Have Dash was a program conducted by 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 ...

for the development of a

stealth Stealth may refer to: Military *Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles **Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology ** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** Ste ...

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 ...

. Although the Have Dash II missile appears to have been flight tested, the results of the project remain classified, and no mass production is known to have been undertaken.

Have Dash I

Have Dash I was a classified project to develop an air-to-air missile for use by

stealth aircraft Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Ni ...

.Popular Mechanics, March 1990 The concept, developed by the USAF Armament Laboratory between 1985 and 1988, was extensively studied but failed to produce any flying hardware.Parsch 2005

Have Dash II

Have Dash II, initiated in 1990, was a renewed effort to develop a stealthy air-to-air missile, intended to be used by the

Advanced Tactical Fighter The Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) was a program undertaken by the United States Air Force to develop a next-generation air superiority fighter to replace the F-15 Eagle. The proposed fighter was intended to counter emerging worldwide threa ...

– the YF-22 and YF-23 – and to replace the

AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) ( ) is an American Beyond-visual-range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance ...

in service. Have Dash II was designed with a

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic material ...

body,

trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

al in shape. This was intended both to reduce the missile's radar-cross-section and to resist heat at hypersonic speeds, as the missile was intended to operate at

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

5. The body shape also allowed flush external carriage aboard the launching aircraft, and provided aerodynamic lift, making the missile more maneuverable. The prototype Have Dash II missiles were recoverable, and utilised

Rocketdyne Rocketdyne is an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, California, Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, in southern California. Rocketdyne ...

Mk 58 solid-fueled rocket motors of the same type used by 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 ...

.Have Dash II bank-to-turn technology may be valuable for AMRAAM
" ''Defense Daily'', April 21, 1992. Production missiles were expected to be powered by a

ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...

engine, and would use inertial navigation during the cruise phase of flight, with a dual-mode infrared/active radar seeker head for terminal guidance. Flight testing of the prototype Have Dash II missiles was expected to begin in 1992; it appears that the testing was conducted, with the missile being considered for further testing of advanced air-to-air missile concepts."Have Dash II: Development Test and Evaluation of an Advanced Air-To-Air Missile Concept". Society of Experimental Test Pilots Symposium Proceedings, Volumes 36–37, p. 159. (1992) However, no results of the test firings have been declassified, and no subsequent developments to the program have been reported.

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Bibliography

* * {{US missiles Air-to-air missiles of the United States Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States