![]() ![]() Navy fighter project, the VFX, which would become the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Its weapons system, the Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix working with the AWG-9 radar, migrated to the new U.S. The General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B was canceled in 1968. One characteristic of the Missileer ancestry was that the radar sent it mid-course corrections, which allowed the fire control system to loft&rdquo the missile up over the target into thinner air where it had better range. The Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix, developed for the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B fleet air defense fighter, had an airframe with four cruciform fins that was a scaled-up version of the AIM-47. The Missileer project was cancelled in December 1960, but in the early 1960’s Navy made the next interceptor attempt with the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B, and they needed a new missile design.Īt the same time, USAF canceled the projects for their land-based high-speed interceptor aircraft, which left the capable AIM-47 Falcon missile at a quite advanced stage of development. It would work together with Westinghouse AN/APQ-81 radar. The weapon needed for interceptor aircraft, the Bendix AAM-N-10 Eagle, would be an air-to-air missile of unprecedented range when compared to contemporary AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. The projected Douglas F6D Missileer was intended to fulfill this mission and oppose the attack far from the fleet it was defending. The Navy would require a long-range, long-endurance interceptor aircraft to defend carrier battle groups against this threat. Eventually, during the height of the Cold War, the threat would have actually expanded into regimental-size raids of Tupolev Tu-16 Badger and Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire bombers equipped with low-flying, long-range, high-speed, nuclear-armed cruise missiles and considerable Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) of various types. Since 1951, the Navy faced the initial threat from the Tupolev Tu-4K Bull carrying anti-ship missiles. Following the retirement of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat by the US, the weapon’s only current operator is Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. They were replaced by shorter-range AIM-120 AMRAAM’s, employed on the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Both the missile and the aircraft were used by the United States Navy and are now retired, the Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix in 2004 and the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006. The weapons system based on Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix was the world’s first to allow simultaneous guidance of missiles against multiple targets. The Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix was the United States’ only long-range air-to-air missile. The Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix is a radar-guided, long-range air-to-air missile (AAM), carried in clusters of up to six missiles on Grumman F-14 Tomcats, its only launch platform. Guidance system: Semi-active and active radar homing.Warhead: 135 lb (61 kg), high explosive.Manufacturer: Hughes Aircraft Company Raytheon Corporation.Used by: United States Navy (retired) Iran.Hughes XAIM-54A “Phoenix” missile on display () at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois ![]()
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