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 ta ...
for air-to-air use. Developed by
Hughes Aircraft
The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes ...
and based on the
AIM-7 Sparrow
The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and various other air forces and navies. Sp ...
air-to-air missile
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...
, 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 naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
,
the Brazo missile (named as a pun by one of the project's Navy developers, a
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
; "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 Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
'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 (also referred to as parasitic radar, passive coherent location, passive surveillance, and passive covert radar) is a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of illu ...
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 that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bowers ...
, 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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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