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76-591: In the past, combat in the air would have been between aircraft, with high flying bombers carrying nuclear weapons and fast interceptor fighter aircraft trying to stop them. Now the ballistic missile could deliver these weapons with no possible defensive response. In this new environment, the interceptors and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), along with their associated radar networks, seemed superfluous. Likewise, it appeared new manned aircraft of any sort would have little utility in airspace dominated by SAMs. Numerous ongoing projects were abandoned, leaving too little work for

152-517: A vertically launched V-2 became the first human-made object to reach outer space on June 20, 1944. The R-7 Semyorka was the first intercontinental ballistic missile . The largest ballistic missile attack in history took place on 1 October 2024 when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched about 200 missiles at Israel , a distance of about 1,500 kilometers. The missiles arrived about 15 minutes after launch. It

228-404: A further forward extension of the wing with an initial sweep at 82 degrees before meeting the original layout aft the engine inlets. Controlling the missile during its initial launch and climb was also a difficult problem. Normally, missiles use some form of proportional navigation , an algorithm that determines a near-perfect interception vector based on nothing more than the angular velocity of

304-469: A lower throw-weight. The primary reasons to choose a depressed trajectory are to evade anti-ballistic missile systems by reducing the time available to shoot down the attacking vehicle (especially during the vulnerable burn-phase against space-based ABM systems) or a nuclear first-strike scenario. An alternate, non-military purpose for a depressed trajectory is in conjunction with the spaceplane concept with use of airbreathing jet engines , which requires

380-400: A missile's warheads , reentry vehicles , self-contained dispensing mechanisms, penetration aids , and any other components that are part of the delivered payload, and not of the rocket itself (such as the launch rocket booster and launch fuel). Throw-weight may refer to any type of warhead, but in normal modern usage, it refers almost exclusively to nuclear or thermonuclear payloads. It

456-497: A new version of Red Duster - by this time known as the Bloodhound - which would offer a reasonable improvement in performance for very low development cost. The proposal proved interesting enough that it was ordered into production despite the very low priority for air defenses after 1957. The resulting Bloodhound Mark II entered service in 1965. Many changes were made as part of this process. The new 18-inch engines were added to

532-408: A small nuclear warhead under the code name "Blue Fox", which weighed about 450 pounds (200 kg) and had a yield around 5 to 10 kiloton. Another weapon being developed for the missile role was "Pixie", even smaller at around 250 pounds (110 kg) and 1 kiloton. By 1957 the programme had defined the final shape of the missile and flown sub-scale models, had completed development and test-flown

608-550: A weapon. They started the New Guided Missile Program , or NIGS for short, to replace the existing Seaslug missile on the County-class destroyers with a missile of much higher performance and a fire control system and radar that could track multiple targets, similar to the modern Aegis Combat System . Although NIGS generated some interest in the late 1950s, by 1958 it had already been decided that

684-442: Is believed that Iran's Fattah-1 and Kheybar Shekan missiles were used, which both have a range of about 1,400 km. In order to cover large distances, ballistic missiles are usually launched into a high sub-orbital spaceflight ; for intercontinental missiles, the highest altitude ( apogee ) reached during free-flight is about 4,500 kilometers (2,800 mi). A ballistic missile's trajectory consists of three parts or phases :

760-582: The Blue Envoy surface-to-air missile was also cancelled; although it offered much higher performance than Bloodhound, by the time it arrived in the mid-1960s it would have nothing to shoot at. The RAF was especially critical of one part of Sandys' conclusions. They noted the introduction of the Tupolev Tu-22 and Myasishchev M-50 supersonic bombers would occur before Bloodhound was fully deployed, and that their existing interceptor aircraft like

836-568: The Bristol 188 had demonstrated this material was much more difficult to work with than expected. Further, the Navy was planning a new series of smaller ships, and Blue Envoy would be too large to be carried by them. Having originally developed the Seaslug to fit smaller ships, its development into a system far too large for many ships made the Navy wary of another large missile design. Moreover, both

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912-591: The British Aircraft Corporation , or BAC. Hunting Aircraft soon joined the BAC group. In the same year, de Havilland , Blackburn Aircraft and Folland merged into Hawker Siddeley , which had already consisted of Armstrong Whitworth , Avro , Gloster and Hawker since 1935. Westland Aircraft took over all the helicopter manufacturers, including Saunders-Roe , Fairey Aviation and Bristol's helicopter work. Saunders-Roe's hovercraft work

988-756: The Gloster Javelin were incapable of successfully attacking these aircraft. Sandys relented and allowed the English Electric P.1 (which would become the Lightning ) to continue development, along with a new air-to-air missile to arm it, the Hawker Siddeley Red Top . The Avro 730 supersonic light bomber was also cancelled, as was the Blue Rosette nuclear weapon to arm it. The Royal Auxiliary Air Force 's flying role

1064-482: The Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve had been contributing reservists for air operations. From 1947 it had been curtailed to anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and fighter units only — there being a large number of propeller aircraft still in use. The increasing complexity of weapons system and the use of helicopters for ASW was thought to be beyond what reservist training could manage. With the ending of

1140-552: The V-2 developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s under the direction of Wernher von Braun . The first successful launch of a V-2 was on October 3, 1942, and it began operation on September 6, 1944, against Paris , followed by an attack on London two days later. By the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, more than 3,000 V-2s had been launched. In addition to its use as a weapon,

1216-526: The 18" engines on the Bristol XTV.9, renamed BET.9 for Blue Envoy Test, and the new radars were about to enter production. Although there were no remaining issues to solve and production could begin, in April 1957 the project was cancelled as part of the suggestions of the 1957 Defence White Paper . Up to this time, UK war plans were based on the concept of the three-day war, in which a Warsaw Pact attack

1292-620: The Air branch, the Short Seamew was no longer required and production was cancelled. Ballistic missile A ballistic missile (BM) is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typically stay within the Earth's atmosphere , while most larger missiles travel outside

1368-534: The Army was far larger than it had to be for this role, and led to reductions in the Army's size. Only the Navy was left significantly unchanged, although it refocussed on force projection rather than all-out battle with a Soviet fleet. UK war plans of the 1950s were based on a "three-day war", in which the Warsaw Pact 's forces would begin with a conventional attack in Europe, but the war would quickly progress to

1444-505: The Blue Envoy might be used against bombers, the V bombers would have to be launched anyway because missiles were sure to follow. In that case, you have to launch on warning and that would leave Blue Envoy defending empty airfields. The logic was considered so convincing that any attempt to defend the deterrent force was eventually abandoned. There were also problems with the design itself. Experiments with stainless steel construction on

1520-498: The Guided Weapons Division, was quoted saying: When Blue Envoy was cancelled we were on our beam-ends: that was our most dangerous period. I can remember Bloodhound II being invented in a taxi outside Ferranti's office. At the time of its cancellation, development of its radar systems and ramjet engines was largely complete. Bristol and Ferranti engineers came up with the plan of using these parts of Blue Envoy on

1596-419: The Navy and RAF were watching the shift from high-altitude bombers to lower-altitude strike aircraft , where the massive performance of the Blue Envoy would not be particularly useful as the radar horizon might be on the order of 10 miles (16 km). The cancellation of Blue Envoy caught Bristol by surprise, and they had no other ongoing projects to keep the missile division running. Don Rowley, Director of

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1672-537: The Soviets introduced new bomber designs, it appeared that there would be a period in the late 1950s where the Stage 1 missiles would not be adequate while the Stage 2 missile would still be under development. This led to the introduction of the "vulgar fractions"; Stage 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 and Stage 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 . Stage 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 was an updated Thunderbird with new radars, while Stage 1 + 3 ⁄ 4

1748-534: The Soviets to maintain higher throw-weight than an American force with a roughly comparable number of lower-payload missiles. The missiles with the world's heaviest payloads are the Russian SS-18 and Chinese CSS-4 and as of 2017 , Russia was developing a new heavy-lift, liquid-propellant ICBM called the Sarmat . Throw-weight is normally calculated using an optimal ballistic trajectory from one point on

1824-409: The V force to ensure its survival - even if bombers were detected, missiles were sure to follow anyway. In this case, there was no point trying to defend their airfields - they would either be empty or the war was already lost. In such a scenario the need for air defences was essentially eliminated. If an attack occurred, even the complete attrition of attacking bombers would have little to no effect on

1900-418: The aircraft reaching their launching areas. Green Sparkler had a design range of over 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi). This was beyond what could be effectively guided using a semi-active radar homing like the ones used on Thunderbird and Bloodhound. Instead, Green Sparkler used command guidance for much of the mission, switching to an active radar seeker in the last 10 miles (16 km) of

1976-506: The approach. Two seekers were considered, one using a continuous wave radar with separate transmit and receive dishes in the nose, and another using a pulse doppler radar using a single dish. Both were to also offer home-on-jamming. Some consideration was given to using the US's BOMARC for the Stage 2 role. This was ultimately rejected; while the BOMARC had the desired active radar seeker, it

2052-411: The atmosphere from space. However, in common military terminology, the term "hypersonic ballistic missile" is generally only given to those that can be maneuvered before hitting their target and don't follow a simple ballistic trajectory . Throw-weight is a measure of the effective weight of ballistic missile payloads . It is measured in kilograms or tonnes . Throw-weight equals the total weight of

2128-456: The atmosphere. The type of ballistic missile with the greatest range is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The largest ICBMs are capable of full orbital flight . These missiles are in a distinct category from cruise missiles , which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight and thus restricted to the atmosphere. One modern pioneer ballistic missile was the A-4, commonly known as

2204-453: The ballistic missile to remain low enough inside the atmosphere for air-breathing engines to function. In contrast, a "lofted" trajectory is frequently used for testing purposes, as it reduces the range of the missile (allowing for a controlled and observed impact), as well as signals a lack of hostile intention with the test. The following ballistic missiles have been used in combat: Blue Envoy Blue Envoy (a Rainbow Code name )

2280-583: The beginning of this phase, the missile's trajectory is still relatively well defined, though as the missile reaches the heavier layers of atmosphere it is increasingly influenced by gravity and aerodynamic drag, which can affect its landing. Ballistic missiles can be launched from fixed sites or mobile launchers, including vehicles (e.g., transporter erector launchers ), aircraft , ships , and submarines . Ballistic missiles vary widely in range and use, and are often divided into categories based on range. Various schemes are used by different countries to categorize

2356-470: The boost phase, the mid-course phase and the terminal phase. Special systems and capabilities are required to facilitate the successful passage from one phase to the other. The boost phase is the powered flight portion, beginning with the ignition of the engines and concluding with the end of powered flight. The powered flight portion can last from a few tenths of seconds to several minutes and can consist of multiple rocket stages. Internal computers keep

1957 Defence White Paper - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-417: The change to a voluntary army, and to "keep the Army abreast of changing circumstances, policies, weapons and techniques of war". 51 major units and a large number of smaller ones were to be disbanded or amalgamated , leaving the army with a strength of 165,000 officers and men. The process was to be carried out in two phases, to be completed by the end of 1959 and 1962 respectively. The Royal Armoured Corps

2508-529: The design, providing more thrust and allowing higher weights. This capacity was used to increase the fuel storage by extending the missile's fuselage until it was even longer than Blue Envoy. This almost doubled the range from the Mark I's roughly 40 miles (64 km) to about 75 miles (121 km). Another major change was that the seeker now used the new AMES Type 86 and AMES Type 87 radars, which were continuous-wave radars that could track targets very close to

2584-403: The development of a small digital computer to perform these intercept calculations. The computer would be fed the target location from a new tactical control radar under development as Orange Yeoman . The computer would then calculate an approximate intercept point and feed that information to the missile's autopilot . The computer also sent the current angular location of the target relative to

2660-496: The early 1950s. Green Sparkler featured active radar homing , but it was quickly decided this was beyond the state of the art . Replacing the active homing with semi-active radar homing produced Blue Envoy. The designs were otherwise similar, and similar to the US CIM-10 Bomarc as well. Test launches of sub-scale models were carried out successfully, and development of the new ramjet engines and seeker electronics

2736-482: The effects of the introduction of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to these warfighting scenarios. The UK was within the range of medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) stationed in East Germany , which had a flight time on the order of 15 minutes or less. Unlike the larger ICBMs , these medium-range missiles were simple and cheap, and it was expected they would be the main form of attack after mid-1960s. There

2812-500: The ground and were much more resistant to jamming. These changes made Bloodhound a much more formidable weapon, and in this form, it served into the 1990s. Although the RAF no longer believed defence from air attack would be successful, the RN still had a need to fend off attacks by strike aircraft . The cancellation of Blue Envoy left their plans for an advanced wide-area air defence without

2888-514: The large number of aircraft companies. The paper suggested that the companies join forces to rationalise their operations for a future in which there would be smaller numbers of military projects. Finally, the Army had a strong presence in Germany as a counter to Warsaw Pact forces, but ultimately its goal was simply to act as a tripwire force to deter an attack – the actual battle was assumed to be carried out by nuclear weapons. The size of

2964-528: The largest anti-aircraft artillery, and plans began to replace these weapons with surface-to-air missiles . By the mid-1950s, the USSR was known to be developing a variety of ballistic missiles able to deliver nuclear warheads. Split into classes based on their range, much of the attention internationally was on the longest-ranged intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). However, short-range missiles were both less expensive and easier to develop, and these had

3040-416: The missile aligned on a preprogrammed trajectory. On multi-stage missiles , stage separation (excluding any post-boost vehicles or MIRV bus) occurs primarily during the boost phase. The mid-course phase is the longest in the missile's trajectory, beginning with the conclusion of powered flight. When the fuel is exhausted, no more thrust is provided and the missile enters free flight. During this phase

3116-507: The missile's trajectory is the terminal or re-entry phase, beginning with the re-entry of the missile into the Earth's atmosphere (if exoatmospheric ) where atmospheric drag plays a significant part in missile trajectory, and lasts until missile impact . Re-entry vehicles re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at very high velocities, on the order of 6–8 kilometers per second (22,000–29,000 km/h; 13,000–18,000 mph) at ICBM ranges. During

1957 Defence White Paper - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-445: The missile, now largely consisting of a warhead or payload and possibly defensive countermeasures and small propulsion systems for further alignment toward its target, will reach its highest altitude and may travel in space for thousands of kilometres (or even indefinitely, in the case of some fractional-orbital capable systems) at speeds of up to 7.5 to 10 kilometres per second (4 to 5 nautical miles per second). The last phase in

3268-403: The missile, the "angle error", so the missile could keep its radar receiver aimed in the right direction, listening for the signal of the guidance radar. Some thought was also given to using the computer to directly control the missile's control surfaces, perhaps only during testing. The main warhead developed for Blue Envoy was a continuous rod warhead , although some consideration was given to

3344-434: The name Green Sparkler. Stage 2 was tasked with effectively countering bomber aircraft flying at supersonic speeds at very high altitudes that were potentially launching stand-off missiles from hundreds of miles range. In order to stop these attacks before they reached their launching points, the missile had to have long range. This, in turn, demanded high speed as there would only be a short time between detection on radar and

3420-463: The need for a modernized shorter range weapon was more urgent. NIGS continued at a lower priority while the new and somewhat simpler Sea Dart was given full development. By September 1959 a small, ramjet-powered upper stage with a large solid-fuel booster had been produced, similar to the contemporary US design, RIM-50 Typhon . There was some literature that suggested NIGS and Typhon would be close enough in size to be interchangeable. Later documents put

3496-577: The next generation of supersonic interceptor for high flying bombers, the F.155 and the interim aircraft that would have covered it until its introduction in 1963, namely the Saunders-Roe SR.53 and Saunders-Roe SR.177 . Sandys felt that the existing interceptor fleet would serve until the Bristol Bloodhound was in service, and after that point, a bomber attack was unlikely as the world increasingly switched to missiles. As such, even

3572-519: The performance needed to deliver a warhead to the UK from bases in East Germany . There was no defence from these medium range ballistic missiles and it appeared they would be widespread by the mid-1960s. The introduction of strategic missiles seriously upset the nature of the UK's defensive posture. While studying the issue, planners of an anti-ballistic missile system code-named Violet Friend ultimately concluded no effective defence against these weapons

3648-616: The post- World War II era the Royal Air Force deployed the ROTOR radar network that covered the entire British Isles in order to attack any strategic bomber that might attempt to approach. The defensive weapons of the system included new jet-powered interceptor aircraft and, originally, reorganised anti-aircraft artillery with new tactical control radars . By the early 1950s, the increasing speeds and altitudes of bombers meant they could "toss" their weapons from ranges outside even

3724-644: The ranges of ballistic missiles: Long- and medium-range ballistic missiles are generally designed to deliver nuclear weapons because their payload is too limited for conventional explosives to be cost-effective in comparison to conventional bomber aircraft . A quasi-ballistic missile is a category of SRBM that is largely ballistic but can perform maneuvers in flight or make unexpected changes in direction and range. Large guided MLRS rockets with range comparable to an SRBM are sometimes categorized as quasi-ballistic missiles. Many ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds (i.e. Mach 5 and above) when they re-enter

3800-624: The scope and mission of the Linesman/Mediator radar network that was being planned to replace ROTOR. To provide an indication of such a missile attack, the UK arranged to have a US BMEWS radar sited in England. Linesman was now tasked mostly with intercepting aircraft carrying carcinotron jammers, which the Soviets might use to mask BMEWS. With the development of missiles, those roles that missiles could cover meant that certain aircraft in development could be cancelled. These included

3876-431: The skin temperature under 620 °F (327 °C). To reach those speeds, a larger 18 inches (460 mm) diameter ramjet engine was required. Overall, the fuselage was not much larger than Red Duster, and did not carry appreciably more fuel. To reach the required range, increased from Red Duster's 40 miles (64 km) to Blue Envoy's 150 miles (240 km), the missile did not fly directly at its targets. Instead, it

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3952-435: The surface of the Earth to another. A "minimum-energy trajectory" maximizes the total payload (throw-weight) using the available impulse of the missile. By reducing the payload weight, different trajectories can be selected, which can either increase the nominal range or decrease the total time in flight. A depressed trajectory is non-optimal, as a lower and flatter trajectory takes less time between launch and impact but has

4028-424: The target relative to the missile. Blue Envoy was designed to be launched long before the target became visible to the missile's radar receiver and thus had to use command guidance for an extended period of flight. Computers on the ground would send signals to the missile to fly it toward the approximate intercept location, and then as it approached, feed it information on where to look for the target. Ferranti began

4104-657: The ultimate outcome once the missiles arrived. Much more likely was the opposite scenario, a missile attack on the V-force with Soviet bombers arriving later to hit targets that would likely have already been destroyed. With no existing system for detecting missile launches at long range, this became the primary concern. As a result, the White Paper cancelled many defensive systems, like the Blue Envoy SAM and Saunders-Roe SR.177 interceptor, and significantly reduced

4180-467: The use of tactical nuclear weapons. NATO’s overwhelming air superiority would win the resulting battle. From that point, if the war continued, strategic weapons would be unleashed and the battle would be between the strategic bombers and the opposing defences. The massive superiority of the western air forces meant this battle would be short and largely one-sided, but the UK would have to survive at least one wave of Soviet attacks. To handle this attack, in

4256-416: The way of AA units. When AA command was disbanded in 1955, many of the regular AA units were not disbanded like their Territorial counterparts, but disbanded in 1958/62. The Royal Engineers would be reduced by approximately 15,000 officers and men, with divisional engineer regiments to be replaced by field squadrons. The Royal Signals was to lose 13,000 soldiers by reduction of second-line units. Some of

4332-505: The wing span, closer to the tips. The initial layout, developed by Dietrich Küchemann , had the main portion of the wing swept at 75 degrees, lowered to 42 degrees outboard of the vertical stabilizers. Wind tunnel testing demonstrated that this layout caused interference with the air intakes for the engines. Roy Hawkins of the Royal Aircraft Establishment experimented with many different planforms before adding

4408-551: The work of the Royal Army Service Corps was to pass to civilian contractors, allowing a loss of 18,000 men. The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was to lose 11,000 soldiers, and was to be organised more efficiently with a large number of depots closed. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was to lose 23,000 soldiers. Other arms and services were to be reduced in proportion. Since 1938 the Air Branch of

4484-504: Was "lofted" on a near-vertical ascent into the high atmosphere, where it then tipped over to horizontal where it could coast in the thin air for long distances. The thin air at these altitudes made controlling the missile difficult, and while Blue Envoy retained Red Duster's "twist-n-steer" guidance system, it had much larger tailless compound delta wings in place of the original smaller clipped delta wings and separate tail surfaces. Vertical stabilizers were mounted about 2 ⁄ 3 along

4560-469: Was (at that time) a simple non-doppler pulse unit that would be very easy to jam using the recently introduced carcinotron . They also considered the 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) range excessive, given that the AMES Type 80 radars that would be providing initial aiming had a range of just over 200 nmi, meaning this very large missile's range performance would be somewhat wasted. As

4636-428: Was a British project to develop a ramjet -powered surface-to-air missile . It was tasked with countering supersonic bomber aircraft launching stand-off missiles , and thus had to have very long range and high-speed capabilities. The final design was expected to fly at Mach 3 (3,700 km/h; 2,300 mph) with a maximum range of over 200 miles (320 km). Development started as Green Sparkler sometime in

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4712-536: Was a slightly modified version of Green Sparkler using semi-active guidance instead of an active seeker and thus offering a shorter maximum range on the order of 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi). This shorter-range proposal became Blue Envoy. By this time the Royal Navy was concerned about similar stand-off missile attacks against their ships. They developed a requirement for a similar long-range missile. Bristol submitted Blue Envoy for this role, and it

4788-503: Was accepted and became Bloodhound Mk. II, which increased range from 35 miles (56 km) to 75 miles (121 km) and offered much greater performance against low-level targets and radar jamming efforts. The Bloodhound Mk. II would ultimately serve as Britain's primary air defence missile into the 1990s. During the late 1940s a series of events prompted the complete reformation of the British air defence system. This led to ROTOR , which

4864-472: Was also brought to an end. The paper stated that the aircraft industry should re-organise, with a number of smaller companies becoming a few larger ones. It was made clear that new contracts would only be given to such merged firms, including the only new aircraft project, which would become the TSR-2 . Under pressure, in 1960 English Electric , Bristol Aeroplane Company and Vickers-Armstrong merged to form

4940-491: Was designed to provide widespread radar coverage of the entire British Isles and defend that airspace using a combination of interceptor aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery . In 1953, as part of continual modifications to the ROTOR concept, the anti-aircraft artillery was to be replaced by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), or as they are known in the UK, surface-to-air guided weapons (SAGW). As SAMs were new technology, it

5016-435: Was interested in seeing ramjet propulsion developed, and suggested Red Duster move to this form of power. Otherwise the two systems were very similar designs, even sharing the same Marconi designed radar systems. Red Shoes emerged as the 30 miles (48 km) ranged Thunderbird, while Red Duster became the 40 miles (64 km) ranged Bloodhound. Work on the Stage 2 missile did not begin until sometime later, initially under

5092-576: Was met with the use of tactical nuclear weapons . The war would be won or lost long before the Warsaw Pact forces reached the English Channel , so a conventional invasion was simply not a consideration. At any time, the war might "go strategic" and would be fought between Soviet bombers and RAF interceptors; the interceptors would either destroy the bombers hundreds of miles from shore, or the UK would be destroyed. The White Paper considered

5168-492: Was no credible scenario where they would use only bombers; if an attack by bombers was detected, this would only signal that missiles were already on the way. As there was no defence against ballistic missiles, the only possible counter was deterrence. The UK's V bomber deterrent was highly vulnerable while on the ground, so any signal of an attack required their immediate launch. In such an environment, defence systems like Blue Envoy did not make much sense; in any scenario where

5244-586: Was once also a consideration in the design of naval ships and the number and size of their guns. Throw-weight was used as a criterion in classifying different types of missiles during Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the Soviet Union and the United States . The term became politically controversial during debates over the arms control accord, as critics of the treaty alleged that Soviet missiles were able to carry larger payloads and so enabled

5320-438: Was planned these would be deployed in two stages, an interim Stage 1 design with range on the order of 20 miles (32 km), and some time after that, a greatly improved Stage 2 missile with much longer range. Two designs were entered for the Stage 1 missile contract, English Electric 's Red Shoes and Bristol Aerospace 's Red Duster . The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), who was in overall control of missile development,

5396-409: Was possible. The only way to stop an attack would be to stop it from being launched, and the only way to do that was through deterrence. Although the survival of the V force was required even before this point, there was some expectation that it would survive direct air attack given the ROTOR defence. With missiles, there was no way to do this. Any sign of an attack would require the immediate launch of

5472-421: Was purchased by Bombardier in 1989. Engine companies were likewise "encouraged" to merge. In 1959 Armstrong Siddeley and Bristol's engine division merged to become Bristol Siddeley , but were shortly purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, leaving RR as the only major British aircraft engine manufacturer. The British Army was to be reduced in size and reorganised to reflect the ending of National Service and

5548-645: Was spun off and merged with Vickers Supermarine as the British Hovercraft Corporation . Very few companies were left independent after this wave of mergers, leaving only Handley Page as a major independent, along with the smaller companies like Auster , Boulton Paul , Miles Aircraft , Scottish Aviation and Short Brothers . Most of these disappeared by the 1970s, having merged into the British Aerospace conglomerate. Scottish Aviation remained independent until 1977 and Shorts

5624-471: Was the only entry for this contest. Although Blue Envoy, and Green Sparkler, shared many broadly similar features with the Red Duster, it was an entirely different design in detail. In order to deal with the skin friction heating of its Mach 3 performance, the entire missile was made of stainless steel rather than aluminium. The speed was measured by a thermometer, adjusting the ramjet power to keep

5700-524: Was to be reduced by the amalgamation of: The infantry of the line was to undergo major changes. Existing regiments were to be grouped in "brigades". Each brigade was to have a single depot with those of the individual regiments being reduced to the status of regimental headquarters. There was to be a reduction in the number of regular infantry battalions from 64 to 49 by the merging of pairs of regiments. The brigades and regiments were to be (with changes to 1966): The Royal Artillery saw many changes, mostly in

5776-473: Was well advanced when the project was cancelled in April 1957 as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper . Its cancellation made Blue Envoy "possibly the most enigmatic project in the field of 1950s United Kingdom weapons development." An impromptu meeting between the contractors led to a proposal to use the guidance system and ramjets to upgrade the Bloodhound Mk. I missile design. This private proposal

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