Jaguar was a three-stage

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 ...

developed 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 ...

in the early 1960s. Designed for air launch to allow soundings from remote areas without infrastructure, it was only launched twice before the project was abandoned.

Design and development

Jaguar was an air-launched sounding rocket developed by the

Air Research and Development Command The Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command. It was established in April 1951, being split off from Air Materiel Command. The mission of AFSC was Research and Development for new weapons systems. AF ...

of the U.S. Air Force, intended for use for high-altitude scientific research into the

aurora borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and radiation trapped in the

Van Allen Belts The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energy, energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes ot ...

.Shortal 1978, p. 484. Derived from a design used by the

Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park, Ohio, Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a s ...

, it was a three-stage vehicle, with a first stage of three clustered Recruit rockets, a single Recruit as a second stage,Parsch 2004 and a third stage with a Baby Sergeant rocket. It was to be launched using a

Martin B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

medium bomber that was modified to carry the rocket on a side-mounted pylon; this allowed for the rocket to be launched from any location capable of operating a jet aircraft, without the need for installing launch infrastructure in remote areas.Jacobs and Whitney 1962, p. 86. To launch, the Canberra would pull into a near-vertical climb, akin to that used for

toss bombing Toss bombing (sometimes known as loft bombing, and by the U.S. Air Force as the Low Altitude Bombing System, or LABS) is a method of bombing where the attacking aircraft pulls upward when releasing its bomb load to compensate for the weapons’ g ...

, and release the rocket; Jaguar was expected to be capable of launching a payload to an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

of . An upgraded version using the improved "Yardbird" model of the Recruit was proposed.Ordway and Wakeford 1960, p. ND13.

Operational history

Following six dummy launch tests starting in January 1958, Jaguar was launched twice; taking place at the

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

under the command of the

Air Force Special Weapons Center An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

, the first launch was conducted in late 1960, and the second in early 1961. Following the two launches, the program was abandoned.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Air-launched launchers Sounding rockets of the United States Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States Equipment of the United States Air Force

Design and development

Operational history

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography