The 2.25-Inch Sub-Caliber Aircraft Rocket, or SCAR, was an American unguided rocket developed by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and used for sub-caliber rocket training. Capable of simulating the aerial rockets then coming into operational service, the SCAR was used to train pilots in the use of the new type of weapon, and continued in service throughout the 1950s.

Development

With the introduction of the 3.5-Inch and

5-Inch Forward Firing Aircraft Rocket The 5-inch Forward Firing Aircraft Rocket or FFAR was an American rocket developed during World War II for attack from airplanes against ground and ship targets. Operational history The first FFARs were developed by the U.S. Navy and introduced i ...

s, a need arose to train aircraft pilots in the proper tactics for the use of the new weapons. This requirement resulted in the development of a dedicated training rocket by the U.S. Navy.Parsch 2004 Designated 2.25-Inch Sub-Caliber Aircraft Rocket, the resulting rocket was a joint project between the

Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959. History Congress established the Bureau in the Departmen ...

and the National Defense Research Committee. As its name implied, the rocket was designed as a sub-calibre weapon compared to the FFAR, being only in diameter, but weighted to be ballistically similar to the larger operational weapons. Varying the amount of propellant in the SCAR's motor could produce accurate simulations of either type of FFAR's flight characteristics.

Operational history

Following development, SCAR entered full-scale production in January 1945; by July, fully half of the U.S. Navy's rocket production for aircraft use consisted of SCAR rockets. SCAR was widely used during the latter part of World War II as a training round for the FFAR and, later, the

High Velocity Aircraft Rocket The High Velocity Aircraft Rocket, or HVAR, also known by the nickname Holy Moses, was an American unguided rocket developed during World War II to attack targets on the ground from aircraft. It saw extensive use during both World War II and the ...

. Following the end of the war, it remained in production, continuing in operational service throughout the 1950s. Budget cutbacks prior to the outbreak of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

meant that the SCAR was the only rocket used in training by the majority of pilots. Despite its small size, SCAR could be hazardous; in 1957, an injury aboard the aircraft carrier was caused by the unintended ignition of a SCAR rocket. As recently as 2004, expended SCAR rockets were still occasionally being found in areas that had been used as bombing ranges during World War II.

References

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Bibliography

* * * * {{USA WW2 rockets Air-to-ground rockets of the United States World War II weapons of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1940s