Archives of Missiles

The AIM-9 "Sidewinder" is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by wide range of modern tactical aircraft in the U.S. military and recently, certain gunship helicopters. The AIM-9 is one of the oldest, least expensive and most successful missiles in the U.S. weapons inventory.

The Bullpup was the first mass-produced air to ground command guided missile.

The BQM/MQM-74 “Chukar” is a series of aerial target drones produced by Northrop. It is a recoverable, remote controlled, subsonic aerial target drone, capable of speeds up to Mach 0.86 and altitudes from 30 feet to 40,000 feet. It was introduced in 1968 and many are still in service. It is normally launched from a four-engine DC-130 aircraft, but can also be launched from strike fighters such as the F-15 and F-16, as well as from ships.

The “Tomahawk” is a U.S. Navy land attack cruise missile designed to be launched from surface ships and submarines. The Block III TLAM-C (“Tomahawk” Land Attack Missile) carries a conventional variant 1,000 pound class blast/fragmentation unitary warhead. Designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, they are piloted over an evasive route by several mission-tailored, on-board guidance systems.

In June 1953, Vought received a contract to develop a supersonic successor to the “Regulus“ sub-sonic cruise missile. The new missile, named “Regulus II”, received the designation SSM-N-9. The first flight of a “Regulus II” took place in 1956. Two years later the government terminated the program in December 1958, in favor of the more advanced Polaris ballistic missile. After the project cancellation, Vought converted some of the remaining “Regulus II” missiles to supersonic target drones. These drones continued to fly until 1963.