Pye Wacket

Project "Pye Wacket", officially known as the Lenticular Defense Missile (LDM) Program and by the project number WS-740A, was instituted in 1958 in response to a US Air Force request for a Defensive Anti-Missile System (DAMS) to protect the proposed B-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber from high-speed, high-altitude surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and interceptor aircraft.Parsch 2005

The extreme speed and operating altitude of the Valkyrie was considered sufficient protection against Soviet interceptors of the time.Rees 1960, p.125. However it was anticipated that future aircraft and missile developments would reduce the B-70's margin of superiority, especially following the SA-2 Guideline SAM being displayed during the 1957 May Day parade.Hannah 2001, p.68. Intelligence reports indicated that SAMs were being deployed in large numbers throughout Russia,Crabtree 1994, p.107. and it was believed the SA-2 was capable of being fitted with a nuclear warhead.Cochran et al. 1989, p.32. Therefore, it was decided that the B-70 would need an interceptor missile to defend itself against the perceived threat.

File:Main structure weldment of PYE WACKET Feasibility Test Vehicle Study (Summary) 15 February 1961.jpg for U.S. Air Force Systems Command in 1961]]

The specifications for the proposed DAMS called for an air-launched defensive missile, capable of engaging incoming missiles at relative speeds of up to Mach 7, surviving a rate of acceleration between 60 g to 250 g, and being able to undertake rapid terminal-phase guidance changes in any direction.General Dynamics 1961.

Following initial studies and wind-tunnel testing at the Air Proving Ground Center and Arnold Engineering Development Center, a radically unconventional design emerged that featured a lenticular, wedge-shaped airframe. The lenticular design was considered to have the best handling characteristics at extremely high angles of attack, and would theoretically possess ideal mass distribution, giving the missile outstanding terminal agility. In addition, the lenticular design allowed for omnidirectional launching from the carrying aircraft.USAF 1961.

Following the feasibility studies, a contract for the development of the DAMS design was awarded to the Convair division of the General Dynamics Corporation in Pomona, California in 1959.[http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0325216 Article title] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216045854/http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0325216 |date=2012-02-16 }} Pye Wacket: Feasibility Test Vehicle Study. Summary. Volume 1. General Dynamics, July 1961. Wind tunnel testing of several options for control of the missile resulted in an arrangement of six small rocket thrusters being selected for reaction control. The airframe of the missile was constructed of magnesium alloy, and main power would be provided by three Thiokol M58A2 solid-fuel rockets.

Pye Wacket was planned to be tested using a rocket sled launcher, with a Mach 5 booster rocket being used later in the test program. There are unconfirmed reports that some tests were conducted in 1960. However the high cost and perceived vulnerability of the B-70 against the projected performance of Soviet air defenses,Greenwood 1995, p.289. combined with the 1960 U-2 incident in which a high-flying spyplane had been shot down, led to the decision that intercontinental ballistic missiles would, in the future, be the primary nuclear delivery force of the United States, and therefore the B-70 project was cancelled in early 1961.Kennedy, John F. [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25935&st=&st1= "Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA, November 2, 1960."] The American Presidency Project at ucsb.edu. Retrieved: 6 April 2009.

[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19950002358_1995102358.pdf "1961 Budget Message."] [http://www.kennedy.archives.gov Kennedy Archives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801113345/http://www.kennedy.archives.gov/ |date=2013-08-01 }}, 28 March 1961, pp. I-38. Pye Wacket, its delivery vehicle no longer available, is believed to have been cancelled soon after, although the ultimate fate of the program remains classified.

• Flying saucer
• Lenticular Reentry Vehicle

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• {{cite book |last1=Cochran |first1=Thomas B. |author2=William M. Arkin |author3=Robert S. Norris |author4=Jeffrey Sands |title=Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume IV: Soviet Nuclear Weapons |year=1989 |publisher=Ballinger |location=Pensacola, FL |isbn=978-0-88730-048-6}}
• {{cite book |last1=Crabtree |first1=James D. |title=On Air Defense |year=1994 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0-275-94792-7}}
• General Dynamics; Convair/Pomona Division (July 1961). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120216045854/http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0325216 Pye Wacket. Feasibility Test Vehicle Study]. Summary. Volume 1. Reproduced by Defense Technical Information Center. Retrieved on May 22, 2009.
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Greenwood |editor1-first=John T. |title=Milestones of Aviation: National Air and Space Museum |year=1995 |publisher=Hugh Lauter Levin Associates |location=Westport, CT |isbn=0-88363-661-1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hannah |first1=Craig C. |title=Striving for air superiority: the Tactical Air Command in Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEb1sFobGgcC&pg=PA68 |access-date=2010-12-02 |year=2001 |publisher=TAMU Press |location=College Station, TX |isbn=978-1-58544-146-4}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Rees |first=Ed |date=October 17, 1960 |title=The Furor Over Fantastic Plane |magazine=Life |volume=49 |issue=16 |publisher=TIME Inc |access-date=2010-12-02 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0QEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/pyewacket.html |title=Convair Pye Wacket |first=Andreas |last=Parsch |year=2005 |work= Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles |publisher=designation-systems.net |access-date=2010-12-02}}
• US Air Force (1961) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120224021100/http://www.rimworld.com/dsp/reports/maxwellafb01.html History of the Arnold Engineering Development Center: July - December 1960]. II-24, IL-25. Reproduced per request to Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved on May 22, 2009.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160820191505/http://www.astronautix.com/p/pyewacket.html Pye Wacket - The Full Story at Astronautix.com]

{{USAF missiles}}

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

Category:Cold War air-to-air missiles of the United States

Category:Experimental missiles

Category:Flying saucers

Category:General Dynamics