The Brazo () missile was an American project of the 1970s, intended to produce an
anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ...
for air-to-air use. Developed by
Hughes Aircraft
The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other pro ...
and based on the
AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile, the Brazo underwent a series of successful test firings; however, the program was terminated at the end of its test program.
Design and development
A joint development project between Hughes Aircraft and 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 ...
,
the Brazo missile (named as a pun by one of the project's Navy developers, a
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
; "Brazo" is Spanish for "Arm", the acronym for an Anti-Radiation Missile) project was initiated in 1972, as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the utility of an air-to-air, anti-radar missile.
[Parsch 2003] In 1973, the
United States Air Force
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 ...
's Pave Arm project, a program with similar goals, was merged into the Brazo program, with the Air Force assuming responsibility for testing the missile.
[Friedman 1982, p.179.]
The first air-to-air anti-radiation missile developed by the United States,
[Morison and Rowe 1975, p.282.] the Brazo utilised the airframe of the existing
AIM-7E Sparrow air-to-air missile, fitted with a new, Hughes-built
passive radar
Passive radar systems (also referred to as passive coherent location, passive surveillance systems, and passive covert radar) encompass a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of ...
seeker head developed by the
Naval Electronics Center. The seeker was intended to detect and home on enemy radar emissions, such as those on interceptor and
AWACS aircraft.
Operational history
The first test firing of the Brazo missile was conducted in April 1974, with the missile, launched from a USAF
F-4D 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 ...
, successfully shooting down a
BQM-34 Firebee
The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built.
Development
Ryan Fireb ...
drone; four follow-up tests over the following year continued the missile's successful record, with none of the test shots failing
despite difficult test conditions.
However, despite the Brazo's success, the follow-on ERASE (Electro-magnetic RAdiation Source Elimination) project was cancelled, and no air-to-air antiradiation missiles would enter service in the West.
[Sweetman 1987, p.160.]
See also
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R-27 (air-to-air missile)
The Vympel R-27 (NATO reporting name AA-10 Alamo) is a family of air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union. It remains in service with the Russian Air Force, air forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States and air forces of many o ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{US missiles
Proposed weapons of the United States
Anti-radiation missiles of the United States
Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States
