Volume 8 Issue 85

Published by
Orbis Publishing Ltd
@Aerospace Publishing Ltd 1985
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Eclru$rategic
The introduction of long-range bombardment missiles by
Gennany at the end of World War II ushered in an era of
weapons development which over the last four decades has
tested the limits of science, technology and the destntctive
ingenuity of manlcittd.
Whlle the concept of the guided missrle is ancient, it was capable of
realization only very recently, because available technoloqy was unable
to create an effectrve gmrdance system. Wtth the exception of the naval
torpedo, no senous gurded missile was attempted until well into World
War I, and then it was only the air-dropped ones that could do a useful
job. What ls the point in having a miniature aeroplane packed with
explosives and fitted wrth precision radio command gnridance if the man
dolng the controlling (from a distance of many miles) cannot see the
+rvao+?
SSMs (surface-to-surface missiles) got into business with the crude but
effectrve 'V-l' described in this study, It was very soon partnered in
action by the totally different 'V-2', and these were made possible only
by the fact that precision gn-ridance was not attempted; their targets were
entire cities, In both cases, however, the missiles incorporated the germ
of an idea for self-contarned gnridance which in the course of many years
could become super-accurate, Perhaps remarkably, today we have
modern successors to both these pioneer SSMs, using descendants of
both their guidance methods.
The successors of the V-l are called cruise missiles, and they have
enjoyed augmented interest since 1977 when it was proclaimed by
President Carter as a completely new idea which suddenly rendered
the B-l bomber unnecessaryl
The late 1950s saw the heyday
of the strategic cruisemrssile,
withweapons such as the
N orthr op S n ar k entering
servicewith the AirForce's
US
S tr ategic Air C ommand. F or the
next 1 5 years, however, the
ballistic missile proved a more
attr active prcposition for
funding.
During the previous 25 years the crulse missile took a bac< -==--
though both the TM-76 Mace and SM-62 Snark went into service rn::- -:-=
USAF and the Regulus I and II both became operational aboard s-:-
marines of the US Navy, Partly on the score of lr-rlnerability sr::-
weapons faded from the scene after 1960, astronomical sums having
been spent instead on every conceivable kind and size of ballistic
missile. All in some degree descended from V-2, these wingless projec-
tiles are normally iaunched standing vertically upright, whrch has often
made it difficult to achieve mobility, qulck reaction time and high rate of
fire,
Except for the brrlliant Blue Water (which being British, was inevit-
ably cancelled), all the ballistic missiles featured in thrs analysis were
powered by liquid-propellant rocket engrnes. This meant complexity,
potential unrellability and the use ol extremely toxic and corrosive acids
and./or lntensely cold liquefled gases. The latter could not even be
pumped into the mrssile until it was wanted for firing, and rn the case of
weapons as larqe as 55-6 and Atias it meant that the reaction time could
hardly be less than half an hour,
The first ICBMs required elaborate fixed launch sites. Often the only fully-
equipped testfacilitywas Cape Canaveral,with day and night launches
becoming a great tourist attraction.
EE|: USA

Chrysler Jupiter
=
l::cughout the 1950s the US
-'s:ic Missile Agency at Redstone
Army
isenal was the world's most experi-
::ced source of largre ballistic mis-
s:les. It was natural that in 1954 de-
',-elopment should have started on a
iew missile of the much longrer ranqe
,';irich had become technically possi-
ble. This was named Jupiter was the
:rst IRBM (intermediate-range ballis-
:c missile). and was a logical extension
ciA4/Redstone technoloqy to a desiqn
range of2776 km (1 725 miles). In 1955
plans were studied for a US Nauy ver-
sion for tube launch from various ships
notably large submarines, The basic
vehicle was actually shorter than the
Redstone, but of grreater drameter and
its enormous tankaqe section was
made by welding extruded panels ol
aluminium alloy, From its flat base
protruded the thrust'chamber of the
engine, which was much more power-
ful and advanced in desiqn than any
predecessor. It pivoted on gimbal
mounts to vector the thrust to steer the
Ba1- mrssrle rn any drection, roll control
berngr effected by vectodng the turbo-
B65th Strategic Missile Sqns took 30
mlssiles each to Italy and Thrkey in
Right: Powered by a
gimbal-mounted t:
pump exhaust pipe. For the fust trne 1960, and subsequently trained units of motormore
lr
the speed on re-entry to the atrnos- the host aLr torces until deactivation in advancedthanany
phere was so high that a special nose- i965. previoussystem,
cone was needed to protect the war- the 3180-km (1,975- :.i
head; an ablative type was selected, Specification mile)ranged ;i
much lighter than the heat-sink type Jupiter Jupiter was the
chosen by the USAF, An excellent fea- Type:mobileIRBM world'sfirst :ffi
ture was that it was a mobile system, Propulsion: one Rocketdyne S-3 operational
towed to the launch site and there engrne rated at 68040-kg (150,000-lb) intermediate range
erected by a cable-hoist, a much smal- thrust and burning liquid oxyqen and ballistic missile
ler and neater system than the Red- RP-l kerosene (rRBM).
stone method. A foldinq petal{ype Performance: burn-out speed Mach
shelter covered the lower part of the 12; range 3lB0 km (1,976 miles)
missile during pre-launch preparation Weight: launch 49895 kg ( I 10,000 lb)
and fuelling, The frrst definitive mrssrle Dimensions:length I8,31 m (60 ft
was launched on I March 1957, a ful]- 0,9 in); diameter 2.68 m (B ft 9.5 in)
range mission came rn May and by Warhead: thermonuclear, up to 1.5
January l95B Jupiter was declared megatons
operational, But in November 1957 the Guidance: rnertial
US qovernment decreed that the US Control: thrust vectoring of marn
Army should not develop weapons of engine and turbopump exhaust, with
over 322-km (200-mile) range, and vernier velocity trimming by small
Jupiter became SM-78 (later PGM- motor on re-entry vehicle
I9A) ofthe US Air Force. The B64th and

ffi Enryster Redstone

This enormous ballistic rocket was the Below: The Redstone used German Wernher von Braun were to provide
most drrecl descendanl of the proneer A4 U-2) technology. Many of the the backbone of American missile
wartime A4 (V-2), This was natural, be- desiga team had worked on the research in the /950s and /960s.
cause its design team at the newly German programme, and under
formed US Army Ballistic Missile
Agrency (ABMA) at Huntsville, Alaba-
ma, was composed of the same Ger-
man engineers that developed the A4,
j1re
workrng under von Braun, The name
came from the original US Army orga- ,-
mzation at Huntsville, Redstone Arsen-
al. Over 500 US civilians also partici-
pated, rncluding most of the General
Electric team from Project Hermes
and a few Convair MX-774 engineers.
Though based on the A4, the SSM-A- 14
Redstone (US Army desrqnation MS)
had slightly gffeater diameter, much
qEeater length, totally new gurdance
and a separable nosecone and fore- 'sffinw
body with smali wedgeJike control
flns. It was a great technical achieve-
,ffi*
ment, though today it seems clumsy
and inconvenient, At least the ancestry
ensured that the Redstone was mobile
and not rnstalled in vast fortresses of
concrete, Weighinq over 250 tons, the
system included a gigantic A-frame
derrick and wrnch with whrch the mis-
sile could be slowly pulled upright on
to its rotatinq ring launcher, This then
had to be turned to the exact azimuth
setting for the selected target, Four
enormous trailers contained a liquid-
oxygren plant with an output of 20 tons
per day, while other huge Fruehauf
transporters carried the warhead sec-
tion, tankage section and motor section
which then had to be assembled at the
launch site. No vernier motor was used
for precision trimming of the final
velocity, so the cut-off timtng of the
main motor had to be extremely accu- The27-ton
rate if the impact was to be on target Avration (Rocketdyne) A-6 rocket Dimensions: lenqth (late PGM- I IA) Redstone had a
The flrst test firing was on 20 Auqust engine wlth turbopump feed of liquid 21 03 m (69 ft 0 in); body diameter maximumrangeof
1953, and the flrst US Army unit, the oxyqen and alcohol for sealevel thrust 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in); fin span 3,66 m ( l2 ft 400 km(250miles),
40th Field Artillery Missile Group of34019 ks (75,000 Ib) 0 in) .: whichwasnotmuch
(Heavy), was activated in July 1957. Performance: culoff speed for Warhead: up to 2994 kq (6,600 lb) more than the
Production of 1,000 rounds was hand- maximum ranqe typically 5472 kn/h nuclear originalV-2.The
led by Chrysler's Defense Operations (3,400 mph); maximum range variable Guidance: Ford Instrument (Sperry major difference, of
Divrsion, ln the 1962 designatton sys- wrthwarheadto 401 km (249 miles), Rand) rnertial, flrst use of air-bearrng course, lay in the
tem Redstone became PGM-IIA but US Armyprohibited by Wilson wros caftiageof an
Memorandum from deploytngr weapon Control: refractory jet deflector vanes, atomicwarhead.
Specification with more than 322-km (200-mile) tail fi ns, precisron cut-off of propulsion,
Redstone range; see Jupiter entry and control vanes on descendinel
Tlpe: healry guided artillery missile Weights: empty 5080 kq (i 1,200 lb); warhead section
Propulsion: one North American Iaunch 27987 kq (61,700 lb)

I 682
 USA
E Early Strategic Missiles
: Douglas Thor
One of the worst cases of inter-sewrce Thorhada
rivalry in history resulted in the USAF, maximumrangeof
which had previously disbelieved in 2780 m(1,727miles)
such thinqs, being urgently authorized andwaslaunched
in 1955 to develop an IRBM (intermedi- fromtkedsites,
ate-range ballistic missile), The unlikeJupiter. Roll
already existing IRBM of the US Army control and attitude
0upiter) was also transfered to the US trimmingwere
Au Force, which promptly gave prior- maintainedbytwo
rty to its own missile; this was the SM-75 smallvernier
Thor, part of the giant Weapon System i{reF motors on each side
315A, Unlike the Jupiter, this was plan- of themain
ned for use from vast fixed sites, where gimballed engine.
it was completely vulnerable, The Itwas also used for
tankaqte sections were assembled satellite launches,
from chem-miiled aluminium panels, whenthewarhead
carrying at the bottom a larqe gimbal- wasreplaced by a
led main engine flanked by tlvo ver- longernose cone
mer engines (burning the same prop- containing a
ellants) whose function was to provide payload.
ro11 control and, after main-engine cut-
off, vernier trimming of the velocity
along the desired trajectory, The war-
head was housed rn a separable RV re
(re-entry vehicle) protected by a
heavy copper heat sink, Douglas Air-
craft received the contract to develop
WS-3 15A on 27 December 1955,
finished the design in July 1956 and Specification Above : The early I I 60s saw hM
delivered the first missile to the USAF Thor Bomber Command operating some
in October i956. a timing never since Type:fixed-site IRBM 60 missiles in20 squadrons along the
equalled (and the whole thing was un- Propulsion: one Rocketdyne LR79 east coast of England. I ts deployment
charted waters). The system was de- gimballed main engine rated at 68040- on fixed launch sites made Thor
clared operational in 1959, and RAF kg (150,000-lb) thrust and burning much more vulnerable than the rival
Bomber Command activated 20 liquid oxygen and RP- 1 kerosene, plus Jupiter system developed by the US
squadrons, each with three launch two LRl0l vernier motors Army.
complexes, with all hardware airlifted Performance: burn-out speed Mach
across by Douglas C-124 or Douqlas 12, range 2779 }cn ( 1,727 miles)
C-133 transpods to bases extending Weisht: launch 47627 kg ( 105,000 lb) Below: InFebruary 1960 atRAF
from Yorkshire to Suffolk. After 1962 Dimensions: length i9,81 m (65 ft 0 in); Feltwell a Thor missile of No. 77
the missile was redesignated PGM- diameter 2.44 m (B ft 0 in) Squadron, Bomber Command, is
I7A, the trainer version beinqr PTM- Warhead: thermonuclear, up to 1,5 raised to its operating position. The
1?A, As thrs was a soft fixed-site
weapon system, unlike Jupiter, it was
megatons
Guidance: inertral (lmproved
vulnerability of suchfixed targeE,
unhardened against nuclear attack, re
obviously completely lrrlnerable and AChrever system, with floated qyros) and the need to maintain an effective
the RAF sites were deactivated from Control: thrust vectoring of main deterrentled to a somewhat
1965, Thors were subsequently rebuilt enqine, with precrsron trimming of cut- cur tailed RAF car eer for T hor, with :..1:...
into Delta space launch vehtcles, offvelocity by vernier enqdnes de-activationin 1965.
*ffi-F
.:,:...1 t.. .

ffi€
$ ffie

Above : A pre -pro duction Thor is

launched just prior to the type's
operational deployment with missile
Above : A Thor-Able I I is launched squ adr ons of the US S t atqric Air
from Cape Canaveral to test space Command (SAC). An I RBM, the Thor
vehicle nose-cone design and re- had to be basedwithin striking
entry. By 1958 such missions were distance of the main potential enemy,
regalarly undertaken by converted which meant European basing with
ballistic missiles such as the Thor. the Soviet Union as prime target.
 i"r,"r"l Dynamics Atlas
=
Once mathematician John Von
Neumann and the 'Teapot Commtttee'
had shown in 1953 that an ICBM was
not only technically possible but could
be created in six years, the USAF
assigned gdgantic forces to do iust this
with Weapon System 107A, The mis-
sile portion was the SM-65 Atlas, de-
veloped by GD Convair Astronauttcs
under Karel J, Bossart, Its unusual fea-
hles rncluded a vast tankage section
made of stainless steel so thin it had to
be continuously pressurzed, like a was in business, This soft above-
balloon. To avoid the challenqe of
srarting a giant rocket engnne ln space
all five enqines were started on the
ground, Centred under the conical
bottom of the tankaqe was the sustain-
er engine, SLrrrounding it was a skirt
section containinq two even more
powerful boost enQiines, mounted on
gimbals and hydraulically vectored to
control the trajectory. Well up on each
side was a vernier engine, About 145
seconds after lift-off the entire boost
section was lettisoned, The sustatner
and vemiers then burned for about
another 190 seconds, theverniers tnm-
mrng the exact final velocity according
to the gnridance information housed in
large fairings down each side, The RV
(re-entry vehicle) was initially a mas-
slve blunt copper heat-srnk, but later
missiles had a shm General Electric
ablatrve cone, First fliqht (\ rithout sus-
tainer) was on 11 June 1957. BY 1960
Strateqdc Ar Command's qant laulch
complex at Francis E. Warren AFB
gnound system was followed by semi-
hard 'coffin' installations, and finally by
hardened silos (a new idea). the
cryogemc liquid misstles ha'rung to
spend over 30 minutes at the surface
before lifl-off. Atter 1962 the rnne ver-
stons of missile were gdven ne-a de-
siqnations, such as CTM-l6D and
CTM-I6E (trainers) and HGM-I6F (a
combat version). In 1965-7 the -whole
force of I17 was deactlvateri. llie mts-
siles berng rebuilt into space laun-
chers,
The first American ICBM, the
GeneralDynamics SM-65 Auas, was
powered by one central sustainer
engine flanked by two even more
powerful booster engines. The nose
cone was ch anged w hen thermo -
nuclear warheads were fitted.
Specification
HGM-65FAtlas
Type: fixed-base hardened ICBM
Propulsion: one 25855-kq (57,000-lb)
thrust Rocketdyne LRB9 sustainer
engine, two 74845-kq (165,000-]b)
thrust Rocketdyne LRl05 boosters and
two 454-kg (1,000-lb) LRI0I verniers,
all burning liquid oxygen and RP- I
Performance: cut-off speed Mach 27;
maximum range 18507 kn (1 1,500
miles)
Weight: launch I 17934 kq (260,000 lb)
Dimensions: length 25. 15 m (82 ft 6 in);
diameter (excludrng side boxes)
3.05m(10ft0in)
Warhead: thermonuclear, usually 3
megatons
Guidance: inertial (Bosch Arma)
Control: thrust vectoring of sustainer
and boosters with velocrty trim by
VEINIEIS
Left: The night launch of an Atlas with
aGeneral Electric ablative nose cone
demonstrates the practice of
launching the missile with all engines
in operation. In addition to the
sustainer and two boosters, both
m anoeuvring ve rnier engine s are
clearlyvisible.
Below: A Boeing B-52 of SAC overllies
an Atlas ICBM on the launch pad at
the USAF aerospace centre,
Vandenberg AF B in C alifor ni a. T he
Atlas is an early model,witha
thermo-nuclear warhead in a
m as s ive copper re - entry vehicle.
t
t
 USA

&Ianin Titan
=
By 1955 the USAF and the US Strategic
Missiles Evaluation Committee could
Right:Developed
shoflly after the
see that the original ICBM systems, AUasICBM,
WS-1074 and its Atlas missile, could Martin's Titanwas a
be improved upon. A second ICBM very different
also seemed prudent as an insurance. missile. Larger than
Accordrngly a qrant contract was Atlas, itwas much
awarded to The Martin Company, more robustly built,
which at its specially created Denver and could be safelv
division produced the Martin SM-68 kepttorlong
Titan, using the same liquid oxygen periods in silos.lt
and RP-l propellants but with two still required to be
separate stages of propulsion, one fuelled before
above the other. The second-stage en- launch, however.
gine had two thrust chambers of 25:1
nozzle expansion ratio for use only in
vacuum space conditions, Unlike that
of the Atlas, a thick-walled liqht-alloy
airframe was used, able to stand up-
right unpressurized, with tanks empty,
at the bottom of its hardened silo,
Nevertheless, the huge mrssile had stil1
to be hoisted to the surface empty and
its propellants pumped aboard before
it cou.ld be fired, At first inertial gnri-
dance was chosen, but in 1958 this sys-
tem was switched to the Atlas and the
Titan weapon system, WS-107A-2, re-
designed with cumbersome but poss-
rbly more accurate radio-inertial com-
mand guidance. The flrst SM-68A
series missile, wrth an inefi water-
filied second stage, flew on 6 February
1959, Many SM-688, C, J and M series l
missiles foilowed, and by 1960 the
395th SMS (Strategic Missile Squad-
ron) was makinq indoctrination and
srlo-compatibility frrings, ln

rc
1961-3
SAC deployed 54 missiles, by then cal-
led HGM-2SA, in three triple under-
ground complexes at srx locatrons, A
short three yea"rs later all had been
refilled with the LGM-2SC Titan II be- Carefully handling their awesome Handicapped by the needto fuelthe
cause, despite super-raprd propellant charge, a crew lowers the four- missile before launch, Titanll was
Ioading, the Titan I still had to spend 15 meg aton ther monuclear w ar he ad developed shortly atter; this could be
or more minutes at the surface before onto a Titan I missile in its silo. launched at short notice.
launch, The Titan II used new non-
cryogenic liqulds that could be left for
years in the missile, which could thus
be fired from the bottom of the silo,

Specification
Titanl
Tlpe: hardened silo-based surface-
launchedlCBM
Propulsion: ( lst stage) one Aerojet
LRBT twin-chamber rocket motor of
I76078-kq (300, 000{b) sea{evel thrust
and (2nd stage) one Aerojet LR91
rocket motor of 36287-kg (80, 000{b)
vacuum thrust
Performance: cut-off speed Mach 26;
maximumrange (Mk4 RV) ]4806 km
(9,200 miles)
Weisht: Iift-off 99790 ks (220,000 lb)
Dimensions: length 29,87 m (98 ft 0 in);
diameter (lst stage) 3,05 m (10 ft 0 in)
and (2nd stage) 2,44 m (B ft 0 in)
Warhead: (Mk 4 RV) thermonuclear, 4
meqatons
Guidance: initially radar/radio plus
inertial, Iater pure (AChiever) inertial
Control:thrust vectoring of main lsV
2nd-stage engines, plus roll control
and vernier velocity control by
vectoring four 2nd-staqe turbopump
exhaust nozzles

Ahove: The size and power ofTitan

An early Titan II is launched in 1964 made it a natural for use in the space
at Cape Kennedy in Florida. The programme, and Titan III was a
Titanll was much improved, its non- mainstayof earlyNASA
cryogenic propellants allowing silo programmes, launching the manned
launch without the I 5-minute delay Gemini missions. This'missile was
required to prepare previous being prepared for launch in
missiles with their super-cooled fuel. October 1965.
 ifianin Matador and Martin Mace
=
Drlng World War II the US ArmY Air
Force manaqed a wealth of crutse-
missile programmes, but none sur-
vived beyond 1946. One of the re-
placements was a biggter and more
powerful pilotless bomber, the Martin
x&61, Started in Augn-rst 1945, it was
not until Jdy i950 a month after ihe
start of the Korean War, that Martm (at
that tme Glenn L, Martin Aircrafi) was
able to complete desrqn of the 8-6IA TheMartinTM-T|Macewas to atlintents and purposes apjlofless bomber, armedwith anuclearwarhead.The
Qater redesignated TM-61A, for tactic- 13.41-m(44-lt) Iongmissilewaspoweredby a turbojetwith allushinletdorsallymounted.
al missile) Matador, Constructed of
metal-honeycomb sandwich, this
weapon resembled a pilotless jet
fiqhter, with a hrgh wrng, T-tail and
hrrboret fed from a dorsal flush inlet. It
was desicned to blast off under the
thrust ofa glant solid-propellant rocket
ftom either a mobile launch ramP or a
hardened (blast-protected) shelter.
Various forms of complex radio gmi-
dance were used, and over 1,000 were
delvered, one wrng becoming oPer-
ationa-l in West Germany in 1956. By
this time the Matador had been re-
placed rr development by the TM-76
Mace, with much gneater fuel capacity,
a larger nuclear warhead and either of
two completely new gmidance systems
rn the TM-764 and TM-768 versrons,
Irarqe numbers were in servtce from
1959, one version being deployed from
mobile convoys exactly like those now
used for 'Cruise', Operational wings
were based as far apart as West Ger-
many and Okinawa, but the Mace was
withdrawn in 1966 in the belief that
cruise missiles were obsolete.

Speciflcation
TM-76Mace
Type: tactical (or strategic) cruise
missile
Piopulsion: launch by one large solid-
propellant rocket boost motor of45360-
kg ( 100, 000-1b) thrust; cruse
propulsion by one 2359-kg (5,200tb)
thrust Allison j33-A-4 I short-life
turbojet burning normalJP- 1 kerosene
Performance: cruising speed I 046
hth (650 mph) or Mach 0,9; range
(typical) 1328 lcn (825 miles); cruise
height from sea level to 134 l0 m
(44,000 ft)
Weishts: empty 3044 kq (6,710 1b);
launch (excluding boost rocket)
8165 kq(lB,O00lb)
Dimensions: span 6.98 m (22 ft I I in);
iength 13.4 1 m (44 ft 0 in)
Warhead: nuclear
Guidance: (TM-76A) Goodyear (TM-768) AC Spark Plug AChiever Ostensibly a tactical missile, Mace capability. One method of
ATRAN (Automatic Terrain inertialsystem hadarangeof some 1328 kn(825 deployment was a system of rytobile
Recognitron And Navrgation) terrain- Control: autoprlot and conventional miles). B ased in W es t Germ any, this convoJs exactly like the modern
comparlson and contour-matching or ailerons, elevators and rudder range gave the missile a strategic cruisemr'ssi/e.

E iiLnn American Navaho

Today all but forqotten, the North
American Navaho was a vast cruise
missile and the subject of the btggest
development contract the world had
seen up to 1957, wlth a single award by
the USAF to North American Aviation
of $691 million, This huge sum was
needed to pay for not just the SM-64 TheNavahostretched the limits of aviation technologty, cruising atMach3'25 vertically, riding pigeryback on a gtant
missile, or even the gigantic Weapon at altitudes of 2 2 I 60 m Q 5,000 ft). T he I 0 I 7 9 - km (6, 3 2 5 -m ile) r ange made the booster filled with lor&erosene fed to
System 104 of which it was a podion, Navaho a true intercontinental weapon' three of the biggest rocket engines
but also much of the gnridance, struc- then contemplated. The combined
tures and propulsron technologY sliohtlv smaller X-10 recoverable tesl warhead over intercontinental dis- vehicles arched over gentlY tnto a
uefrictes which proved the sandwich tances. This was at the start of develop- programmed climb, acceleratrng until
needed for the very different ICBMs
which replaced it, notably including structure, canard confign-uation with ment in 1947 when the ICBM was ihe missile's own gigantic ramjet en-
butterfly tail, inertial guidance and thought impossible of attainment. gines could be ignited, Then the boos-
the pioneer Rocketdyne engnne used
up to the present day, The vehicle tt- many oiher features, was seen as the Roughly twrce as healry as any airliner ter, twice as big as a V-2, was jetti-
best way to deliver a thermonuclear of the period, the missile was launched soned, the Navaho contrnuing to chmb
sel{ preceded by flying a series of

r686
North American Navaho (continued)
to a crurse altitude of some 22860 m
After tremendous technical
(75,000 ft),
problems had been overcome by
i957, it was finally judged that the
ICBM would be possLble oi attainment
in the near term and would be super-
ior, and WS-104 was cancelled on 11
July of that year, Existing missiles were
used on ICBM support progffammes,
and on lB November l95B one flew a
flawless mission over the desion
Iange,
Specification
Navaho
Type: intercontrnental-range cruse
missrle
Propulsion: Iaunch by separate boost
system wrth three Iox/RP- I rocket
engines with a sea level thrust of
188241 kq(415,000 lb)r cruise
propulsion by twin Curtiss-Wright
RJ47 ramjets integral with the rear
fuselaqe
Early Strategic Missiles
Performance: cruising speed 3460 km/
h (2, 150 mph) or Mach 3,25; normal
cruise altitude 18290-24385 m (60,000-
80,000 ft); range 10179 km(6 325miles)
Weight: lift-off (SM-64A) 13 1542 ks
(290,000 ]b)
Dimensions:spanl.2.27 m (40 ft 3 in);
lenqrth (missile) 26,62m(87 ft 4 in)or
(with booster) 29.03 m (95 ft 3 in);
fuselage diameter 1, 83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Warhead: thermonuclear
Guidance: North American Autonetics
inertialsystem
Control: wing elevons, foreplanes and
V-type buttedy tails
The X- l 0 recoverable test vehicle
pr oved m any of the N av aho
concepts, such as the advanced
sandwich construction. The canard
wing layout and twin butterfly tails
were also proven, reappearing on
the most advanced fighting aircraft
ofthe 1970sand 1980s.

ffi Northrop Snark

ffi

The first strategic missile to go into

service anywhere in the world, this
large cruise missile took 11. years to
develop (the first five at low pace, with
small budgets) from 1946 to 1957; then
at last it grot into servrce with USAF
Strategdc Air Command, only to be
deactivated two years later. Prime
contractor throughout was Northrop, End result of an I I -year development programme, the Northrop SM-62 Snark
and the Northrop SM-62 Snark posed was an aerodynamically advanced pilotless aeroplanewith a range of
major challenges. The conflgruration 10179 lm (6,325 miles).ltwas theworld's tirst operationalstrafegicmrssile.
adopted was that of an extremely
efflcient aeroplane with a high-
mounted swept winq of advanced
aerodynamic form, and without a hori-
zontal tail. Following prolonged testing
of N-25 test vehicles, the big N-69 first
flew on 6 Augnrst 1953, powered by the
most efflcient turbojet available fed
via a ventral inlet, The big fuselage
housed 1l793kq (26,000lb) of
kerosene fuel, the Nortronics inertial
qn-fdance with automatic periodic up-
dating by a star tracker programmed
to take 'sextant shots' of selected stars
and the comprehensive electronic
control and accessory systems, After
being blasted from its huge mobile
iauncher, the SM-624 Snark climbed
out to sea at a constant Mach 0,93 to
cruise altitude, typically over 14630 m
(48 000 ft) When the quidance system
indicated that the correct point in
space had been reached u sem a sig-
nal severinq the entire nose section,
which would plunge towards the
target wrth the warhead and, from
1960, penetration aids such as chafl
The rest of the missile would pitch up
violently and break up under ar loads.
All parts of the system were transpofi-
able in the Douglas C-124 and SAC
squadrons, Ied by the 556th Strategic
Missile Squadron at Presque Isle,
Maine, could flre within an hour of
arriving at any clear patch of ground.
The quip 'Snark-infested waters' was
common on the Atlantrc Missile Ranqe
before 1956, but by the time the 556th Entering sewice in 1958, the Snark targets from different directions, and Dimensions:span 12.88 m(42 ft3 in);
was renumbered the 702nd SMS inJuly originally operated at altitudes of w as eq uipp ed w ith p enetr ation aids Iength 23 I0 m (75 ft 9,5 rn): wing area
1959 this intercontinental weapon was 14630 m(48,000 ft) butby 1960 could (penaids) such as chatf to confuse 30 56 mz (329 sq It)
not only reliable but could take eva- make lowJevel attacks, approaching defending rad ar systems. Warhead: 2268-ks (5 OOOlb)
sive action and approach its target at thermonuclear, yield 5 to 20 meqatons
any height and from any drrectlon ( 130,000-lb) thrust rocket motors with 0,93, at high altitirde 990 km/h Guidance: self-contained stellar-
vectoring nozzles for inrtiai trajectory (615 mph); ranse 10179 km (6,325 inertial
Specification control; cruise propulsion by one 4763- miles) Control: wing elevons, with
Snark kg (10,500jb) thrust Pratt & Whitney Weights: empty 12928 kg (28,500 lb); asymmetnc elevon movement later
Type: rntercontinental cruise missile j57-P-16 turbojet Iaunch (excluding boost motors) replacrng rudder (which was
Propulsion: launched by two 58967-kg Performance: cruisinq speed Mach 2721 6 kq (60,000 lb) deactivated)
 firestone Corporal
=
3llg;rnally known by the US ArmY de-
srgnation M2 the Firestone Corporal
-.';as the first ballistic (wingless) misstle
ic qo rnto service outside Nazi Ger-
many. It
stemmed from a research
vehicle named Corporal E built in
1947-50 to test propulsion and gnri-
dance systems and particularly rocket
engines that did not use cryogenic (re-
frigerated) liquids, In 1951 this ex-
tremely slender vehtcle was hurriedly
developed, marnly by the Firestone
company, into a milrtary weapon with
the US Army and US Narry designation
SSM-A-I? (l7th Army SSM model). ln
effect it was planned as a modernized
V-2 operated rn the field as a piece of
super artillery with a calibre of 762 mm
(30 in), large enough for the warhead
to be a kiloton-range nuclear device if
necessary. lnevitably, the entire
weapon system was large and
cumbersome, weighing over 100 ton-
nes (220,000 Ib) and ridinq on or in 15
vehrcles, Each battalion had a person-
nel strength of more than 250, and after
the launch decision a delay offrom four
to (usually) seven houts had to pre-
cede the actual fldng command This
was largely occupied in preparrng a
launch site, suweytng, setting up the
gnldance and getting the parts of the
system dismounted and connected
toqether, The result was often im-
pressive: at a demonstration at White
Sands (New Mexico) Proving Ground
in July 1958 an improved M2A1 im-
pacted 14.6m (48ft) to the left and
3 6 m (12 ft) short ofits target at a ranqe
of 50 km (31 mlles), Several hundred
roulds served wrth US Army battaltons
from 1954, two being based in ltalY,
while the British Army's 47th GW Regt,
Royal Artillery, used Corporal in i956-
66. From 1962 onwards the US designa-
ffi Hp"ttv Sergreant
As in any new technical fleld, earlY
mrssrles had hardly been created be-
fore it could be seen that they were
obsolete, Thrs was certarnly the case
with the Corporal, Basrc research and
planning ior the Corporal had been
done by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
of the California Institute of Technolo-
gy, whrch by 1955 had desiqned a
second-generatton system with a new
missile, unjammable etuidance and
totally new ground equipment In early
1956 IPL handed this Sergeant system
over to Sperry Rand for production,
with US Army designation XM15, The
mrssile was shorter than the Corporal
had a Thiokol cast polysulphide solid
rocket motor and self-contained iner-
tial grL-ridance, A firing battery travelled
on three semt-trailers and a standard
truck, whrch among other jtems car-
ried sealed containers housingt the
motor, guidance section and conical
warhead, as well as the four fins wrth
powered controls, These had to be
assembled under the qirder formtnql
the launch rail, after which the mrssile
would be checked out bY two truck-
mounted test stations, The launcher
would then be pointed exactly towards
the tarQret and the misslle launched at
75'elevatton. There was no ptovision
for thrust culofl range being deter-
mrned by opening airbrakes around
the guidance sectlon, By the time the
flrst test under battlefleld condrtions
took place in September 1961 the
Sergeant, then about to be redesiq-
1 688
Right:Developed
from aresearch
vehicle, the slender
Corporalhada
range ofup to
139 km(86miles).
Givenadequate
preparation of the
launch site the
missilecouldbe
extremely accurate.
Concurrent with US programmes to sinceWorldWar II was the Firestone
develop strategic missiles, the US Corporal.Itcould be armedwith an
Army alsoproduced tactical gruided HE or tactical nuclear warhead.
mr'ssiles. The first to enter service
tion (MZAl) was MGM-SB, (12,000 ]b)
Dimensions: lenqth 14,02 m (46 ft 0 in);
Specification bodydrameter0.T6 m(2 ft6 in); fln
Corporal span 2. 13 m (7 ft 0 in)
Type: tactical artillery mtssile Warhead: I500-kq (3,3071b) HE or
Propulsion: one 9072-kq (20, 000-1b) nuclear
thrust Ryan rocket engine burning Guidance: Gilfillan system based on
RFNA (red fuming nitric acid) and launch azimuth, radar Doppler
aniline velocrty measurement and launch-stte
Performance: speed at burn-out about computation of trajectory
4281 krr/h (2,660 mph); maximum Control: electrohydraulic power units
range 1 13 or 138 km (70 or 86 miles) drrvinq refractory jet vanes and four
depending on warhead aerodynamic control flns
Weight:launch (typical) 5443 kq
nated MGM-29A, could be seen to
5*ruW
have become obsolete. A far better
new-generation missile was the British
Blue Water, but Bdtrsh politrcal 'clout'
was non-existent so the Blue Water
was cancelled and the Sergeant de-
ployed by the US and West German
armies in 1962-78.
Specification
Sergeant
Type: tactrcal artillery mrssile
Propulsion:one Throkol M53 solLd-
propeilant rocket motor with a thrust of
24948 kq (55,000 lb)
Performance: burn-out speed
3701 km/h (2,300 mph); operational
range 45 to 140 km (28 to 87 miles)
Weight: launch 4500 kq (9,920 ib)
Dimensions:lenqth 19062 m (34 ft
10 in); body diameter 0.79 m (2 ft 7 in);
frnspan 1,80 m (5 ft 1t in)
Warhead: nuclear up to 20 ktlotons,
chemical or conventional
Guidance: pnmitive inertial over
precomputed traj ectory
Control: four jet vanes, four
aerodynamic f,ns and timed airbrake Smaller than the
preceding
deployment
Corporal, the
Test firing of Sergeantunder Sergeant had a
battlefield conditions proved that similar range. The
warheadcouldbe
even though g r ou nd h andling
equipment and the guidance conventional
explosive,
sy s tems w er e gr eatly improve d over
the Firestone Corgoral, the Pace of chemical,or
technological change had made the nuclear of up to 20
kilotonyield.
Sergeant obsolescent.
ffi Fi"r"r"t Fi 103 (V-I)
The first aerial self-gmided missile to
be used rn history, this cruise missile
got its popular designation V-I from
Vergeltungswaffe-I (reprisal weapon
1), though its true desrqtnation was
Fieseler Fi I03, It was also gdven the
cover designation FZG 76 (anti-aircraft
target 76). Its development started 1n
1942 when Generalfeldmarschall
Milch authorrzed the Schmrdt puisejet,
a novel form ofjet engine, to be used to
propel a cheaply produced 'flyrng
bomb', The first powered flrght was on
24 December 1942, and after many de-
lays the bombardment of London be-
gan on 13 June 1944. The V- I was most
erratic and imprecise, but London was
an ideal target. The bomb was fired by
a chemically powered piston driven
along an inclined ramp, Hundreds of
launch sites near the Channel were
attacked by Allied aircraft, and grra-
dually AA guns and fighters got the
upper hand, and fortunately for the UK
the assault never approached the
planned 3,000 per day (the peak was
316 flrrngs from 38 sites on 2 Augnrst
1944). Nobody in south east England
will forget the loud throb of the
approaching bombs, the sudden sil-
ence as the engine cut, and the wait of
a iew seconds for the tremendous ex-
plosion. Over 1,200 bombs were air-
launched from Heinkel He IIIH-ZZ
bombers, and some 2,448 fell on
Antwerp and Brussels in early 1945,
Variants included long-range types
with rncreased span and a wooden
warhead case. Production exceeded
29,000, almost all from the vast slave-
worked Mittelwerke near Nor-
dhausen, The Reichenberg IV plloted
version was flown but not used,
m iiJil"*iinde
The Peenemi.trde A4, a superb lonq-
range rocket, was unquestionably the
greatest single thrust into the unknown
in the hrstory of technologty, and the
development programme resulted in a
weapon aqarnst which there was no
defence. At the same time it has been
argmed that it did nothing to stave olI
the defeat of Nazi Germany, and that
possibly the large resources commit-
ted to it might have been put to better
use, Work on liquid-propellant rockets
began in Germany by enthusiasts at
the VfR (Society for Spaceflight) in the
l92Os, one of the leading younq en-
q[neers beinq Wernher von Braun, By
1934 the work had achieved offlcial
status with funds from the army and a
research establishment on the ranqe at
Kummersdorf, Hauptmann (later
General) Walter Dornberger headed
the army team, which in 1937 moved to
remote Peenemiinde and began test-
ing ever-biqger rockets, At last the
mighty A4 rocket design was com-
pleted, i4 late I941, and the first A4 was
fired on 13 June 1942; it exploded, The
second A4, launched on 16 Augttlst,
was the first missile to fly faster than
sound. The third, fired on 3 October,
flew under full power for a minute,
reaching 190 lcn (118 miles), Suddenly
Hitler ordered the rocket by the
thousand as the V-2 (Vergeltungswaf-
fe-2, reprisal weapon 2), A stupendous
production programme gtot under way
in the vast Mittelwerke mines, and at
last (as related in thrs issue) the army
firing troops were ready, On 6 Septem-
ber 1944 hvo rockets were fired (un-
The Fieseler Fi 103 first flew on Christmas Eve 1942, and on l3June 1944 became the first self-guided missile to be
used in anger.
Specification
Fi I03 (standard)
Type: bombardment crutse missile
launched from fixed sites t or arr-
launched)
Propulsion: one Argnrs-Schmidt 109-
0 14 spring-valve pulsejet operatingt
with frequency ofabout 47 hz to qdve a
sea-level thrust of 300 kq (661 1b)
Performance: speed (eariy) about
599 km/h (372 mph) or (from late 1944)
up to 800 km/h (497 mph); range
(standard model) 240 km (149 miles) or
(extended-range type) 320 km ( 199
miles)
Weight: launch typlcally 21BO kg
(4,806 rb)
Dimensions: span 5.30 m ( 17 ft 4 7 in) or
(extended-range model) 5.72 m (18 ft
9.2 in); Ienqlh 8.32 m (27 ft 3,6 in) or
(short-nose version) 7.73 m (25 ft 4.3 in)
Warhead: 850-kg ( 1, 874-lb) or (long'
range model) 454-kq (1,0001b)
conventional (RDX mxtures)
Guidance: an autopilot held course of
Iaunch ramp, and an arrJoq windmill
measured distance and at appropriate While themajorityof the flying- bombers, foreshadowing the air-
point cut off fuel and commanded dive bombswere launched from inclined launched cruise missileof today.
Control: elevators and rudder only ramps, more than 1,200 were
droppedfromHeinkelHe I I IH-22
A4 (v-2)
successfully) against Paris On B and impact speed both about 5790 km/ Warhead: 9 lO-kg (2,006-lb)
September the real bombardment be- h (3,600 mph); maximum ranqe 320 km conventional (amatol mrx)
gan, against London, For a while the ( 199 miles) Guidance: inertial withstable
British qovernment, which had Weight: lift-off 12870 kq (28 373 Ib) platform, accelerometers and trmed
advised Prime Mrnister Churchill that Dimensions:length 14.05 m (46 ft fuel cut-off
such a rocket could not be built, and 1,1 in); diameter I 68 m (5 ft 6, I in); fin Control: jet deflector vanes and
that the RAF should stop wasting time span3,57m(11ft8,6 in) aerodynamic control frns
lookrng for it, told the public the explo-
sions were caused by faulLy gas marns.
Within days the truth had to be admit-
ted, but Londoners just grot on with win-
ning the war, They Qrot quite used to
hearing a sudden deafening explo-
sion, followed by the lonq diminishing
rumble, just Iike thunder, caused by
the supersomc plunge of the missile
througrh the sky, In 1945 many were
fired aqainst Anhverp. Nearly 5,000 of
the weapons were launched (of over
10,000 built), of whrch 4,320 hit Allied
Specification
A4
Type: Iong-range ballistic missile
Propulsion: sinqle rocket chamberfed
by 544,4-kW (73O-hp) pumps with
liquid oxygen and alcohol for a sea-
Ievel thrust ofabout 26000 kq
(57,330Ib)
Performance: burn-ouVcut-off speed
A,captured A4 rocket is testfired by
British scientists from a site near
Cuxhaven late in I 945. C ommonlY
called the V-2, the A4 was
undoub tedly one of the mos t
significant advance s in weaPons
technolow eve r achieve d.
i 6E9
Hitler3 Terror Weapon
As the Allies began to close on the Third Reich, Hitler and his followers began to pin
their hopes upon a new 'wonder weapon'; on I September 1944 Chiswick inWest
Londoi was iocked by a mysterious explosion. Over the next few weeks it became
apparentthatanew dimensionhad been added towarfare: the long-rangeballistic
miisilehad arrived, andwas tobecomevastlyinfluentialin the post-warworld.

Whereas the Fi 103 (V-1) being a miniature
aeroplane, was assigned to the Luftwaffe, the
great A4 rdcket (V-2) was considered to be an
extension oiartillery and was from the outset a
programme by Hitler's army, Had it been aq air
force weapon it could well (]lke V- 1) have been
planned to be fired from flxed bases, with mas-
ses of steel and concrete, Thrs would have
been a major error, Instead it was always de-
signed as a mobile weapon system, and the
rocket itself was specially sized so that lt could
just pass through a railway tunnel mounted on a
flat car. This was no easy decision, because
such a lantasiic weapon needed a whole army
in support, rncluding a large-capacity source of
liqurd oxygen at a temperature of - I83"C,
large propellant loading systems, an unpre-
cedented amount of delicate maintenance and
adjustment, and guidance setting that called for
laboratory conditions.
This mobrlity made it possible for the army
firing troops to set up their giganttc rockets and
flre them, each shot taking at least six hours,
without one firing being prevented or inter-
rupted despite the absolute Allied command of
the air, In contrast, the fixed-site V-l assault
was seriously delayed when the mtght of the
Allied air forces destroyed every one of the
original pattern of 'ski' type launch sites.
liquid
Fuelfor theA4 comprised amixture of
oxygen and alcohol. Carried to the launch site in
tanke$, thefuelwas pumped aboard duringthe
final two hours of the six hours required to prepare
themissile.

I

Pilot production of the A4 missile begian tn a
new factory just south of the Peenemiinde test
establishment rn early 1943. In August 1943
RAF Bomber Command badly damaged this
plant, and the task of delivering over I,000
rockets per month was transferred to the col-
ossal slave mines at Nordhausen, where neariy
30,000 slave workers died in 19 months The
great rocket became available in quantity by
November 1943 by which time the flrst tech-
nrcal instructors of the initial army umt, 836
Artillerie Abteliunq, had compieted their own
courses at Peenemiinde, They in turn set up an
army A4 rocket school in Pomerania not lar
from Peenemiinde, at Koslln. By January 1944
:he lirst firing troops were ready with their
rockets on a former Polish army reservatlon
near Biizna, About 600 A4s were fired in troop
training between January 1944 and February
1945, almost all of them on the Blizna range,
One of the early shots fell in a Pohsh forest and
did not explode, It was reached by courageous
The A4 was guided relatively simply, being
aligned in the direction of the target' Gyros and
accelerometers were fitted to gently tip the rocket
into the requiredtraiectory and to cutthemain
engine at the precise velocity to ensure that its
ballistic pathwould carry it to the target.
I
Poles who, via the secret resistance network,
sentword to London. In 36 hours an RAF Doug-
las Dakota arrived by night and collecied vita]
parts, Altogether the Dakota made three peri-
lous journeys to Poland, brtngtng back every
removable part of the rocket,
Transport
Though test firings had involved huge gan-
trles positioned over concrete pads with mas-
sive installations for the propeliants and many
other services, the fleld troop had to carry ev-
erythrng with them, Transport of rockets and
some other parts over long dtstances was
usually on rail flat cars or rn box cars, and by
December 1944 actual firings were being
made from the same rail flat cars At first,
however, the firing troop carried wtth ihem a
launch platform ln the form of a welded steel
circulai table standing just over 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
high and 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, and strong
enough to support the fully loaded mtssile even
in a blustery gaie, Centred on the base of this
launcher was a conical steel flame deflector
which, at launch, diverted the iniensely hot
flame sideways, Despite the treatment re-
ceived, these platlorms were massive enough
to be reusable, and some survived a dozen
launchings,
In its rnitial form the A4 rocket system com-
prised 28 or 30 vehicles, which drove in convoy
(normally by niqht) along hrghways and then
turned off to traverse an easy stretch of fairly
even and firm ground to reach the pre-
surveyed launch site. From the start it was
acce'pted that the rocket was too brg to hide or
Early Strate gic Missiles
to camouJlaqe, and there was ltde a:3::-p: ::
prevent detection from the au, Early prci.::
tron A4s were painted mainiy dark gneei
though from August 1944 Miitelwerke rockes
were camouflaged in pale green/grey pa:
terns, They were normally carrted on a Meil-
Ierwagen, a long steel lattice frame ridtng on
three sets of pneumatic tyres behtnd a large
tractor vehicle. Thrs Meillerwagien Crtpped lhe
rocket in calipers, holding rt f,rmly agatc: sci
pads. By October 1944 it was ccr:lrc:- ::r a
single firlng unit to travel by nighi -,..r'r:s rar'-'-
as five rockets, all supported by the sa:te ser-
vrce vehicles though. ol course, neeJ---; ' .=
loads of alcohol and rapidly evapora:i::g ":--i
oxygen. it goes without saying that the pe:s::-
nel were under most rigorous dtsctpltne. d::-;:
everything totally by numbers 'accordi-'.3 .-
the book',
Vehicles were divided into 'soft', wn-::-
could clear the site before launch, and hali
which were needed near the rocket through-
out the launch, The latter were ail armoured.
several (includrng the vttal launch control cen-
tre) being based on armoured cars ofthe SdKlz
231 or 238 types, with srx or eight wheels or,
increasingly, on halltrack suspension for grea-
ter towrng power, There was a need for plenty
of pulling power, for the rockets on their MerJ-
lerwagen vehictes, for the protected van with
warheads, for the gnldance station vehicles, for
nine types of workshop, and above all for the
propellant tanks. Experimental troops even
carried their own liqurd-oxygen production
plant, A mobile crane was needed to offer up
the warhead section, werghing about 975 kg
(2 I50 ]b) of which a remarkable 93 per cent
was explosive, The fairly weak 60/40 Amatol
frtling was the lesser of two evrls. More power-
ful explosive such as Trialen invariably deton-
ated during re-entry back rnto the atmosphere,
when the nosecone was heated to a bnghi
cherry red by frrction with the air. Despite
Hitler's Terror Weapon

thick glass wool insulation, which was also cleanliness of the peroxide hnes had to be cium permanganate solution) and 172 kg
needed around the alcohol and iiqutd oxygen established, and the correct operation of the (379 lb) of T-Stoff (concentrated hydrogen
tanks, many rockets still exploded prematurely four graphite jet deflector vanes and four out- peroxide). Once these were aboard the ,{4
high above the earth, though the launch troops board aerodynamic rudders had to be verified, was regarded with the greatest respect, No-
knew nothrnq of thrs, In the final two hours the intensely cold liquid body l1ked it if the day was windy, because a
The transporter incorporated a giant hyd- oxygen was carefully pumped aboard, the toppled-over missile invariably went up in a
raulic ram, usually powered lrom an external quantitybernganawesome 5533 kg(12, 198 1b). fireball even if the slmple electric-contact fuse
source, which slowly raised the compiete cra- Unlike the situation with such later missiles as on the trp of the nose failed to hit the ground.
dle'and missile vertrcally onto the launcher, the Atlas and Jupiter, this did not result in frost In the last minutes the radio telemetry (often
The latter had to be towed to the selected spot, covering the outer skrn because of the thick carried to log the achieved trajectory) was acti-
the wheels removed, and the platform levelled lagging insrde, Last of all, and with the strictest vated, linked with four slim aft-facing rod ae-
with spirit levels, Once it was bearing the rock- adherence to procedures, the flurds needed to rials at the trarling edges of the grant fins, By
et's weight the platform was carefully watched drive the turbopump were loaded: Z-Stoff (cal- this time everyone would be far from the rock-
for subsidence as the MeiJlerwagen's restraln-
ing calipers were slowly released, The trans-
porter then cleared the srte and subsequent
access was by a mobile ladder 14 m (46 ft)
long, or roughly twice the height of an average
house, Soon after elevation the loading of
4173 kq (9 200 ]b) of ethyl alcohol was started,
Personnel at the top of the ladder would attend
to the gyros and accelerometers in the gui-
dance compartment, and also charge the main
nitrogen bottles, At this stage tt was necessary
to rotate the upper table of the launch platform
to get the missile exactly aligned with the azi-
muth (direction) of the target, because there
was no provision for changing direction after
launch, A11 that the guidance system did was
controi the missile as it gently tipped over to-
wards the target and finally cut off main-engine
propuision at exactly the rlqht velocity (this was
done in a rnay similar to modern inertial sys-
tems, by measuring the varying acceleration of
the mrssile and measuring the ttme).
The launch troop had to work their way
through two substantial manuals of procedures,
which in all took a minimum of six hours. There
were over 180 checks and measures to be
made of electrical items alone, the absolute In 1944, the Polish Resistance managed to smuggle pieces. Togrether with the remains of the first
parts of a crashedV-2 to London, a C-47 Dakota missile tohitLondon, the parts enabled theRAE at
making three clandestine trips to collect the F arnborough to reconstruct the m;ssile.

The Anatomg oI the V-2

91 0-kg (2,000-lb) Amatol exp osive accelerometers radio control and lelemetry equipment glass woo therma/ insulation

liquid nitrogen tanks gyro systems alcohol tank containing c.4175 kg

(9,200 lb) ethyl alcohol

1692
 An operational A4 missile is seen on its
tansporter shortly after elevation and prior to
test firing on test pad 7 at the Peenemiinde test
establishment.
er, except for the launch control vehicle
:emained llnked by two heavy cables. Launch
-,'ias by manual procedures, with verification
between steps, Three sets of safety links and
',-alves had to be activated before the actual
-rng, which beqan by opening the nitrogen
:eed valve and then the master valves for per-
:xide and permanganate, These mixed in a
:eactron chamber to generate high-pressure
superheated steam to drive the 544 4-kW (730-
:ip) turbopump, As soon as this started turning
-. began feeding the main propellants, the li-
quid oxygen passing through a distributor
,eading to the rings of injectors rn the head of
.e ,:1seruo controlled) iquid oxygen tank containing
c. 5533 kg
A captured A4 is launched inNew MexicoinMay
I946. German technology and German engineers
played a vital part in early missile work in both the
USA and the USSR.
which the combustion chamber, and the alcohol
reaching the same injectors vra the double wall
of the nozzle rn order to provide essential cool-
ing, Ignition of the main propellants was elec-
trical, by an exploding bridgewrre, Accelera-
tion of the turbopump to full speed took less
than two seconds, by which time the marn en-
gine should (in theory) be putttng out full thrust,
This would rarse the mlssile off the launcher, its
stabillty being assured by the graphite vanes in
the rocket jet,
Within two or three seconds the qreat rocket
would rise above the surrounding trees, which
were always present to provide some protec-
main turbo pump system
main alcohol feed pipe
llquid oxygen distributor
Z-Stoff (calcium
\\
(1 2,200 lb) LOX permanganate) tank
T-Stoff
(hydrogen peroxide) tank
An 44 is prepared for launching.The launch crew
at the nose are preparing the gyros and
accelerometers which will provide attitude and
thrust cut-off control during flight.
tion against the wind and air reconnaissance.
At thrs pornt the rocket would be seen by peo-
p1e in surrounding villages and probably by
Allied pilots, but though several Allied fighters
tried to chase rislng A.4 rockets not one was
ever shot down, One, in fact, cllmbed vertrcally
just as a Spitflre Mk XIV passed overhead in a
tight turn, and drsappeared into cloud before
the fighter could get near it, As it cllmbed away
it was slowly tilted over by its guidance to an
angle of 45o or even 40", depending on the
target distance, Then, about 60-70 seconds
from lift-off, the propulsion was cut off, the
trajectory having been estabhshed.
rocket chamber graphite thrust vector con:':
vanes (in rocket exhaustr
Dcwn of the lCBt't As early as 1947 Sovret workers, assisted by
The revelation thatwas German rocket technology led both the superpgwersto C"t-iti prisoners, had on paper worked out
ambitious featof developing amissile cap.able of catryinga how to design not only an ICBM but also a
"ttiip,tie i"in"ia oiir
,i*ii"'iiil"if"*tremely intercontinental'dislances. From-the first, however, satelllte launcher using existrng A4 technology
'.,ery different approaches were apparent' Moreover, urider Academtcian Sergei P,
Korolev, they came up wrth the answer that the
its shape, In the V-2 the ;et lrom the rocket ICBM could be created wlthout using a two-
-:r:ugh the emergence rr: 1944 cf the German siage vehicle, By finng all engines on the
2 ai a practical weapcn t::.ed many obser- englne could be deflected by prvoting ^fbur
'.':rs (scientists and engtneers included) lnto an qraphlte vanes prcjecting into the flame, Con- qro-und, reLrabili'y was clearly
" increased -^
I .--..es lhere we r€ stlll iaii saw that ri woulcl be more efllcient lf the Later in 1947 desjgn pegan oi rhe RD I00
;- of whotlv new pcss
:h+ r',. -J ro look atr-'acl Oi rockel engine at the ODL (gas dynamics
.:- :-y who lacked chamber itself could oe qlmballed, mounted
on 'v\o sels ot p' ro s o.90' so tha' i: could direct laborarory) tn Leningrad 'lhis was sirghriy
:--lrse, not many r:ai-lis possessed the re- more adv-anced than the A4 engine, used the
- rcpq anci m r take an active tn- rhe whole;et tn an1 Jos,red direclion and wtrh-
l".r- irit' rinanv the nosecone was same propellants fed by a turbopump driven
:erest in brg rcci::. ICBMs (intercontinental
oallistic missite: a:i spaceflight Germany ""t "iitSef oIc' ( af er cul-o'fl o1 propulsion
arranqocl'o by the same permanganate/peroxide Pll ^alld
lo increase dcl-rt:Y on test in lliy 1948 gave a thrust of 27525 kq
atone had e:lc:r-eace, but her rocket ieams
-,vere dispers:l a:lonqr the Allies. The UK had Though intrrgued' by these developments' {60 682lb) In"l949 this led to the RD'101 wrth
the prevarling cplnton vras that the ICBM was^ various improvements and higher thrust, andln
the resc:t::. out totally iacked motivatron,
1950 to the RD-103 of 44870-kg (98 921 lb)
Oll-r lhe -:-:- and Soviet Union showed real incapab.e oi b-.n; l lt. so :he USAl In one ol
its hlst acr - es ar .n i'pendent servtce cdncel- thrust Both engines were mass-produced, giv
rr,r=res: :: -:red on by mutual competition and
- led the ccn r;c Conv"tr spent lls cwn lunds inq conlidence for Korolev, with \r'P Glushko,
---..---
--:,
, --J
testlng
'- the Mli-774 vehicles tobo ahead in January 1954 with the design o-f
-:=- :re USAAIT awarded a contract to
thdmiqhty R-7 ICBM the f,rst rn the world A
:,:.'..., .. .iuJv irt" ICBM The San Diego M"i"*,Hif" in the Sovtet Union the invarl-
able philosoph.v is 'Plod ahead unceasingly, crltic might say ii was a'brute lorce and iqtnor-
r-.:'.::..:--i designed the MX-774 whlch rntro-
-r---=: three totaily new features, The llqurd doino'whate.,'er becomes possible as soon as 1t This seguence of photographswas ta-ken over a
:,':-Cellants for the rocket enqtne vrere con becches possibte More than any other ccun- Ii-minite period atVandenberg AFB and shows
:=,:-ecl in tanks made of stainless-stee1 sheet trv rh+ S-vt. -n,on tnrestiqates problems theproceis of e recting an Atlas missile, fuelling
r:iied so thin (almost like foil) that the rnterlor molher: T-LCo..] ord Lf the answers appeal to and launching it. Thus the USA would need at least
rad to be pressurized like a baltoon to stabilize make sense proceeds with the development. i iii"it
i' iurnins of a nuclear attack'

I lr.rtllllt!,lt,i. ll,,,l

169,+

:nce' creation, and certainly it bore more
::.rship with rhe spaceships of pre-war irct,on
.--an wrth practrcal modern weapons As de
:--nbed elsewhere the R 7 1ca--ed 55-6 'Sap-
'','ood' by NATO) is liited off the ground by 32
- -cket engines flring simuhaneo-rs11'
As described in the entry for the 55'6, the 20
:rain engines of the R-7 missrle vv'ere indr-
-,-:dually more powerlul than any rockei en-
;rnes previously built, with sea-1evei ihrust
:cm 77000 to 85000 ks (169,756 to 18? 393 1b).
lhe fact that so many were needeci rs ex-
ciained by the sheer difficulty oi {iyrngr the
- IBM missron, over a range of some I - : : kn
:214 miles) wlth lhe ponderrus '.'.-arneads
- eeded in 1954 to accommodare a .her.:r:nuc-
.=ar 'H-bomb' device, which ar -ha. r:n.e by
-:self weighed some 7000 kq (15,432 1i:) The
-:'-7 vehicle featured a central ccre, v;r:h four
:lain engines, surrounded by four jetiiscnable
cooster packages, each as blg as a typical
passenger airliner of the day, and each with its
:lwn quartet of engrnes, Vehicle control and
--nal trimming of velocrty wm accompltshed by
-2 swiveJJing vern.er engrne:. However much
one might leel the R-7 an:-rntnsprred creation,
one must marve] at the sheer money, eflort and
resources exoended in order not onlv to build
it but also to ireate rts gigantrc launch centres,
the first of which (and possibly the only one)
was at Balkonur, laler a cosmodrome for space
launches Here, near the old city of Tyuratam, a
launch complex 137 km by 89 km (85 miles by
55 miles) inclucles the slupendous hollowed-
out launch complex (looking like a cross be-
tween a giant open-cast mine and Clapham
Junction) from where R-7 made a 6500-km
flighi 'into the target area' on 2l
(4,039 mile)
August 1957 Previously from l95i to 1953
Soviet scientists had announced the possibility
illluilira:ll:ll
'lirrjlll'illlll
ii. :is.;
of orbrting Earth satellites; nobody seemed to
show interest. But on 4 Oclober 1957 the mons-
ter R-7 took oflfrom Baikonur and placed Spul,
nik I tn orbit. To the amazentent of the Amer-
icans. the space age had been brought in by
lhe Sovret Union.
Subsequently, the nonstop development ol
Soviet iCBMs led to far more efficient missiles
of terrifying size and power, and thousands
today are at readiness. In terms of 'throw
weight' the West has been far outpaced, be,
cause i1lacks money to compete, This occur-
red despite what was in the 1950s superior
ICBM technology in the USA. As described in
this rssue, once the USAF got the message that
an ICBM was possible, il moved rapidly and
Convair took only a few months to pick up the
MX-774 concept and develop it into the much
bigger SM-65 Atlas. Yet by comparison with
the R-7. the Atlas was a tiddler, Instead ol 32
engines rt had three, none as big as the main
R-7 engines. Yet it was sti1l a missile big enouqh
to pose severe deployment problems, and rt is
historicaliy interesting that, though in rts early
years Atlas and other ICBMs were called 'the
uitrmate weapon', iL does nor seem ro have
occurred to anyone that ihey were self-
cancelhng, The combination of long range,
warhead yield, accuracy and relatively brref
flight time was such that any fixed object on our
planet could henceforth be wiped oif the map,
unLess it was hardened (protected against a
nuclear explosion) to an unprecedented de-
qree
in fact, a lar better way to make an ICBM
surviVable is to make it mobrle, One of the besf
methods is sureiy to fit the whole system into
what looks like just another freight train, as was
originally proposed for the
Minuteman (which came two qeneiations after
Eariy Strategic Missiles
', '-e{'
I
!7i r?
't,",,Ell : ,j
i ,t. -i
f; - .E;
.;!+
'-**;
By the time Titan I entered service, mjssjjes werE
stared upright in hardened silos. However. the
missi/es sfi/jr1a d to be fuelled and raised abo'. e
ground for firing, a difficulty which Titan I I was : :
overcome.
-re .lo; wrrh rhe SM-68 Tilan rn be: *-
Such deplcyment was imposslbie -,n;l:i :.-
Atlas because physical size prevente: .
l-te:e .vrs no spectal proo.lem tn lesi-:-l ....'
iCB\{ al Cape Canaveral, where ailer '' -
cdlds:ICph.LC explosions an Allas mad- a : :-
cessful fliqht on l7 December 1957, Bul :=
plcying it ln numbers with Strategic Air C::,
mand was comphcated by the rnabrlity to 9.. .
righi irst irme, The frrst SAC Atlas squadr::
had 1ts missrles in soft above-ground buiidl:.=.
wrtn end-sldrng roofs. fhe next kep ris r,-...
siles in above-ground buildrngs with splrt rc::-.
openrng srdeways, thus saving a minule :r ... -
rn the all-important 'reaction time', The ne.:
had widety scattered individual mlssile bui'i-
rngs recessed inlo the ground giving be ;-
proleclion Then came a squadron wrrh h.:
dened microwave communicaLions. alr-
whrch came a dramatic improvement wrth mrs-
srles deep below ground in concrele silos
There was sti1l a long way to go, The Atlases
slrll had to be ho-sted lo the surface, and lL.
liqurd oxygen could not be loaded until an
order Lo fire had been received. The missr.e
vras basicblly jnefficienr in havrng all eng,nes
ignited beiore Iift-off: landem stages are beuer.
Laler missiles rntroduced soLd-propelianr
rocket motors, with many advantages, and
miniaturized inertral guidance ol pinpoint
accuracy. The latest Soviet ICBMs have the
cold launch method, in which lhey are blown
out of a deep silo by the silo's own gun-1ike
USAF s SM-80 system, the first stage motor being started well
above the ground,
1695
Wings or Rockets:
fhe strategic choice
From the startitwas clear that military planners had two
op&ons when' considering strategicrnrssiles' Cru-r'se rnl'ssj/es -
pilotless aircraft -were telatively cheap and could be builtin
'some
numbers, butwere vulnerable to interception.The
ballistic missile was more expensive and challenging, buthad
the advantage of invulnerability to interception.
-- war rockets (Chinese, lndian and British, ln that order, f rom the 2th
e earliest
'1

devices ln theory they'ollowed the

were simple f irework-like
=i,r* on*jrOs) trajectbry as a cannonball, though there were compllcatlng
::-€ k:nd of ball.st'c
.*tor. Arluie as Worlb War ll rockets were erratiC. Manufacturing imperfec-
: ons, which were difficult to eradicate, caused the thrust vectorto vary unpre-
r,CtabLv. while at hiqh speeds the aerodynamic forces on the body become
jonin6iaOf e ofren divinb destabilizing or iateral forces somettmes rese.mbling
ine jateral thrust of"a f;st-spinning golf or tennis ball. AII this added up to
^ -l
acc.i racv.
i,:l c War I there were surprisrngly few ballistic rockets, but plentycruise
of a
^..'. ..=: pilotless miniature aerop'ianes. Today we call this-species
"t,
--:: ::. Compared with the ballistli rocket these generally,fly much more
- - .', and oiten at lower altitudes, but carry heavier warheads (or other
::.
l=.= -.-'rs,
such as reconnaissance sensors) and offer possibilities {o-r very accu-
dan." svstems. At first, however, the guidanie was the diff icult part ol
: ^- jSi es. The underlying technology was almost non-existent

Ballistic missiles stretched the limits of possibility, and mistakes could have
disaslrous con sequences. Any explosions involving the enormous quantities
of liquid oxygen required foriCBMs were certainly spectacular, as shown by
tnisZuemitea Titai launch from Patrick AFB, Florida, in November I 959.

Todav the sit.ration is very ditferent. Bolh spec'es of missile are of the
g
rm po
r"ut"ti rtance. Both ca n ca rry devas tating wa rhead s over inte rcontinental
distances, dnd wrth great accuracy. ln general, tbday's cruise missile tends to be
rrCh srbtt"r, and firobably cheaper,-than the corresponding ICBM (intercon-
tinental ballistic mlssile). ln iurn this makes it easier to launch f rom an aircraft or
an all-terrain land vehicle, Such mobile deployment is now essential if any
so-called deterrent force is qoinq to survive a pre-emptive strike by the other
side, which today can elimin'ate anything whose location is accurately.knowl
Yetihe continueil miniaturization of thermonuclear warheads, penetration aids
(or penaids, designed to confuse and dilute the defences) and g uidance systems
has reduced the iize of practlcal lcBMs to the point where these too can be f ired
from mobile cross-country launchers.
When the ICBM was a n'ew creation it was often called 'the ultimate weapon'
There was no existing defence against lt. Gradually, ways were found to filter
out the real warneads"fron' the penaids and then destroy the warheads at a sa'e
altitude above their targets. Today many clever methods are known, but no
actual ABM (anti-ballistic missile) defences exist except in the Soviet Union,
where the ABM installations are the biggest weapon constructions oi all ttme.
trrere is little point in devising a way to protect one's self against attack if the
knowledge is not to be used.
Bv corioarison. tne winqed crlise missile appears easy to shoot down The
UK.'startino from scratchln Julv '1 944, shor down 4,261 ol aboJt 8,000 V-1
ridr;t"i wfi,crr crossed the coast (ol 9,251 fired) Modern defences could ir
thuory d"tttoy every crulse missile, despite the latter's ability to try to look
invisi6te (by'stealth"technology) and to take evasive action. The cruise missile
:: crder to achieve structural lightness, the first American ICBMs were built oI CertaintV pose. a threat, couniering which probably costs an enemy more than
.r" rri.n"ttpo ssible material.Empty of fuel, thisAtlaswould collapseunder it u ioii Slthe missiles. But for mlximum deterrence there seerns no alterna-
:: cwn weightunless pressutized like a giant aluminium balloon' tive to the modern mobile (or submarrne-fired) ballistic missile

Above:In contrast toICBMs, the firstgeneration of cruisemissiles didnot
require elaborate ground facilities before launching. This meant that
intercontinental sJzslems sucft a s the Northrop SM'62 Snark could be mobile,
reducing their vulnerability to attack.
Early Strategric Miss iles
The M ar ti n M ace, together with its lau nch f acilities, cou Id be move d
B elow :
around in small convoys inmuch the same way as the modern crui'semr'ssrJe.
Once on site the missile wouldbe assemb/ed a nd launched from a portable
ramp.
ffi Hng[sh Electric BIue Water
Like almost all the dozens of British
military arrcrait and missiles of 1955-65
the excellent English Electric Blue
Water tactical missile had the misfor-
tune to be British. Because of the poli-
trcal environment this practically
guaranteed that nothing would be
done wrth it, even though it was tech-
nically far in advance of similar
weapons in other countries. Its de-
velopment was authorized in 1958, to
meet a War Offlce requirement for
what was called a 'corps-support
weapon'. This was to replace the obso-
lete Corporal, and it was loQdcal to give
the job to English Electric Aviation at
Stevenage, which had been foster-
parent to Corporal rn the British army.
The specrfication was much more se-
vere than that of the contemporary
Sergeant, calling for numerical max-
imum/minimum ranges, tmmunitY to
countermeasures harsh demands on
air-portabrlity, and very low bulk, sys-
tem price and cost, The Blue Water
missile was amazingly small for its task,
and after trials with a special triple-
launcher vehrcle it was found possible
to put the entire weapon system
aboard a standard Bedford 3{on truck,
except for a small self-checking digttal
computer, The whole system could be
slungr under a Bristol Belvedere heli
copter, When a target was identifled
the computer vehicle drove up on one
side and fed in trajectory, motor cut-off
time and warhead burst height, while a
ffi f,e Havilland BIue Streak
Like almost all the UK's other combat
aircraft and missiles, the de Havilland
Blue Streak, a large and important
weapon system was cancelled after
having been described as 'the ultimate
defence system of this country'. The
decrsron to deploy a Brilrsh strareglc
thermonuclear missile was taken in
January 1955. Orders for the system,
which never had any popular name
except lts original codename, wete
placedwith de Havilland Propellers as
prime contractor, de Havtlland Air-
craft for the airframe, Rolls-Royce for
propulsion and Sperry Gyroscope for
the guidance, To save trme and reduce
rrsk the technoloqty was copied from
that of the Atlas, though tn many re-
spects even more primitive desLgn
solutrons were adopted. Thus the stain-
less-steel 'balloon tank' airframe had
blunt-cornered fairingts over the two
thrust chambers, and the latter had
conical expansion nozzles instead of
the more eff,cient hyperbolic-curve
type as used on Rocketdyne produc-
tion engines, System desiqn and in-
tegrration was centred at Hatfleld, en-
gdne testing at an extensive establish-
ment specially built at Spadeadam,
Cumberland and flight test at the
Weapons Research Establishment,
Woomera, Australia, where full-range
fligrhts were possible, The operator
was to be RAF Bomber Command,
whose Blue Streak squadrons were to
store their missiles on rotating tables
made by Morfax in deep hardened
srlos rn the UK and on sovereiqn base
areas elsewhere Before launch the
table was to be raised rapidly to the
surface, with high-rate loadinq of the
propellants and final transfer of target
data to the guidance system and rota-
tron to the launch aztmuth, ln 1956 it
was said lne Avro 730 supersonic bom-
1698
Left: One of the finest tactical missiles
theodolrte set up the inertial platform
by lookrng through a hole at a mirtor ever produced, Blue Water was
inside the missile, The whole proce- extremely accurate, with advanced
dure took about two minutes, after propulsion and guidance, and could
which the missrle could be elevated to be set up tor launch in two minutes. It
the correct angle and fired, Trials went was cancelled in favour of the much
outstandinqly well, and this should less effective, much heavier and
obviously have become a standard much s lower- r e acting S erge ant,
NATO weapon, the Standing GrouP whichhad thegoodfortune to be an
having announced a European need Americansystem.
for just such a mrssile, in 1962 British
political ineptitude resulted in the Blue
Water berng cancelled in favour of the
Sergeant, which had greater circular
error, was a far less conventent system
weighing three times as much and
possessing a reaction time nlne times
longer, at five times the cost,
Specification
BIue Water
Type: truck-mounted tactical
precision missile
Propulsion: higrh-impulse dual-thrust
solid-propellant motor
Performance: cut-ofTburn-out velocity
typically 2414 km/h (1,500 mPh);
maximumrange I00 km (62 miles)
Weight:launch 1361 kg (3,000 ]b)
Dimensions:length 7,62 m (25 ft 0 in);
diameter0.6l m(2 ftO in)
Warhead: ihree qutck-change heads,
normally travelling with 2-kiloton
nuclear
Guidance: strapdown inerttal
Control: four moving wings around
mrd-section
ber would replace the V-bombersl In
1957 the Avro 730 was cancelled, to be
_ l:,:::::i:=:r1l
replaced 'by the forthcoming ballistic
missile'; rn early 1960 the Minister of _./- ::.::i::. ._ lir,:!-
Defence said 'Whatever haPPens, we ':::'::::.: r:::-:!!r:-..
. . :.a::i:: :=:i:ti,ri_ ::.::"1::
shall keep Blue Streak'; in April 1960
the Blue Streak was cancelled, to be
replaced by the US-designed Skybolt;
and in December 1961 SkYbolt was
cancelled, The Blue Streak survived
for a while as a cLvihan space launcher,
setting a flawless flight record, only to Right: Blue Streak fell victim to the
be replaced by Frances Artane. erratic defence policies of the early
1960s. UsingAtlas technology, the
Specification mis sile had a range of 46 27 km (2,87 5 ::::.-;r:;jir,,,: :rr
BIue Streak mile s). I t suw ived military
Type: LRBM (long-range ballistic cancellation as a potential space
missrle) launcher, but the pr og r amme w a s
Propulsion: one Rolls-RoYce RZ.12
package with two RZ.2 iox/kerosene
engines each with sea-level rating of
62142 kq(137,000 lb), andtwo
eventu ally terminate d.
ruffi&
Armstrong Srddeley PR.23 vernier
motors each rated at 227 kg (500 lb)
Performance: cut-oif velocity Mach
15,5; maximumrange462T km (2 875
miles)
Weight: launch 90265 kg (199,000 Ib)
Dimensions: (GE Mk I RV) length
18.75 m(61 it6 21n); diameter3.05 m
(10 ft O in)
Warhead: thermonuclear, posslblY
1,5-2 megatons
Guidance: inertial
Control:thrusl vectoring of main-
engine grmballed chambers and
verniers, with vernier trimmtng of flnal
velocity
Blue Streak, flight-tested in Australia,
would have been a s ignifi c ant
c omponent of the U nited K ingdom's
s tr ategic de terre nt, althoug h any
deployment sites would have been
as vulnerable as the US Atlas system.
ru Ht-g'shyster'
Said at the time to be designated T-I,
this missile was revealed in the 1957
October Revolution parade through
Red Square, Moscow. It was the first
Soviet ballistic missrle to be seen, and
it was carried on a four-wheel trailer
(very lrke the A4 M eillerwagen) tow ed
by a 309,5-kW (415-hp) AT-T heaqr
artrllery tractor which seated the
launch crew of 16, Classed as an
MRBM (medium-range ballistic mrs-
sile), this weapon marked a major
technical advance beyond the A4,
though derived trom the German mis-
sr-le. The engine was developed at the
- generation was the longer SS-4 'San-
eningrad-based GDL, and differed
:om the earlier RD-100 rn having a
solid catalyst to drive the gas gener-
ator and turbopump, and in being im-
proved mechanically throughout,
kopellants were liquid oxyqen and a
33 per cent solution of ethyl alcohol,
xd the vehicle control was derived
from the A4. The pointed nosecone Specification Derived{rom the
which did not separate, contained a SS-3 GermanA4,theT-l
nuclear, conventional or chemrcal Type:mobrle MRBM missile (known to
warhead, Radio command quidance Propulsion: one GDL RD- IO 1 pump- /VA?O as tfieSS-3
was based on use of several ground fed rocket engtne burning lox/alcohol 'Shyster') was first
stations at surveyed sites, but it was and developingr a sea-level thrust of firedin and
1949
claimed that missiles could be laun- 37730 kq (83,180 ]b) wasdeployed in
ched 20 mlnutes after arriving at the Performance: burn-ouVcut-off soeed Iargenumbersin
firinq location. Test firinqs took place about Mach 7; maxrmum range
' the 1950s. It had a
in 1949 and large numbers were de- 1200 km (746 miles) rangeof1200 lan
ployed in 1955, recerving the US/ Weight: Iaunch 26000 kg (57,320 ]b) (746 miles).
NATO appellation SS-3'Shyster' A few Dimensions: length about 21,00 m (68 ft
of these missiles were repofied to l0.B in); diameter 1.70 m (5 ft 6.9 in)
have been converted in about 1958 to Warhead: usually nuclear (yield not
lox/kerosene propulsion. The next known, but later SS-4 was
thermonuclear)
dal', the cause of the Cuban 'missile Guidance: orrginally radio command,
crisis' in 1962, Thrs had the much more later radio-inertial
powerful GD-214 engine with four Control: four jet deflector vanes and
chambers burning RFNA (acid) and four aerodynamic control fins; vernier
kerosene, rated at 73520-kg (162,084- velocity trrmmrnq belteved absent
lb) thrust at sea level and carrying a
i-megaton thermonuclear warhead.

m Ht-o'sapwood'
-nis grgantic missile typified the basic
S:net approach to solvinqt problems:
-:-e use of brute force. Though topped
-y the towering SS-iB now in use, the
5$6 'Sapwood' (the designation and
:-arne are Western inventrons) is the
:eaviest weapon projectile of all time,
rath a lift-off weight greater than that of
ly known aircraft except the largest
:i the wide-body airlines. It was plan-
:ed in 1953 to guarantee that a long-
:ange 'carrier rocket' would be avail-
irle to deliver Soviet thermonuclear
'rarheads. Cost was completely drs-
:ounted, and the immense size of the
r,'eapon naturally caused no public
:utcry
-,Vest)
(such as would happen in the
because no announcement was
:ade The configrralron remaLns unr-
;re.
-:he The
vehicle at lift-off comprises
present tense is used because the
same vehrcle is in current use as a
lace launcher) a central core with
-r'.]r tapered strap-on boosters, the lat-
:er also to some extent serving as fins,
-ae core rs powered by an RD-108
::gdne with four fixed thrust chambers
::d four small vernier engines, all fed
: ,'the same turbopump group, Each of
.:e boost packages has four thrust
:rambers formrng an RD-107 engine
'.'.rrch also rncludes twrn vernrer
::ctors grrmballed through 45" each
s:Ce of vertical. Thus at lift-off the
-,'"-rolegigantic vehicle has 32 rocket
all flring simultaneouslyl The
=rgines,
:rst test firings cannot have been later
--:-an the start of 1956, and a full-range
:nng took place on 2l Auwst 1957.
)eployment must have posed rm-
:::ense problems, This giant vehicle
lecame known after one had placed
jputnrk J in orbit on 4 October 1957,
rd it was then seen that it needed a
';ast iaunch copplex which included a
-arge-scale electrrc railway. Probably
:nly a dozen or two of these missiles
','"ere actively deployed, thougrh much
Jreater numbers have been used in
subsequent space launches, The 55-6
:arried the heaviest warhead ever
The size and power of the R-7 missile Above: The heaviest weapon
made it an ideal launcher for the first projectile of alltime, the 300-tonR-7
space vehicles. Launching the tir st (known as the 55-6'Sapwood' to
Sputniks and the first cosmonaut, the NATO)was thefirstgenuine ICBM to
Iauncherversions ofthe R-7 werc the enter sewice. Powered by no less
power behind the early Soviet than 32 rocket engines, the gigantic
triumphs in the race for prestige in missile had the highest throw weight
space. ever recorded.
55-6'Sapwood' (continued)

constructed for any missile, though
yreld has been surpassed by that
single-RV SS-18 missiles.
Specification
SS-6
Type:fixed-base ICBM
Propulsion: one RD- 108 package with
LTS four thrust chambers (sea-level rating
o{ of77500 ks/170,8S8 Ib) and four
verniers plus four boost packages
each with one RD- lO7 with four thrust
chambers (vacuum rating of
1040,0 kq 229 303 Ib-; andtwin
verniers, all burnrng liquid oxygen and
Performance: cut-off/burn-out veloctty
Mach 26; maximum range over
10000 km (6,2 L4 miles)
Weights:basrc structure 28000 kgt
(61,729 lb); lift-offtotalover 295000
(650,364 rb)
Dimensions: lenqth 30 50 m ( 100 ft
0.8 rn;: drameter leacholrhefive
components) 2,95 m (9 ft B. l tn)
Warhead: 6800-kq ( 14, 99 I -lb)
thermonuclear yleld estlmated at 5
megatons
kq Guidance: complex radio/command/
rnertial
Control: thrust vectoring of l2 vernier
engines

re Fhoc-I and FRoc-z

This odd name is a US acronYm, from
'Free Rocket Over Ground' It has
been applied to a long and Prohfic
series of Soviet a:1:11ery rockets whose
flrst three memb:rs theY were
revgaled in "vhen Revolution
::-: lctober
parade thrc:g:- ?.ed Square in NoVem-
ber 195? -.'.-::: satd to have had the
desig:a -::-: T-5A, T-5B and T-SC
l:r::;::- .-,::= :,- nevet been any con-
::-r-r ::- -: sr AIIFROGmissilesare
:-:,:-= :=--::.c lockets carried on
':
': -:-:ies
-,' -, -,-,-.
and used In connec-
iand battle The FROG-I
'''r: 'i= -::;,' version carried (on sur-
: -. -:-: :ark chassis) rnside a drum
:-----=,:: Ii was suqqtested that thls
---.:,.-: :yirnder was to maintain the
. : :::celiant rocket motor at above
--:=:-:-j iemperature in winter, Like
: versions, the FROG-I
'''-:Jisequent
:-med by steering the launch
','=---:1e, usinqt its tracks, the azimuth
: ji-ng) berng capaole in some in-
-.:- rairons of reflnement over a small
::.;1e by rotation on a pivot. The range
-r- rhen determined by selectinq the
rl-ect launch elevation angle The
FROGZ was a smaller and lighter mis-
:--e which could be carried on the
::::phrbious PT-76 light tank giving
i-::rcst pedect cross-country capabli-
-. , Wrth many thousands of both types
: - launch vehicle avarlable, production
:- these powerful rockets was on a
::ale which by Western standards Above: The simplest approach to tankciassri was aimed by pointing system would be somewhat
s:ems astronomical, Many thousands ballistic missiles is typified by the at the target, and range was inaccurate, but it sewed in such
-,';ere fired durinq exercises in the Soviet FROG series. FROG - 1, carried achieved by choosing the relevant large numbers that targets could be
penod Only larer verstons are
i60-BO in cylinders aboard converted IS-3 launch angle. Naturally, sucfr a saturated with high explosive.
-:- sewice today flred with two-stage
plopulsion from higth-performance
ZIL-135 wheeled cross-country vehi-
:les though some of the earlier ver-
sions are probably still to be found in
smaller or Third-World countries,

Specification
FROG-I
Tlpe: ungnlded spin-stabilized
afilllery rocket
Propulsion: Iarqe solid-propellant
motor with cast charge, and sinqle
expanslon nozzle (later versions have
multiple nozzles)
Performance: estimated burn-out
speed Mach 2 estlmated maxlmum
ranqe 32 km (20 mrles)
Weiqht: launch 3000 kg (6,614 lb)
Dimensions: length about 10,00 m (32 ft
9.7 in); bodydiameterO,BS m(2 it
9.5 in)
Warhead: usually larqte conventional;
all FROG versrons also have the option
of a chemical warfare head, and
I ROC-1 and certatn other vetsions
could also carry a tacttcal nuclear head
Guidance: none
Control: spin stabilization only

FROG - 2 and FROG-3 were mounted

on PT -7 6 amphibious tank chassis,
and many thousands were fired on
exercise inthe 1960s and I970s.They
were used on Israeli targets by Syria
in the Yom Kippur war of I 973.

I 700