the company's activities, but were promptly re-elected. The British and US replies to the Soviet charges stated that "the company and its associates have neither tested nor constructed military rockets." The company appears to have little real design or manufacturing potential, and is said to be in liquidation. Photographs of American ICBM firings have become very rare. This radioed picture from Cape Kennedy shows the lift-off of an Atlas on February 25. The payload was one of the slender re-entry vehicles developed under the ABRES (advanced ballistic re-entry systems) programme Mixed-manned Destroyer The US Secretary of Defense has announced that the first test ship for multi-national manning by NATO crews will be the guided-missile destroyer USS Biddle. She will be based at Norfolk, Virginia, and will operate with the Second and Sixth Fleets. Mr McNamara noted that West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, Turkey and Greece have "stated their interest in participating with the United States in such a mixed-manning demonstration project." CT-41 Re-used SNCA Nord Aviation announce that "a CT-41 target missile has made a successful flight after recovery from a previous flight. This is a rare achievement for a Mach 2 missile. The flight was successfully carried out at an altitude of 20,000m (65,000ft), at a speed of more than Mach 2, after only simple refurbishing. The CT-41 is powered by two Nord Aviation Sirius ramjets." Centaur/Surveyor Test Stand A new facility in which the systems of the complete Atlas-Centaur-Surveyor combination will be ground-tested is being built for NASA at a site adjacent to General Dynamics Astronautics Division's main plant at Kearny Mesa, San Diego. Scheduled to be operational by next December, the test stand will simulate the Surveyor lunar flights planned to begin next year. Approximately 22,500 sq ft of floor space will be pro- vided, with an 89ft tower accommodating the vertically mounted Centaur upper stage with the Surveyor spacecraft on top of it. A 100ft bay will support the Atlas first stage horizontally. The three vehicles will be connected electrically and will function during the tests as if physically connected for flight. The majority of the flight operations of the vehicle systems will be carried out, with the exception of engine ignition. : Five More Orbiting Solar Observatories are to be built for NASA by Ball Brothers Research Corporation. They will be launched at intervals of about nine months beginning early in 1966, and are intended to study the solar cycle through periods of increased activity. Ball Brothers have already built two OSO satellites and a third is under construction. More than 2,000 hours of data received from OSO 1, launched on March 7, 1962, are now being analysed. The second OSO, scheduled to be launched between April and June, will continue the work of OSO 1, using improved instruments, while the third satellite is tentatively scheduled far launch later this year.
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