Bloodhound Mk 2

A Bloodhound missile at RAF Museum, Hendon, London.
Type	SAM
Nationality	UK
Era	Cold War
Launch platform	Fixed installation
Target	High altitude bomber
History
Builder	Bristol Aeroplane Co.
Date of design	1950's
Production period
Service duration	1958 (MK 1)/1964 - 1991
Operators	RAF, RAAF, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore
Variants	Mk 1, Mk 2
Number built	783
Specifications
Type	MK 2
Diameter	54.6 cm (body)
Wing span	2.83 m
Length	8.46 m (with booster)
Weight	2,270 kg
Propulsion	2 x Ramjet, 4 x solid fuel booster
Steering	Control surfaces
Guidance	Semi-active radar
Speed	Mach 2.7
Range	185 km
Ceiling
Payload
Warhead	Continuous-rod warhead
Trigger	Proximity fuze

The Bristol Bloodhound, a British surface-to-air missile, was developed during the 1950s as the UK's main air defence weapon and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of four other countries from 1958. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2490x2000, 203 KB) A Bloodhound SAM at RAF Museum at Hendon, London. ... A weapons platform is generally any structure or system on which a weapon can be mounted. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. ... A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, is a type of jet engine. ... Solid fuel is a term given to various types of solid material that provide energy. ... A booster in space-related applications is usually a solid rocket booster: a solid fuel rocket of which two or more are attached to the main rocket to provide the main thrust in the initial phase of the rockets flight. ... Semi-active radar homing, or SARH, is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer range air-to-air and ground-to-air missile systems. ... Mach number (Ma) (pronounced: mæk, mɑːk) is defined as a ratio of the speed of an object or flow relative to the speed of sound in the medium through which it is travelling: Vo/Vs where Vo is the speed of the object and Vs is the speed... A continuous-rod warhead is a specialized munition used as part of an anti-aircraft missile. ... Look up Proximity fuze in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A proximity fuze (also called a VT fuze) is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive automatically when close enough to the target to destroy it. ... A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ... The 1950s were the decade that traditionally speaking, spanned the years 1950 through 1959. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

The Bloodhound served the RAF throughout almost the entire Cold War. The Bloodhound Mk I entered service in December 1958, the last Mk II missile squadron stood down in July 1991. The Cold War (Russian: Холодная война Kholodnaya Voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their military alliance partners. ...

History

A contract was placed with the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1947. The project, initially known as "Red Duster," became the Bloodhound. Deployment of the Bloodhound Mk I began in 1958 at the culmination of a development process begun a decade earlier by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Ferranti Ltd (both now part of BAE Systems) — the latter providing the radar guidance and control. Bloodhound 1 was used to protect the V-bomber bases and was usually installed nearby. Its pulsed radar could be jammed and was vulnerable to ground 'clutter', thus degrading low-level capability. These short-comings were quickly tackled, and resulting in Bloodhound 2 joining the RAF in 1964. Bristol Aeroplane Company logo The Bristol Aeroplane Company (formerly British and Colonial Aeroplane Company) was a major British aircraft company which, in 1959, merged with several major British aircraft companies, to become the British Aircraft Corporation and later still part of British Aerospace, now BAE Systems. ... Bristol Aeroplane Company logo The Bristol Aeroplane Company (formerly British and Colonial Aeroplane Company) was a major British aircraft company which, in 1959, merged with several major British aircraft companies, to become the British Aircraft Corporation and later still part of British Aerospace, now BAE Systems. ... Ferranti or Ferranti International Signal plc by the time of its collapse, was a major UK electrical engineering and equipment firm, known primarily for their defense electronics and power grid systems. ... Systems plc is the worlds fourth largest defence contractor and a commercial aerospace products manufacturer. ... The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the UKs strategic nuclear strike force. ... This long range radar antenna, known as ALTAIR, is used to detect and track space objects in conjunction with ABM testing at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll[1]. Radar is a system that uses radio waves to detect, determine the distance of, and map, objects such... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

The Mk I's pulsed Type 83 radar was replaced with a continuous wave Type 86 or Type 87 radar, both of which were less susceptible to jamming. The Mk II was given a more powerful Thor engine and could engage targets at higher and lower altitudes than its predecessor. The first site to be developed solely for the Mk II system was RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, construction beginning in 1964. The Type 85 gave way to the Type 86 "Indigo Corkscrew" target illumination radar. The term Jamming can refer to several things: Jamming as an electronic warfare (EW) - a technique to limit the effectiveness of an opponents communications and/or detection equipment, like Radio Jamming and Radar Jamming E-Mail Jamming- used by electronic political activists or hackers to disable e-mail systems... RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located to the west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (pronounced IPA: ) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ...

Bloodhound was also stationed abroad, and in 1970 (after the Royal Navy's Polaris submarines had assumed the strategic deterrent role) all systems within the UK were withdrawn and either stored or transferred to RAF Germany for airfield defence. Changing operational requirements later prompted a re-appraisal of this policy in the light of the low-level threat, resulting in No. 85 Squadron forming at West Raynham on 18 December 1975. Its first missiles became operational with 'A' Flight and assigned to NATO on 1 July 1976. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... The Resolution class submarines were the first British strategic ballistic missile submarines, carrying the Polaris missile. ... Royal Air Force Germany was a command of the Royal Air Force, consisting of those units based in Germany initially as part of the occupation following World War II and later as part of the RAFs commitment to the defense of Europe during the Cold War. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

There was an export version, Bloodhound 21, planned that had less sophisticated electronic countermeasures equipment.

As at 2006 the only surface-to-air missile in RAF service is the Rapier missile which has a much shorter range and a very much lower altitude capability. Rapier Type surface to air Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform vehicle Target aircraft History Builder British Aerospace Date of design Production period Service duration Operators UK Variants ? Number built ? Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...

A missile that is very similar in appearance, the Thunderbird, was produced for and operated by the British Army anti-aircraft artillery units to provide a more mobile defence system. Thunderbird Type Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform mobile Target high altitude bomber History Builder English Electric Date of design Production period Service duration 1959 - 1976 Operators British Army Variants Thunderbird II Number built Specifications Type Diameter 0. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Variants

Mk I

• Length : 7.7 m
• Launch Weight : 2,000 kg
• Range : 80 km
• Max. Speed : Mach 2.2
• Propulsion
  • Main : 2 x Thor ramjet engines
  • Booster : 4 Gosling booster rockets

Model of a Bloodhound missile. Solid-fuel boosters in yellow, ramjets in white

One of the two Thor ramjet engines of a Bloodhound missile (not a model)

Download high resolution version (750x662, 111 KB)A model Bloodhound at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ... Download high resolution version (750x662, 111 KB)A model Bloodhound at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ... One of the two Thor ramjet engines of a Bloodhound missile at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ... One of the two Thor ramjet engines of a Bloodhound missile at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ...

Mk II

• Length : 8.45 m
• Launch Weight :
• Range : 185 km
• Max. Speed : Mach 2.7
• Propulsion
  • Main : 2 x Thor ramjet engines (Improved)
  • Booster : 4 Gosling booster rockets

Mk III

The planned Mk III (also known as RO 166) was a nuclear warhead equipped Mark II with a longer range (around 75 mile) achieved with improved Ramjet engine and bigger boosters. The project, one of several adaptions of existing British missiles to carry tactical nuclear devices, was cancelled in 1960.

Mk IV

This would have been a mobile version of Bloodhound.

• RB-65 : Swedish military designation of Mk I
• RB-68 : Swedish military designation of Mk II
• BL-64 : Swiss military designation

See also

• Thunderbird (missile)

Thunderbird Type Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform mobile Target high altitude bomber History Builder English Electric Date of design Production period Service duration 1959 - 1976 Operators British Army Variants Thunderbird II Number built Specifications Type Diameter 0. ...