Background
Since 1951, the Navy faced the initial threat from the Tupolev Tu-4K 'Bull' carrying anti-ship missiles. Eventually, during the height of the Cold War, the threat would have actually expanded into regimental-size raids of Tu-16 Badger and Tu-22M Backfire bombers equipped with low-flying, long-range, high-speed, nuclear-armed cruise missiles and considerable Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) of various types.
The Navy would require a long-range, long-endurance interceptor aircraft to defend carrier battle groups against this threat. The projected F6D Missileer was intended to fulfill this mission and oppose the attack far from the fleet it was defending. The weapon needed for interceptor aircraft, the Bendix AAM-N-10 Eagle, would be an air-to-air missile of unprecedented range when compared to contemporary AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. It would work together with Westinghouse AN/APQ-81 radar.
Read more about this topic: AIM-54 Phoenix
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