Sparoair was a family of air-launched

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

s 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 ...

in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Based on the Sparrow air-to-air missile, three versions of the rocket were developed; although some launches were successful, the system did not enter operational service.

Sparoair I and II

Sparoair was developed by the Naval Missile Center, as a two-stage development of the Sparrow III air-to-air missile. Propelled by two Sparrow rocket motors mounted in tandem, the Sparoair could be launched from F3H (F-3) Demon and F4D (F-6) Skyray fighter aircraft, and was capable of lifting a payload to an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

of . The Sparoair I was the original version of the rocket, launched using an ejection system and a lanyard for firing; after that proved unreliable in flight testing, the Sparoair II was developed that utilised a rail launch with ignition prior to release from the aircraft. Eight launches of Sparoair II vehicles had been conducted by 1961. Each Sparoair II rocket cost US$6,000.

Sparoair III

Sparoair III utilised a redesigned second-stage motor, and could be launched from the

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

; however, any aircraft capable of launching the Sparrow III AAM could launch the Sparoair. The Sparoair III utilised the aircraft's

Low Altitude Bombing System Toss bombing (sometimes known as loft bombing, and by the U.S. Air Force as the Low Altitude Bombing System, LABS) is a method of bombing where the attacking aircraft pulls upward when releasing its bomb load, giving the bomb additional time of f ...

(LABS) circuits to initiate launch; the second stage was ignited via a mechanical device armed by the acceleration of the first stage. The first Sparoair III was launched on 8 July 1965; it proved a partial failure as the second stage failed to ignite. The second launch on 26 May 1966 failed after six seconds of second-stage burn when the vehicle exploded. No further launches were undertaken.

References

{{Air-launched launchers Sounding rockets of the United States Equipment of the United States Navy