The AIM-26 Falcon was a larger, more powerful version of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile built by Hughes. It is the only guided American air-to-air missile with a

nuclear warhead A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

to be produced; the unguided AIR-2 Genie rocket was also nuclear-armed.

Development

Starting in 1956 Hughes Electronics began the development of an enlarged version of the GAR-1D Falcon that would carry a

. It was intended to provide a sure kill in attacks on

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

heavy

bomber aircraft A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

, at a time when guided missiles were not accurate enough to produce high-probability kills with small conventional warheads. The original development was for semi-active radar homing and heat-seeking versions based on the conventional GAR-1/GAR-2 weapons, under the designations GAR-5 and GAR-6, respectively. The original program was cancelled. AIM-26A 2(Nuclear Falcon)

The program was revived in 1959, now under the name GAR-11. It entered service in 1961, carried by

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly ina ...

F-102 Delta Dagger The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft designed and manufactured by Convair. Built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s, it entered service in 1956. Its main purpos ...

interceptors. It used a radar proximity fuze and semi-active radar homing. The GAR-11 used a sub-kiloton (250 ton) yield W54 warhead shared with the "Davy Crockett" M388 recoilless rifle projectile, rather than the larger W25 warhead of the AIR-2 Genie. Out of concern for the problems inherent in using nuclear weapons over friendly territory, a conventional version, the GAR-11A, was developed, using a

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An e ...

warhead.

Conventional warhead

As part of a wider Army/Navy/Air Force renaming project, in 1963 the weapon was redesignated AIM-26. The nuclear version became the AIM-26A, the conventional model the AIM-26B. From 1970 to 1972 the nuclear warheads of the AIM-26A weapons were rebuilt for the nuclear version of the AGM-62 Walleye TV guided bomb. The AIM-26 saw little widespread use in American service, retiring in 1972. The conventional AIM-26B was exported to Switzerland as the HM-55, where it was used on Swiss Mirage IIIS fighters. The AIM-26B was produced under

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

(and modified) in Sweden as the Rb 27, arming Saab Draken J-35F and 35J fighters. It was retired in 1998. When Finland bought Drakens, the license-manufactured Swedish Falcons were included.

Specifications (GAR-11/AIM-26A)

* Length: * Wingspan: * Diameter: * Weight: * Speed: Mach 2 * Range: * Guidance: semi-active radar homing * Warhead: W54 nuclear, explosive yield 250 t TNT equivalent

Survivors

Below is an incomplete list of museums which have an AIM-26 in their collection: * Museum of Aviation, Warner Robins, Georgia (AIM-26 A) *

National Museum of Naval Aviation The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its cur ...

, Naval Air Station Pensacola,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

(AIM-26 A) * DVHAA Historical Aircraft Museum, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

(AIM-26 A) * Suomen ilmavoimamuseo / Finnish Air Force Museum, Finland (AIM-26 B / RB 27) * Robotmuseum / Robot Museum Arboga, Sweden (AIM-26 B / RB 27) * Västerås Flygmuseum / Västerås Aviation Museum Västerås, Sweden (AIM-26 B / RB 27)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aim-26 Falcon Nuclear anti-aircraft weapons AIM-026 Military equipment introduced in the 1960s Swedish Air Force

Development

Conventional warhead

Specifications (GAR-11/AIM-26A)

Survivors

See also

References