Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
July 9, 2008
IWG Report 2007
Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
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SSM-N-8
| Country: | United States of America |
|---|---|
| Alternate Name: | Regulus 1 |
| Class: | SLCM |
| Target: | Land |
| Length: | 10.58 m |
| Diameter: | 1.22 m |
| Launch Weight: | 6800.00 kg |
| Payload: | Nuclear |
| Propulsion: | Turbojet w/ solid booster |
| Range: | 740.00 km |
| Guidance: | Command |
| Status: | Obsolete, Unknown |
| In Service: | 1955-1964 |
Details
The SSM-N-8 Regulus 1 was an intermediate-range, sea-launched, turbojet powered, single warhead cruise missile developed and manufactured by the United States. The U.S. Navy began its development in 1947 to diversify and supplement its carrier-based aviation with missile power.
Similar in appearance to the early Russian SS-N-2 “Styx” ship-launched missile, the SSM-N-8 Regulus 1 had the general configuration of a small aircraft with two delta-shaped wings and a fin and tailplane. The missile was 10.58 m in length, had a body diameter of 1.22 m, a wing span of 6.40 m, and a launch weight of 6,800 kg. Guidance was provided by radio command from chase aircraft which determined the missile’s flight path. The Regulus 1 was powered by two solid propellant booster rockets, jettisoned after launch, and a turbojet engine with a maximum speed of Mach 0.85. The missile had a maximum range of 740 km, and carried either a W-5 or a higher yield W-27 nuclear warhead.
The SSM-N-8 Regulus 1 entered service with the U.S. Navy in 1955. Approximately 157 launchers and 500 missiles were in service on five submarines, four cruisers, and 10 aircraft carriers. The missile was retired from service in 1964.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 42 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, July 2005); GlobalSecurity.org, “Regulus I RGM-6 SSM-N-8,” available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/regulus1.htm, accessed on July 1, 2006.
