The surface-to-air missile was developed as a defense against Soviet intercontinental nuclear-armed bombers, such as the Tupolev Tu-4 and Tu At the time, the missile was considered to be an unmanned aircraft and was given a fighter designation, F, later redesignated IM, then CIM Once with 10 miles 16 kilometers of the target, the missile would home in using its own radar.
The warhead would be detonated by a proximity fuse. The operational Bomarc missile was armed with a W nuclear warhead. The W was a boosted fission implosion device which had been developed as the primary for the Mk thermonuclear bomb. It was 1 foot, 5. The warhead had a yield of 10 kilotons. Its effective radius was approximately 0. The Bomarc A was 46 feet, 10 inches It had a wingspan of 18 feet, 2 inches 5. The second stage was driven by two Marquardt RJMA-7 ramjet engines, of 11, pounds of thrust, each Because the hypergolic liquid fuel of the Bomarc A was highly corrosive and dangerous to handle, the missile could not be fueled until just before launch, which required approximately two minutes.
This significantly reduced the time available to intercept enemy bombers. To eliminate the delay, the Bomarc B used a Thiokol XM solid fuel rocket engine, which increased the first stage thrust to 50, pounds While the Bomarc A used vacuum tubes in its electronic circuitry, the Bomarc B was solid state.
Its intercept pulse doppler radar was produced by Westinghouse. Original variants of the Bomarc could reach a speed of 1, miles per hour 3, kilometers per hour , had a range of statute miles kilometers , and could reach an altitude of 65, feet 19, meters. The Bomarc B had a range of miles kilometers and could reach , feet 30, meters.
Slightly heavier, it weighed 16, pounds 7, kilograms. During testing, the missile could reach Mach 4. The Bomarc was in operational service from until As originally planned, the Bomarc would be based at 52 sites within the United States and Canada, with missiles each, but in actuality, there were only eight sites in the U.
