The AGM-131 SRAM II ("Short-Range Attack Missile") was a nuclear air-to-surface missile intended as a replacement for the

AGM-69 SRAM The Boeing AGM-69 SRAM (Short-Range Attack Missile) was a nuclear air-to-surface missile. It had a range of up to , and was intended to allow US Air Force strategic bombers to penetrate Soviet airspace by neutralizing surface-to-air missile de ...

. The solid-fueled missile was to be dropped from a

B-1B Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along with ...

, carry the W89 warhead and have a range of 400 km. However, the program was canceled by President George H. W. Bush for geopolitical reasons just as the first flight-test missile was delivered.

Development

The mission of the SRAM family is to deliver the

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

to the target without the need for the penetrating

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

to directly overfly the target. The SRAM family of weapons had an extremely small radar signature and were near-impossible to counter. SRAM ensured the airborne leg of the US nuclear triad (the others being land-based ICBMs and SLBM) and was the penetrating air launched strategic nuclear weapon for the

B-1 Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along with ...

and

B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

. In 1977, the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

planned to develop an upgrade of the SRAM for the forthcoming B-1A bomber as AGM-69B SRAM B. When the B-1A was cancelled in 1978, the AGM-69B was dropped, too. After the resurrection of the B-1 program (as B-1B) in 1981, it was decided to develop an entirely new weapon, the SRAM II. In 1986,

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

was finally awarded a development contract for the AGM-131A SRAM II. The AGM-131A was planned to have only about 2/3 the size of an AGM-69A, so that 36 missiles could be carried by the B-1B, as compared to 24 AGM-69As. The final design of the SRAM II ended up with the "II" version roughly equal to the "A" version in size and about 80% of the weight. One new feature of SRAM II was a lighter, simpler, and more reliable two-pulse solid rocket motor designed by Hercules for increased range and age stability. The SRAM II was slated to use the newly developed W89 thermonuclear warhead, which being much newer, was also much safer to operate than the W-69 of the AGM-69. The W89 had a 200

kiloton TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...

design yield. Initial Operational Capability for the AGM-131A was planned for 1993, but before flight tests could take place, the program was cancelled in 1991.

SRAM-T

The SRAM II air vehicle was also the basis for a tactical nuclear variant - the SRAM T which employed a different warhead, the W91 thermonuclear warhead, with a selectable yield from 10 to 100 kilotons. It had a longer range than the baseline SRAM II, around 250 miles (approximately 400 kilometers). As a NATO theater nuclear weapon, SRAM-T was to be carried by the

F-15E The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without relyin ...

and

F-111 The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons ca ...

, but it was also compatible with the F-16 and the

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

. Deployment was planned for 1995.

Cancellation

Both SRAM II and SRAM T were canceled in September 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, along with the W89 and W91 warheads.

Specification

*Length: 3.18 meters *Diameter: 39 centimeters *Weight: 900 kilograms *Speed: Mach 2 *Range: 400 kilometers *Propulsion: Solid-fuel rocket *Warhead: W-89

References

{{US missiles Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Cold War air-to-surface missiles of the United States Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States Air-to-surface missiles of the United States