The Creative Research On Weapons or Crow program was an experimental missile project developed by 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 ...

's Naval Air Missile Test Center during the late 1950s. Intended to evaluate the solid-fueled integral rocket/ramjet (SFIRR) method of propulsion as well as solid-fueled

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an a ...

engines, flight tests were conducted during the early 1960s with mixed success.

Development and RARE

Studies of the rocket-ramjet and solid-fueled ramjet concepts began at the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Missile Test Center — later the Naval Missile Center — at Point Mugu, California in 1956, with the intent of increasing the range of small air-to-air missiles through using the combined ramjet and rocket propulsion system with solid fuels only. Following extensive ground testing, the concept was considered promising enough for a flight-test vehicle to be constructed to fully evaluate the new engine.Parsch 2004 RARE cutaway

The first flight test vehicle, known as Ram Air Rocket Engine or RARE, was developed by the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California. RARE was constructed using a conventional five-inch (127mm) rocket tube, in length and weighing .Parsch 2007 Rocket-sled tests conducted during 1956 indicated that the rocket-ramjet configuration would be stable;NOTS 1956, p.181. three flight tests were conducted between 1959 and 1960, with the RARE rocket reaching speeds of

Mach Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to: Computing * Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology * ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI * GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...

2.3.Waltrup, White, Zarlingo and Gravlin 1997, p.238

Crow I

Even as testing of RARE was undertaken, the Naval Air Missile Test Center was developing their own test vehicle. Known as CROW, or Creative Research on Weapons, the NAMTC vehicle was intended to demonstrate that a solid-fueled rocket-

was capable of delivering a reasonable payload. A simple

unguided rocket In military terminology, a rocket is a self-propelled, generally unguided, weapon-system powered by a rocket engine. Though used primarily as medium- and long-range artillery systems, historically rockets have also seen considerable use as air-t ...

, the first Crow vehicle, known as Crow I, was intended for aerial launch at low supersonic speed and an altitude of . After launch, the booster acted as an ordinary solid-fueled rocket; however upon burnout of the booster stage, the rocket's casing acted as the duct for a ramjet engine, with remaining solid fuel being mixed with the incoming air to provide thrust. The first flight test, from a

Douglas F4D Skyray The Douglas F4D Skyray (later redesignated F-6 Skyray) is an American carrier-based fighter/ interceptor built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956–1964) and never entered combat, it ...

launch aircraft, occurred on January 19, 1961. Due to a flaw in the launch mechanism, the rocket failed to ignite and the test was a failure. Modifications were made, and in November 1961 two successful flights of the Crow I vehicle were conducted.

Controlled Crow

With the ballistic Crow I having proved the propulsion concept sound, follow-up work on a modification of the vehicle to provide guidance was undertaken. The missile was fitted with a simple

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

, utilizing infrared horizon-scanning to maintain the missile's attitude in flight. Captive flight tests of Crow began in February 1963 aboard an

F-4B Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II variants were numerous versions and designations of the F-4 and are described below. Production numbers for major versions asterisk indicates converted from other version Variants ;XF4H-1 :Two prototyp ...

carrier aircraft; on May 29, the first test launch was attempted, with three further launches taking place through May 1965. None of first three attempted flights were successful, however; malfunctions in the rocket motor, autopilot, and controls plagued the program. The fourth flight test proved more successful, and Crow was considered to have met the project goals. The Crow project successfully established the solid-fueled rocket-ramjet as a viable method of propulsion. Consideration was also given for use of Crow as an

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying ...

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operational ...

, but this was not pursued.

Development and RARE

Crow I

Controlled Crow

See also