Blowout Plugs Fitted to Pershing

SCRAM Missile for Range Contro]

New York- Arm y's Pershing sclcctive
combat range artillery missilc (SCRAM)
will bc fitted with cngine blowout plugs
to control its rangc, Martin Co. officials
said hcre last weck.
Pcrsh ing's initial High t tcsts are
scheduled to start next month (A\ V
fan. 18. p. 23) at Cape Canaveral, Fla.,
pcncling component checkou ts by Army
allistic 1Iissile Agcncv at Ilun tsvillc,
:\Ja., accord ing to \Villiam B. Bergen,
i'vlartin presidcnt.
Bcrgc:n said thc progra m is on time
and addcd that spcnding on the missile, cstimated at $108 mill ion for Fiscal
1960, is cxpected to rise in Fiscal 196 1
to $140-150 million .
A two-stage, solid propellant m issilc,
rhe Pershing is dcsigned to h it any preselccted targct betwcen 20 and 4 50 mi .
\Vh en a computer determincs that the
missilc has reachcd the vclocity required
to hit a sclectcd targct, thc plugs in
th c hcad of th c c ngine then operating
are blown, th rust of th e still-burning
cnginc drops to zcro, and th c missilc
heads in on targc t. Thc Pershing al-

ways is launched as a two-stage vchicle,

even if the second-stage cngine isn't
required for a close target.
At present, maximum range for the
Pershing is b elievcd to be just under
500 mi .
\ Vith thc 10,000-lb. weight limit
imposcd on the Army rnissiles, Persh ing
program cngineers tried to gct less
weigh t and m ore clistance by switching from stcel to titanium motor casings (AV-.' Oct. 19, p. 32. Initial results
with thc titanium casings wcre not as
good as had b een hopecl for, according
to M artin. More expensive titanium
casings also were caught in a budget
squeezc.
Most expensive part of th e missile
is thc guidance sys tem, Bergen said.
Guidancc system for th e Pershing is
manu fa cturecl by Bendix; th e missile's
two solid propclla n t e ngines arc madc
by Thiokol.
C onccrning othcr M artin projects,
Bergen had this to say:
Original operational clatc fo r the
Titan, Junc, 196 1, still is in effect

'
~

Blue Steel Bomb Fitted on Avro Vulcan

Blue Stcel stand-off bomb, developed by A. V. R oe Co., Ltd., is shown mounted on thc
belly oE an Avro Vnlcan four-j ct bomber; the bomb is carricd in the bomb bay oE the
Handlcy Page Victor jet bombcr. Note Jower vertical stabilizer which folds for ground
clearance. T he bomb will be tested a t Anstralia's \ :Voomera Rocket Range, using the
V ulc:111 (A " ' Jan . 2;, p. 59); previous tcsts nsed the V ickcrs Valiant jet bomber.

24

despite rcccnt failurcs (A\ ,V Jan. 11,

p. 68). If th e missile starts fl ying,
Bergen said, there will not be any slippage in the original timetable. A critical
point will come sometime in the next
30 days when the Titan will b e tested
fo r in-flight separa tion and ignition of
the seconcl stage, th e only major factor
still untricd.
H igh energy storable propellant for
the Titan is uncler development at
Aerojet-General, powerplant contractor
for the T itan . Range of the Titan
could bc extendecl beyond currently
an ticipated 6, 300 stat. mi. by bringing
th e 8-ft. diameter second stage ou t to
th e 10-ft. diameter of first stage. For
every additional second of burning time,
the missile ca n pick up an extra 300 mi.
E mpty weight of th e Titan is the same
as that of thc Atlas, 20,000 lb . Loaded
and ready for flight, thc Titan weighs
in at 205,000 lb., comparecl with th e
26 5,000-lb. initial gross weight of th e
Atlas. (vVith a 10-ft. diameter second
stage, t he T itan would also weigh
265,000 lb.) Of the 60,000-lb. differcnce, 40,000 lb. is fucl. N uclcar warhead of thc Titan, if measured in megatons, is about double that of the Atlas
and e ight times that of the Minuteman.
(Karel J. Bossart, of Convair, who was
in New York last weck to receive th e
Instit ute of Acronautical Sciences'
R eed Award fo r his work on thc Atlas,
took cxccption to these remarks. The
Atlas, said Bossart, will do anything
th e Titan can or may clo, including
ca rrying thc same size payload over th e
sa me clistancc.)
After six months storage in th e subarctic ancl a cold soak to - 65 F just
prior to launching, six solid propellant
Lacrosse missiles wcre successfullv firecl
two weeks ago by U. S. Arm y troops
at F ort Churchill, C an.
Solid propellant Bullpup missile has
rackecl up a 95 % reliability record,
which is significantly high er than had
b ecn anticipatccl.
Martin is trying to sell its M issile
M ast er point defensc commancl system
to FAA fo r use in tra ffic control. Company is developing many versions of
this sys tcm . One, thc M issile Mas ter,
Jr., wh ich now is in the prototype stage,
h andles a smallcr number of missile
b ut is truck-transportable.
N umerous SNAP (suhsvstem nuclea r a uxiliary power) pro jects, all based
on rad ioisotope power, which th c company is dcveloping h ave maclc M artin
one of thc largest radioisotopc consumers. T his year, fo r th c first time,
lVIartin's nuclear business is in th e
black.
Although the company is not aiming
at any specific balance be tween military ancl commercial husincss, Bergen
said, it docs hope to builcl up thc commercial siele primarily th rough its nuclcar work .
AVIATION WEEK, Fe bruary l , 1960