AIM-47 Falcon

In the early 1950s, the United States Air Force developed requirements for a high speed, high performance interceptor aircraft, originally called the LRI-X. In 1957, Hughes won the contract to supply the weapons system for this aircraft. This system consisted of the GAR-X missile and the YX-1 radar and fire control system. The original missile design had a range of {{convert|15|to|25|mi|km}}, and could be equipped with a conventional warhead or a 0.25 kiloton version of the W42 nuclear warhead. When the North American XF-108 Rapier was announced as the winner of the LRI-X contest in April 1958, the Hughes entries were redesignated GAR-9 and AN/ASG-18 on the same day. The F-108 was canceled in September 1959, but the Air Force decided to continue development of the missile system with both warheads.Sean O'Connor, [http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-47.html Hughes GAR-9/AIM-47 Falcon], Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, 2004

During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing much larger, the missile's range was extended to {{convert|100|mi|km}}, using the Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. The SARH seeker was a powerful system of its own, with the resolution to be able to lock onto a {{convert|100|sqft|m2|adj=on}} target at {{convert|63|nmi|km|abbr=on}}. Some consideration was given to the addition of a passive infrared homing seeker to improve terminal performance but that would have required the missile to grow by {{convert|180|lb|abbr=on}} and two inches in diameter, making it too large for the F-108's weapon bay. The W42 nuclear version was dropped in 1958 in favor of a {{convert|100|lb|adj=on}} high-explosive design.

Problems with the motor during development led to the brief consideration of using a storable liquid-fuel rocket design, but was replaced instead by the Lockheed XSR13-LP-1 solid rocket. This lowered the top speed from Mach 6 to Mach 4. In this form, the GAR-9 started ground firings in August 1961. For air-launch testing at supersonic speeds the Republic XF-103 had originally been proposed as a test platform, but this aircraft was canceled before reaching the prototype stage. Instead, B-58 Hustler s/n 55-665 was modified to house the AN/ASG-18 radar in a large protruding radome that gave it the nickname "Snoopy", and in-flight launches started in May 1962.

In 1960 Lockheed started development of the Lockheed YF-12 interceptor, as a lower-cost replacement for the F-108. The GAR-9/ASG-18 were moved to this project. The F-12 would have featured four flip-open internal weapons bays on the chines behind the cockpit, one of these filled with electronics. The F-12B bays were too small for the GAR-9, so the GAR-9B was developed with flip-out fins to reduce its diameter. It weighed {{convert|365|kg|lb|order=flip}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.testpilot.ru/usa/hughes/aim/47/gar9_e.htm |title=AIM-47 (GAR-9) Falcon long-range air-to-air missile |author= |website=Testpilot.ru |access-date=2015-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118192802/http://www.testpilot.ru/usa/hughes/aim/47/gar9_e.htm |archive-date=2015-01-18 |url-status=dead }}

Test firings of the GAR-9A from the prototype F-12As resulted in six kills from seven launches, the lone miss due to a missile power failure (there were several non-guiding test launches as well). The missile was renamed AIM-47 in late 1962 as part of the transition to common naming for aerospace vehicles across the U.S. Department of Defense in 1962. The last launch was from a YF-12 flying at Mach 3.2 and an altitude of {{convert|74400|ft|m}} at a QB-47 target drone {{convert|500|ft|m}} off the ground.B. Rich, Skunk Works (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1994), p. 236

In 1966, the F-12 project was canceled just as the F-108 had been. Another project which expressed an interest in the design was the XB-70 Valkyrie, a bomber which could have carried the AIM-47 for self-defense. This aircraft was also canceled after Soviet deployment of effective high-altitude surface-to-air missiles made high-altitude attacks on the Soviet Union impractical.

Hughes had built 80 pre-production AIM-47 missiles.

The AIM-47 was used as a base for the AIM-54 Phoenix (originally the AAM-N-11), intended for the General Dynamics F-111B. This project was also canceled in 1968, but the weapon system finally found a home on the F-14 Tomcat, entering service in the early 1970s.

In 1966, the basic airframe was adapted with the seeker from the AGM-45 Shrike and the {{convert|250|lb|abbr=on}} warhead from the Mk 81 bomb to create the high-speed AGM-76 Falcon anti-radar missile, although this did not see service.Andreas Parsch, [http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-76.html Hughes AGM-76 Falcon], Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, 2004

• Missile designation

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYKbPPRFE6o AIM-47 Falcon missile launch]

{{US missiles}}

AIM-047

Category:Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States

Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1960s