The AGM-64 Hornet was a

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

produced by the United States. In the early 1960s,

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

produced a missile design for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air 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 of the United States Army Signal ...

Anti-Tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first deve ...

Guided

Aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

Rocket (ATGAR) project. The ATGAR was ultimately not produced, but the Air Force was impressed enough that in 1963 it awarded North American a development contract for the ZAGM-64A Hornet missile. The Hornet was planned as a

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

field missile for use against armored vehicles which would mount an electro-optical guidance system. The first test firing of the prototype XAGM-64A occurred in December 1964. It was powered by a fast-burning solid

rocket motor A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordance ...

. The

electro-optical guidance Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...

system provided a live TV image to the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

; the operator would lock the missile onto the desired target before launch and the missile would home in on it automatically. The Air Force ultimately stopped development of the AGM-64, judging that the similar

AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, air ...

had more potential. Although not produced as a weapon, the Hornet became a

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...

for various guidance systems including different varieties of

electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

systems and a magnetic

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...

. The program was terminated in 1968. The XAGM-64 was briefly revived in the early 1970s, again to test missile guidance systems. The propulsion system of the missile was upgraded, increasing the range to as much as 2.5 miles (4 km). In this configuration the Hornet tested

laser guidance Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

packages, the electro-optical system designed for the GBU-8/B and GBU-9/B Homing Bomb System (HOBOS) glide bombs, and the terminal guidance system for the

AGM-114 Hellfire The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) first developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets. It was originally developed under the name '' Heli ...

anti-tank missile.

Operators

*The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air 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 of the United States Army Signal ...

canceled the AGM-64 before service entry.

Citations

References

Rockwell AGM-64 Hornet
*Bill Gunston: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles", Salamander Books Ltd, 1979 {{DEFAULTSORT:Agm-64 Hornet AGM-064 Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States AGM-064