Blue Water (missile)
Blue Water was a British battlefield nuclear missile of the early 1960s, intended to replace the MGM-5 Corporal, which was becoming obsolete. With roughly the same role and range as Corporal, the solid-fuel Blue Water was far simpler to use and would be significantly easier to support in the field. It was seen as a replacement for Corporal both in the UK as well as other NATO operators, notably Germany and possibly Turkey.
The design traces its history to the shorter-ranged but otherwise similar Red Rose design of 1954. In 1958, significantly changed requirements led to it being renamed in spite of the missile itself being very similar overall. The Blue Water missile entered testing in 1962 was generally successful, and praised in the industry.[1] However, when Germany purchased the MGM-29 Sergeant instead of Blue Water, and it appeared Turkey would do the same, the UK government decided to cancel its development instead of continuing to develop a missile that would be used only by their own forces.
Red Rose and Blue Water were code names assigned randomly by the Ministry of Supply based on their Rainbow Code system.
History
Origins
In the late World War II period, the British Army formed the Guided Weapons Committee to consider their needs for missile weapons. They identified seven designs of interest, mostly surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles. In the surface-to-surface role, they identified the need for three nuclear armed weapons, for short, medium and long range use. Given the general feeling that another war was at least ten years off, and the poor post-war economy, little work on these plans was carried out.[2]
The opening of the Cold War led to new priorities, and by 1954 the missiles were once again being seriously considered. By this time, it was decided that the short-range mission was to be filled by a new nuclear artillery shell, Yellow Anvil. English Electric (EE) won the initial contract for a design study on the long range weapon, which became known as Black Rock under the Ministry of Supply's Rainbow Code system. The project was abandoned, with observers suggesting it was due to its role overlapping with the Royal Air Forces deep strike mission which they considered their own.[2]
Red Rose
In November 1954, English Electric was also handed a development contract for the medium-range missile. This was given the code name "Red Rose" in August 1956. Leslie Bedford, Director of Engineering at EE's Stevenage division, initially proposed adapting their "Red Shoes" surface-to-air missile (SAM) for this role. Red Shoes became known as Thunderbird when it entered service with the Army in 1959. The modified design was referred to as the "30-mile RS Conversion", but may have also been known as "Red Herring", although whether this an official Rainbow Code or simply a nickname is not known.[3]
Given the much heavier 1,000 pounds (450 kg) warhead, the RS conversion would add two more of the Gosling
Unknown to either EE or the Army at the time,
The final entry was from Bristol, the "RP.15", which, like EE, proposed an adapted version of their existing Red Duster missile, better known as Bloodhound. It is unclear whether this was seriously considered for the role.[3]
New Red Rose
In 1956 the
EE was given the service contract for these missiles in the field, and it was no surprise when the Army turned to them to consider a proposal to fill a new Red Rose.[5][6] EE returned a new design, sometimes referred to as "Red Rock Ab Initio", using a single larger rocket engine. The missile would be carried on a AEC Militant converted as a TEL, but the launch pad was separate, towed behind the TEL on a trailer. For launch, the trailer was dropped to the ground and the TEL backed up and used hydraulic rams to lift the missile to vertical and sit it on the pad. After launch, as the thrust dropped, a set of stabilizing fins at the extreme rear would drop off to improve aerodynamics, as they were only needed during launch when the missile was still flying at slower speeds.[7]
Corps Support Rocket, Blue Water
In 1958, the Army changed the requirements for the system, demanding it be
Given the lighter warheads, Red Rose could meet the range requirements without any changes to the rocket. But the two-part TEL was a problem as it would not fit into the RAF's standard Argosy transport aircraft.[9] EE responded by making relatively small modifications to their last Red Rose proposal. The missile remained largely the same, but reshaped the wings and control fins removed the drop-off fins. The major change was to the TEL, which was now a single vehicle based on the Bedford LRHC. As the missile now flew beyond the radar horizon, it was guided entirely through an inertial platform. After being raised, the missile was carefully levelled using a built-in theodolite and then the trajectory was calculated using a computer in an accompanying Land Rover.[7]
The changes were significant enough to grant it a new name, "Blue Water". The resulting design was significantly similar to the later
Development
A suitable warhead of 10
The first test vehicle flew in 1960 from
Cancellation
Initial hopes for Blue Water had been optimistic, seeing it as a NATO-wide replacement for the clearly obsolete Corporal. The anticipated customer was the West German Bundeswehr, but there were serious expectations that this would become standard equipment across NATO. There was even the possibility of sales to the non-NATO Switzerland, which would be equipped with a French warhead instead. To improve the chances of sales into Europe, the weapon was the first UK design to be dimensioned in metric.[12]
The US replacement for Corporal was the Sergeant. Sergeant was solid-fuelled and generally comparable to Blue Water, although it was more complex and slower to operate and, like Corporal, still required a train of semi-trailer vehicles.[13] It was however promised for delivery in 1961. In 1960 West Germany agreed to buy Sergeant rather than to wait for Blue Water.[14] As this represented the other major customer for Blue Water, and also the likelihood that other potential customers such as Turkey and Italy would then follow this American path, the sales prospects for Blue Water became bleak.[15]
The programme was cancelled on 10 August 1962, as the UK government, whilst still wishing to purchase the missile, was no longer willing to fund the entire development costs itself.
At the time, it was suggested that the cancellation was also the outcome of a successful program to better integrate the RAF and Army. The program, started in 1960, aimed to improve air-ground coordination, allowing RAF aircraft to be used more effectively in the close-support role. Blue Water was, to a large degree, a replacement for long-range artillery, a role that was easily fulfilled by the RAF's TSR-2, as long as those aircraft were available to the Army on a timely basis. The need for missile artillery was replaced by the immediate availability of flying artillery.[17] This suggestion is backed by public comments at the time of the cancellation; "there are plenty of nuclear weapons in Europe already, and that TSR.2 could cover many of the targets the army had in mind for Blue Water".[18]
Air-launched stand-off variant
A number of references claim that a version of Blue Water was designed for air-launch by the
Description
This missile was 25 feet (7.6 m) in length and weighed-in at 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg). The fuselage was cylindrical with a tapered nose, without the swelling required for previous large diameter nuclear warheads. The control surfaces were small and of typical English Electric form: four rear fins and four daggerboard shaped all-moving control surfaces at mid-length, indexed at 45° to the tail fins.
The transporter erector launcher was a modified Bedford RL lorry.[4][9] Additional launch equipment consisted of an early electronic computer, carried in a Land Rover, together with an alignment theodolite. Missiles were normally to be held under cover until a few minutes before launch, whereupon they would be moved to their launch position and the stabilising jacks beneath the lorry placed in position. These launch positions had been surveyed immediately beforehand, so as to be aligned directly at the target.[9]
Prior to launch, the launch computer was connected to the missile by an umbilical cable. The same theodolite was used to align the on-board gyroscopes before launch and the flight plan settings for the missile were downloaded to it. The launch control vehicle could then move on to prepare another launcher within the battery.[9] Only immediately before launch was the missile raised on its launcher and then fired. Each missile required a remarkably small crew of two, not counting the battery survey team, to operate it.[9]
See also
- List of Rainbow Codes
- Blue Streak
References
- ^ Flight: 751. 8 November 1962.
Despite the fact that it was generally acknowledged to be the best army-support missile under development in the Western world
- ^ a b Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 126.
- ^ a b c d Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 127.
- ^ Flight: 704. 2 November 1961.
- ^ Flight: 510–511. 6 November 1959.
- ^ Flight: 703–704. 2 November 1961.
- ^ a b c d Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 128.
- Flight: 459. 16 September 1960.
- ^ Flight: 657. 18 May 1961.
- ISBN 9780752488257.
- ^ "Blue Water first flight". Daily Mail. 25 April 1960.
Blue Water has been successfully launched for the first time ... the firing took place at the Aberporth rocket range on the Welsh coast last week
- ^ a b c Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 129.
- Flight: 643–644. 23 April 1964.
- Flight: 169. 5 February 1960.
- Flight: 210. 9 August 1962.
- ^ Flight: 171–172.
achieved export successes despite the indifference, if not hostility, of its governments
- ^ "Notes and Comments". New Scientist: 343. 16 August 1962.
- ISBN 9780230369252.
- ISBN 0-7106-0441-6.
- ^ a b Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 130.
- ^ http://nuclear-weapons.info/images/tna-avia-65-1834-e45-1-p8-9.jpg[bare URL image file]
- Flight: 374. 7 September 1961.
Bibliography
- Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Midland. ISBN 9781857802580.
- Gough, Jack (1993). Watching the skies: a history of ground radar for the air defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force from 1946 to 1975. HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-772723-6.