Falstaff was a British

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

used during the 1970s as part of the

Chevaline Chevaline () was a system to improve the penetrability of the warheads used by the UK Polaris programme, British Polaris nuclear weapons system. Devised as an answer to the improved Soviet Union, Soviet A-35 anti-ballistic missile system, anti-b ...

programme to improve the penetrability of the Polaris nuclear missile. It was the largest UK rocket with a solid booster ever launched.

Polaris

The Falstaff was part of the

programme to improve the

Polaris programme The United Kingdom's Polaris programme, officially named the British Naval Ballistic Missile System, provided its first submarine-based nuclear weapons system. Polaris was in service from 1968 to 1996. Polaris itself was an operational system ...

. The

Penetration Aid A penetration aid (or "penaid") is a device or tactic used to increase an aircraft's capability of reaching its target without detection, and in particular intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) warhead's chances of penetrating a target's def ...

s Carrier (PAC) was capable of maneuvering a Falstaff rocket and dispensing missiles. According to John Pitfield, the PAC was launched in 1969, 1975, 1976 and 1978. Since the Australian government at the time was not in favour of nuclear weapons, the testing of the Falstaff vehicles on Australian soil had the potential to cause embarrassment. The details of over 4000 launches from the Woomera Range are still not fully released. Before the revelation that the Falstaff rockets were part of a nuclear program, anti-nuclear campaigners in Australia had believed that testing ended in 1963.

Design

The Falstaff with the Stonechat Mk 2 booster was long and had a diameter of . It weighed of which was solid propellant. It delivered an average thrust of during 37 seconds.

Launches

The Falstaff was launched eight times between 1969 and 1979. All the launches were from the

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a S ...

in Australia, north-west of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The first launch on 1 October 1969 used the Stonechat Mk 1 booster. The seven next launched used the Mk 2 variant. There was one failure, on 23 April 1978.

Commemoration

The Falstaff rocket was commemorated in an event cover that depicted a rocket recognisable as a Falstaff. 5 December 1978 was commemorated in such a way.

References

{{Reflist Experimental rockets Space programme of the United Kingdom Sounding rockets of the United Kingdom