Word: skybolts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...place in space. Douglas would make a good mate. It offers a large write-off against future taxes. Due largely to development costs on its DC-8 jetliner, its 1959-60 deficits totaled $52 million. Douglas is the contractor for the nation's first airborne ballistic missile, the Skybolt, and for the Saturn moon rocket booster. In addition, Douglas and McDonnell share a $1,800,000 contract, jointly awarded them by the Federal Aviation Agency, to develop a supersonic transport...
...that can carry weapons of moderate weight only. An improved model will be assigned to interception of enemy aircraft and to tactical duty with NATO and U.S. ground forces. But there seems to be no reason why it could not be stepped up in size. Big-brother VTOLs carrying Skybolt air-to-ground ballistic missiles (TIME, April 27) could be securely hidden on small fields in such small, crowded countries as England or The Netherlands. Taking off from any road or cow pasture, most of them would be full of fight after the most searching surprise attack...
...airborne missiles can be launched 1,000 nautical miles away from their targets; the two-stage missile's Aerojet engines burn solid fuel, and not much of it. When Skybolt is fired, it already has the respectable forward speed of 600 m.p.h., and most of the atmosphere is already far below. With little fuss, by land-launched rocket standards, it climbs into the vacuum of space and arches...
Since B-525 can take off from any of many fields and fly in a few hours to within easy reach of enemy centers, they are far more versatile than any fixed launching pad. Their Skybolts can approach targets from any direction, forcing an enemy to watch the whole sky rather than concentrate on already computed missile routes. And no effective defense is likely against the Skybolt's nuclear warhead, which will plunge out of space like an ICBM that has come from the far side of the earth...
...Skybolt partisans explain the missile's lack of early publicity by pointing out that when it was soaring through its research testing, Pentagon strategists were busy moving heaven and Congress to promote the $10 billion B70 project. Long before the first B70 flies, Skybolt will be competitive with the supersonic bomber...