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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1746.PDF
910 FLIGHT, 7 December 1956 Guided Missiles 1956 ... (Canada—continued) company stated "we have produced missile airframes and control equip-ment . . . have seen them through their actual firing trials." On August 24 (p. 298) we published a striking photograph of a CF-100 armed witha quartet of Velvet Gloves carried on under-wing shoe launchers. The Canadian Defense Minister recently gave the total Velvet Glove bill as£8.5m. Nevertheless, its use in providing practical experience for the 400 designers who worked on it will be invaluable, and will ease theproblems of licence-producing Sparrow (p, 899). SWEDEN Guided-missile development is being carried out in a well-organizedmanner, with very complete integration with the armed forces. Weapons are being evolved in seven classes, all under direct government contractfor the Royal Swedish Air Force, Army or Navy. The classes are: air defence; air-force attack; air-to-air; two types for use against navaltargets; an anti-aircraft weapon (by Bofors) launched from a submerged submarine; and an army anti-tank weapon. The guided-missile bureau of the Swedish Defence Board has beenfully established since 1953. Appropriations in recent years have been: 1955-6, £250,000 for research and development and £430,000 forproduction; 1956-7, £321,000 for research and development and £571,000 for production. Principal contractors are Saab and Bofors,A.B., both working as systems managers. Surface-to-Air. The weapon illustrated is the only one about whichany details are known. Developed by several agencies since 1953, it is a two-stage missile "intended for the interception of supersonic air-craft." The missile has a liquid-propellant sustainer, large delta wings withstreamlined aerials and flare containers on the tips and movable trailing-edge controls. A tandem, solid-propellant boost motor is used. SWITZERLAND SURFACE-TO-AIR Oerlikon Type 54. For at least five years the famous ArmamentDivision of the Oerlikon Machine Tool Works, Biihrle and Co., of Zurich, have been almost unique in having developed guided weaponslargely on a private-enterprise basis. Today they are able to offer a fully developed and Service-proven surface-to-air missile system forsale "over the counter." Three years ago a weapon with trapezoidal fins was evolved, witha liquid-propellant motor (no boost motor). Weighing 545 1b, and measuring 16ft long, 4ft 3in in wing span and 14iin in body diameter,the missile was a beam-rider with a speed of 852 m.p.h. and a maximum operating height reported as 66,000ft. Early in 1954 the U.S.A.F.bought 25 of these weapons and, as the MX-1868, evaluated them at Holloman. The present Type 54 is large and more refined. Like its predecessorit has a body made from wrapped light-alloy sheet with Araldite bonding, the wings being of sandwich construction. The wings, whichare now of delta form, are arranged to slide axially to compensate for changes in e.g. and c.p. during flight; control is effected by a tailcruciform, and at low speeds by the swivelling combustion chamber. Fuel is diesel oil, mixed with RFNA (nitric acid) with ignition by ahypergolic spray of xylidine and tri-ethyl amine; feed is by nitrogen pressure from a 4,267 lb/sq in bottle. The ogive nose is a 44-lb warhead with a proximity fuse. Launching,without any boost, is possible at any angle from 90 deg down to about 30. After gathering in a wide beam the missile is centred in a finepencil beam (see our issue of January 7, 1955 for system details) and describes a curve of pursuit. Motor burn-out takes place after 30 sec,at Mach 1.8, and the combat altitude limits are 10,000ft to 50,000ft. Range with certain guidance is 9 to 12J miles. Normally the missile isfired from a twin launcher, and a battery comprises six of these, each with a target-tracking radar and coupled beam transmitter. All unitsare mobile and the sustained battery rate of fire can reach 12 rounds per minute. Training rounds are arranged to break in half just aheadof the wings, each portion being recovered by parachute. Swedish SAM. Anti-aircraft missile with solid-propellant tandem boost motor and liquid-propellant sustainer. Length, with boost motor, abo,ut 25ft; weight, with boost motor, about 1r500 Ib; burn-out speed, about M = 2. U.S.S.R. As one must expect, there is at present very little reliable informationon current Russian guided-weapon activity. The following notes are virtually all that can be gleaned without straying into the world offantasy. Air-to-Air. At Kubinka airfield earlier this year several types ofaircraft, presumably machines like the Mig-17, were seen to be equipped with launching shoes suitable for AAMs. One such shoe was fittedbeneath each wing. Surface-to-Air. In the summer of 1955 production of this type ofmissile was estimated by the Pentagon at "2,000 per month." Five months ago Gen. Earle Partridge, commanding U.S.A.F. ContinentalAir Defense Command, and Sen. Symington, chairman of the Senate sub-committee on U.S. airpower, stated that the U.S.A.F. "has photo-graphs" of SAM batteries "in the Moscow area." Gen. Partridge said that the missiles were "like Nike or Talos." Surface-to-Surface. The following is a diary of "beliefs andannouncements": November 1954, U.S. Congress: belief that there is a weapon of"twice V-2 range, operationaDy reliable" and that research work is aimed at 1,500 miles. April 1955, Gen. Benjamin W. Chidlaw, U.S.A.F. (then commanderof C.A.D.C.): "within 10 years ... an IBM . . . Mach 10 to 20 ... any target in the U.S. in 30 minutes or so. Closer is an IBM ... ofMach 2 to 3." December 1955, Premier Bulganin: "the Soviets have developed anintercontinental missile . . ." Senator Symington: "the Russians have test-fired a long-range ballistic missile hundreds of miles further thananything this country has attempted . . ." Another senator: "Russia is working at the highest priority on weapons even more fantastic thanthe ICBM." Early 1956, Senator Jackson, chairman of the military applicationssub-committee on atomic energy: "the Soviets may win the race for the IRBM . . . they may fire a 1,500-mile ballistic missile before the endof this year." It was announced by the Defense Department that ballistic missiles had been fired "with increasing frequency since thefall of 1955" and that a missile with a range of 900 miles had been tested in November of that year. April 1956, Party secretary Nikita Kruschev: "I am quite sure thatwe will have a guided missile with a hydrogen-bomb warhead that can fall anywhere in the world ... so you think we are behind you!" Summer of 1956, Gen. Thomas D. White, U.S.A.F. vice-chief ofstaff: "Russia could have large numbers of nuclear-tipped ICBMs by 1960." Trevor Gardner, former assistant Air Force secretary forresearch and development: ". . . have in being an IRBM capable of 700 to 800 miles." Lt-Gen. James M. Gavin, Army chief of researchand development: ". . . fired what must have been a rocket for several hundreds of miles in some numbers." JAPAN AIR-TO-AIR Mitsubishi. It was announced in Tokyo recently that Shin Mit-subishi Heavy Industries are engaged in the development of an AAM "production of which will start in 1957." The rocket motor is beingdeveloped by Fuji Precision Industries and the guidance is in the hands of the Mitsubishi Electrical Co. Oerlikon Type 54. SAM with 2,200 Ib-thrust liquid-propellant sustainer motor; no boost motor. Length, 19ft 8in; span, 4ft 7in; body diameter, 15Jin; weight, 825 Ib; burn-out speed,_M = 1.8.
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