Navaho

[Archibald]

I'm a great fan of the Navaho cruise missile concept. This was a ramjet mach 3 cruise missile mounted on a rocket. The upper stage was to fly 10 000 km at mach 3.25 and 75 000 ft!
The whole program was cancelled in 1957 when the Atlas ICBM ("pure" rocket) proved much more successfull.
The rocket engine of the booster were used for the Redstone IRBM, which also launched the first two american in space (Sheppard and Grissom, see the signature below    ).

The Navaho was totally unuseful as nuclear deterrent, but I always thought that it could have been a tremendous recon vehicle.
It had a 10 000 km range (similar or superior  to the U-2) a mach3+ top speed (just like the SR-71) and was unmanned (remember the Lockheed D-21?).

After many, many hours of work I managed to scratchbuild an upper stage (Sharkit has made a 1/72 scale Navaho, but it is way too expensive at nearly 100 euros    )

Backstory already ready (this sentence looks odd   )

First pics...





 

[tinlail]

You know that looks vaguely like the love child of a f-18 and a f-104.

I am of the understanding that the electronics were not up to the task of guiding a cruise missile at that time.

[BlackOps]

Archi, Looks great so far  It looks like it would be right at home on Allen Ury's FANTASTIC PLASTIC site!  

[Archibald]

I've painted it this morning. I've got a long, long backstory for this thing (too much ideas!!!!)

Pics









These two are not competitors... after Powers was shot down, Eisenhower promised Krutchev that there'll be no MANNED overfly of USSR in the next future.
Satellites were unmanned, SR-71s and A-12s never overflew USSR (just "border incursions", they had not the range to fully overfly USSR).

On the other hand, the Navaho was unmanned and its G-38 variant had
10 000 km range.

[B777LR]

Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[Archibald]

Allez hop! Here we go for the backstory...

Navaho program ended in July 1957...tests of the G-26 kept on until late 1958. Last test was the most successfull (well, it was the only one )

But thing took a twist in mid-1960. Francis Gary Powers was shot down over USSR. Two month later, a RB-47H had the same fate, this time with human losses...
This was too much for the US governement. A-12 program was accelerated, but it was not the ultimate solution: an interim system had to be found.

In September 1960, NAA decided to take the last G-26 out of storage. The upper stage was hastily modified. The nuclear warheads compartement was modified to carry 2 cameras.
On 4th October 1960, the missile was launched. Its 100 tons thrust rocket stage carried it to 70 000 ft and mach 3.25. The upper stage flew correctly over
4000 km, taking photos all along its way. Minute before it crashed, the recon pack was ejected and landed below a parachute. It was recovered, and photos proved quite neat and interesting.
Proof had been made that the Navaho could be an interesting recon vehicle. So NAA proposed to build some recon G-38, but Einshower was reluctant.

Fortunately, things were to change with the Kennedy administration, Mc Namara and its whizz kids. U-2s proved much too vulnerable to overfly Cuba, the A-12 had not flew yet and its IOC was far in the future.

more to follow (with pics)  

[John Howling Mouse]

Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Yes, exactly what he said!      

[cthulhu77]

Neat...kind of like a stealthy Bomarc. Ya te hey !

[GTX]

Archi,

Love your concept - reminds me of the Tupolev Tu-123/139:

The Tu-123 was a long-range, high-altitude supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft, in the form of a big dart, conceptually somewhat similar to the United States' D-21. It carried both film cameras and SIGINT payloads. The Tu-123 was ground-launched with RATO booster and powered by a KR-15 afterburning turbojet in flight. The Tu-123 was expendable, parachuting its payload to the ground for recovery. The KR-15 was an expendable version of the R-15 engine used on the twin-engine MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor. The lack of recovery capability was unsatisfactory. This concern led to the Tu-139 Yastreb 2, which could land on unprepared airstrips, but it was never put into production, since by that time the Soviets had shifted their emphasis to low-level reconnaissance.

Tu-123:






Tu-139:



Regards,

Greg

[Archibald]

Yep GTX you're right, It seems that I invented the Tu-123 again    

Backstory part 2.

The Kennedy administration gave its go ahead in february 1961. The G-38 would be used as basis for a recoverable, mach 3 unmanned recon system.
But there was many, many works to do...

First, NAA decided that the X-10 and G-26 test vehicles would become more standardised.
The J-40 turbojets were replaced by J-52s, the vehicle becoming the X-10A.
It had many subsystems and overall structure similar to the X-10B (former G-26).
but the X-10B had two XJR-47 ramjets and was launched from its liquid rocket booster.
Both vehicles were used for an important test program of glided landings at Edwards AFB. Ramjets had no thrust at low speed...
On this day, a X-10A took off on the power of its turbojets, climbed at mach 1.5 and 50 000 ft. There, its engines were gradually switched off to simulate ramjets.
First test was unsuccessful, the vehicle touched down Rogers dry lake at 250 MPH, the landing gear collapsed. Datas were nevertheless salvaged from the wreckage.

More test took place and  correct  landings were achieved.
X-10B were launched from Vandenberg AFB, headed to Edwards were they landed.
XF-9U, YF-107 and NF-104s were used as chase planes.    

Reliability of the whole system gradually improved and in mid-1962 the X-10B was flying quite well.

It was time for the first long range test... a X-10B was fired from Vandenberg AFB.
Its rocket booster send the second stage at 68 000 ft and mach 2.8.
The unmanned vehicle now headed for its landing strip : White Sands AFB, New Mexico!
B-58 Snoopy was used as chase plane, tracking the X-10B on its AN/ASG-18 long range radar.
The X-10B flew on its inertial guidance system until moment of landing, when a team on the ground took (radio) control of the machine. A nice glided landing followed.

According to USAF designation systems, the Navaho had been B-64, then XSM-64. So, as a natural follow on, its name switched to SR-64    

But the service disliked the liquid rocket booster of the Navaho. Filling the tanks took too much time and was hazardous.
NAA again had an idea to add more flexibility to its concept. They proposed to replace the LRB by a solid rocket booster.
As there was no 180 tons thrust SRB available at the time, it was decided to use two Minuteman first stage (M55) of 90 tons thrust each.

It was discovered that these boosters were much lighter and smaller than the former booster (source Mark Wade)  

Minuteman first stage

Diameter: 1.7 m.
Length: 7.5 m.  
Gross Mass: 23,077 kg.
Empty Mass: 2,292 kg.
Engines :  1* M55
Thrust (vac): 80,700 kgf.
Burn time: 60 sec.

Navaho liquid rocket booster

Diameter: 2,3 m.
Length: 27 m.  
Gross Mass: 79 870 kg.
Empty Mass: 16 800 kg.
Engines : 1 Rocketdyne LR-83
Thrust (vac): 183 700 kgf


Benefits were enormous, and the missile could now be sealed for years, just like the polaris and minuteman ICBMs.

Two Minuteman first stage were strapped to the airbreathing second stage. The whole system was much lighter and could be carried on a big truck.  

More to follow...

[Brian da Basher]

Wow Archie another winner! Your builds never cease to amaze me.

Brian da Basher

[Archibald]

Merci BdB!!!

More pic


It is now painted in grey metal. I hope to decal the thing quickly

[Archibald]

I'm seeking info about the HIAC-1 recon camera. It was first carried by RB-57F, later a smaller variant was carried by the Israeli F-4E(S).

My opinion is, if this camera was fitted to Canberras or Phantoms, maybe my
SR-64 could carry it... don't know if it would work at mach 3.25 and 70 000 ft hovewer...  

Aparently the G-38 could have carried a load of 7 tons, or 3 nuclear warhead.
Plenty of room for recon packs (IR, optical, SLARs...)

I'll show pics of the underside, which is full of bumps and windows.

as you can see, I've doubts about the color of this thing (grey or black   ). I prefer it black    

[Archibald]

... so it is now DEFINITEVELY black    

It looks much better like this (I also  thought about a day-glo paint sheme   ).Maube for sharkit X-10 or Navaho one day (but these kits are really expansive).

Plan some decalling soon.

[Archibald]

Et voila!







Here's a typical mission of the SR-64 recon system.

Recon vehicles are stored at AFB around USSR (Incirlik, Bitburg, Mildenhal, Bodo, Peshawar, Yokota...)
Mission starts by activation of the vehicle. The recon vehicle and its boosters are carried by transporter erector launcher. This vehicle transit to a dedicated section of the air base. Then, the SR-64 is erected and launch is monitored from a remote bunker.
M55 boosters are lighted, giving 180 tons of thrust. In just one minute, they send the upper stage to 75 000 ft and mach 3.45. Trajectory gradually become horizontal. SRBs are jettisoned, ramjet started and the airbreathing upper stage start a 3-hours and half cruisewith its inertial guidance system.
During its flight, the upper stage climb up to 85 000 ft while burning its fuel, thus diminishing probability of interception by Soviet defense system.

An EC-121 is send to the predicted point where the vehicle will go  out of Soviet airspace (not too close   ) The flying radar seize control of the vehicle per radio, both having two Phantom as escort.
Just before landing, control is passed to the homing base. Brake parachute is released for 200 mph landing...
In case of problem, most important recon sensors and datas are ejected and land with a parachute.