AIM-47 Falcon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AIM-47 missile

The GAR-9 / AIM-47 Falcon from Hughes Aircraft was the draft air-to-air missile from Hughes Aircraft for the United States Air Force .

history

The development of the Falcon , initially referred to as GAR-9 , began in 1958 as a long-range interceptor for the North American XF-108 Rapier , which was to carry the required AN / ASG-18 fire control system . After the F-108 program was stopped, the development of the missile continued, it should now be used as the AIM-47B Falcon on the Lockheed F-12 Blackbird . The YF-12A carried out a total of seven test starts at speeds between Mach 2.19 and Mach 3.2; in six of them the missile passed the target at launch range. In 1966 this program was also canceled. By this time, Hughes had already built around 80 pre-production models of the weapon.

The technology that was already used in the predecessors of the AIM-47 (these were the AIM-4 Falcon and the AIM-26 Falcon ) was later used in the AIM-54 Phoenix of the United States Navy .

technology

The AIM-47 was 3.82 meters long and 34.3 and 33 cm (AIM-47B) in diameter. The maximum wingspan was 83.8 cm, the weight was 371 and 363 kilograms, respectively. A nuclear warhead with an explosive force of 0.25 kt was planned for the series version .

The rocket was powered by a liquid rocket engine and reached speeds of up to Mach 4 and a range of about 100 miles.

Individual evidence

  1. WarbirdTech Series no.10: Lockheed SR-71 / YF-12, p. 40

Web links