Missiles
| Type of Missile | Entered service |
Tactical model |
Training and Evaluation model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | 1957 | XM3 (XMIM-23A) |
n/a |
| Basic Hawk | 1959 | (M3) MIM-23A |
XM16/18 (XMTM-23B/C) |
| Basic I-Hawk | 1971 to 1978 |
MIM-23B | XMEM-23B |
| Improved ECCM | 1982 | MIM-23C/D | MEM-23C |
| Low-level/ multi-jamming |
1990 | MIM-23E/F | MEM-23D |
| New body section |
early 1990s |
MIM-23G/H | MEM-23E |
| New warhead and fuzing (anti-TBM) |
1995 | MIM-23K/J | MEM-23F |
| New fuzing only, old warhead |
1995 | MIM-23L/M |
The Hawk missile has a slender cylindrical body and four long chord clipped delta-wings, extending from mid-body to the slightly tapered boat-tail. Each wing has a trailing-edge control surface.
- The MIM-23A is 5.08 metres (16.7 ft) long, has a body diameter of 0.37 metres (1 ft 3 in), a wing span of 1.21 metres (4 ft 0 in) and weighs 584 kilograms (1,290 lb) at launch with a 54 kilograms (120 lb) HE blast/fragmentation warhead. It has a minimum engagement range of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), a maximum range of 25 kilometres (16 mi), a minimum engagement altitude of 60 metres (200 ft) and a maximum engagement altitude of 11,000 metres (36,000 ft).
- The MIM-23B to M versions are 5.03 m (16.5 ft) long, have a body diameter of 0.37 m (1 ft 3 in) and, with a larger warhead of 75 kg (11 lb), weighing 638 kg (1,410 lb) at launch. An improved motor, with a total weight of 395 kg (870 lb) including 295 kg (650 lb) of propellant, increases the maximum range of the MIM-23B to M versions to 35 km (22 mi) and maximum engagement altitude to 18,000 m (59,000 ft). The minimum range is reduced to 1.5 km (0.93 mi). The MIM-23B has a peak velocity of around 500 m/s (1,600 ft/s). The missile is fitted with both radio frequency proximity and impact fuses. The guidance system uses an X-band CW monopulse semi-active radar seeker. The missile can maneuver at 15 g.
In the 1970s, NASA used surplus Hawk missiles to create the Nike Hawk sounding rocket.
Read more about this topic: MIM-23 Hawk
Famous quotes containing the word missiles:
“At the rate science proceeds, rockets and missiles will one day seem like buffalo—slow, endangered grazers in the black pasture of outer space.”
—Bernard Cooper (b. 1936)
“Our missiles always make too short an arc:
They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)