Bombs and Missiles

The AGM attack missile or SRAM (Short Range Attack Missile) was the first strategic weapon carried by FB-111A and B-52 manned bombers. Its small size enabled carrying bombers to fly at subsonic or supersonic speeds. The AGM attack missile was developed and produced by the Boeing Aerospace Company and came armed with a nuclear warhead and equipped with an inertial guidance system that boosted its range to a maximum of 50 nautical miles. The installed guidance systems allowed for individually...

Development of the AGM High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) was initiated by Texas Instruments, which aimed to create a weapon to replace the AGM-45 Strike and the AGM-78. However, production changed hands when Raytheon took over Texas' defense production arm. Nonetheless, the AGM88 was a program that responded to a request from the US Navy. The missile was supposed to be equipped onto the A-6E, A-7, and some F/A-18 units, but technicalities caused a change in plans. The HARM missile was...

The Falcon AIM-4 was the first operation air-to-air missile used by the US Air Force. The original project name given this missile by the Hughes Corporation was MX-798. The missiles themselves were originally called GAR-1, but in the 1960�s the designation changed to AIM-4. There were two main variations: the AIM-4A, C, and D could reach speeds of MACH 3 and the AIM-4F and G made it to MACH 4. While the development of these missiles began in 1946, the first one was not active in the US service...

The Phoenix AIM-54 air-to-air missile was only used by the US Navy on their fleet of F-14 Tomcat fighters. It was the very first long range air-to-air missiles used by the US and was generally carried in clusters of 6 under the wings of the F-14. It was capable of being used against up to 6 different targets each. This made it capable of simultaneously destroying 24 targets 1 F-14. Their targeting component was a self radar generating system. This solid propellant missile could reach up to...

AIM-7 was an umbrella term given to Sparrow missiles produced by Raytheon from the late 1950s to present. The AIM-7F/M was a US Air Force-operated homing missile, which was guided by semi-active radar and has an operational range of 50 kilometers. It was also the only operational version remaining among all AIM-7 missiles and was launched from various platforms including the F-14 Tomcat, F-4 Phantom II, and F-15 Eagle. This handcrafted model is painstakingly built from Philippine mahogany by...

Of all the bombs that existed during the Second World War, the "Little Boy" Atomic Bomb may well be the most famous. First used in warfare in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the "Little Boy" was the nuclear weapon that ended World War II. The amount of energy generated by an exploding "Little Boy" atomic bomb was the equivalent of a 15 kiloton TNT explosion, despite its relatively small size. The ultra-high air pressure that resulted in a very powerful blast consumed half of that energy; when the...

The PAC-2 is a ballistic missile defense system used in intercepting hostile ballistic missiles during conflicts. Capable of flying at Mach 5 speed, the PAC-2 is supersonic immediately after launch. It has a 200-pound fragmentation bomb with proximity fuse. The PAC-2 flies straight toward its target and explodes before contact, dispersing fragments that destroy the incoming missile. This knocks the unfriendly projectile off its course and consequently misses its target.

The FIM-92 Stinger is an effective portable surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by the US Army during the Falklands War, the Angolan Civil War, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The stinger has an infrared seeker that tracks an aircraft�s engine heat in the exhaust. Light and easy to operate, the Stinger can be used on any platform (land, air, or sea) and can hit a variety of airborne targets flying below 11,000 feet.

The BGM-71 TOW (tube-launched, optically tracked, wire guided) is an anti-tank missile designed in the 1970s. It was the United States� primary anti-armor weapon during the Cold War. Despite its bulky nature, the TOW was an effective missile used in a variety of conflicts. It was the weapon used in the killing of Saddam Hussein�s sons, Uday and Qusay, during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.