Blue Steel remained the primary British nuclear deterrent weapon until the Royal Navy started operating Polaris ballistic missiles from Resolution-class submarines. ==Development== Blue Steel was the result of a Ministry of Supply memorandum from 5 November 1954 that predicted that by 1960 Soviet air defences would make it impossible for V bombers to attack with nuclear gravity bombs.
The Air Staff issued this requirement for a stand-off bomb as OR.1132 in September 1954. The Ministry of Supply selected Avro out of the British manufacturers, although it had no experience in working on guided weapons other than some private venture work; Handley Page had suggested a missile, but the Elliots gyro based guidance system was inaccurate beyond .
Avro began work proper in 1955, with the assigned Rainbow Code name of "Blue Steel" which it would keep in service.
Publisher: HMSO, 1994. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/uk/blue_steel.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20061209210406/http://www.vectorsite.net/twcruz.html The Vulcan Gets New Striking Power an AVRO advertisement for the Vulcan from Flight in February 1959, showing the (still unnamed) Blue Steel. "Blue Steel And Its Engine" a 1960 Flight article on the Blue Steel Cold War air-to-surface missiles of the United Kingdom Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
Blue Steel remained the primary British nuclear deterrent weapon until the Royal Navy started operating Polaris ballistic missiles from Resolution-class submarines. ==Development== Blue Steel was the result of a Ministry of Supply memorandum from 5 November 1954 that predicted that by 1960 Soviet air defences would make it impossible for V bombers to attack with nuclear gravity bombs.
The trials began in 1960 about the time the original requirement expected the weapon to be in service.
A replacement for Blue Steel, the Mark 2, was planned with increased range and a ramjet engine, but was cancelled in 1960 to minimise delays to the Mk.1.
Publisher: HMSO, 1994. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/uk/blue_steel.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20061209210406/http://www.vectorsite.net/twcruz.html The Vulcan Gets New Striking Power an AVRO advertisement for the Vulcan from Flight in February 1959, showing the (still unnamed) Blue Steel. "Blue Steel And Its Engine" a 1960 Flight article on the Blue Steel Cold War air-to-surface missiles of the United Kingdom Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
When development of that system was cancelled in 1962, the V-bomber fleet was considered highly vulnerable.
The UK sought to acquire the much longer-ranged United States Air Force AGM-48 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile, and was greatly frustrated when that weapon was cancelled in late 1962. Blue Steel required up to seven hours of launch preparation, and was highly unreliable.
The missile proceeded to the target at speeds up to Mach 3, and would trigger within 100 m of the pre-defined target point. Blue Steel entered service in 1963, by which point improved SAMs with longer range had greatly eroded the advantages of the design.
A specialist RAF unit, 4 JSTU, was established to carry out preparatory and operational tasks. Blue Steel finally entered service in February 1963, carried by Vulcans and Victors, although its limitations were already apparent.
The Royal Air Force estimated in 1963 that half the missiles would fail to fire and would have to be dropped over their targets, contradicting their purpose of serving as standoff weapons.
These trials were conducted in 1964 and concluded in 1965 With no effective long-range weapon the original Blue Steel served on after a crash programme of minor modifications to permit a low-level launch at , even though its usefulness in a hot war was likely limited.
These trials were conducted in 1964 and concluded in 1965 With no effective long-range weapon the original Blue Steel served on after a crash programme of minor modifications to permit a low-level launch at , even though its usefulness in a hot war was likely limited.
Publisher: HMSO, 1994. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/uk/blue_steel.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20061209210406/http://www.vectorsite.net/twcruz.html The Vulcan Gets New Striking Power an AVRO advertisement for the Vulcan from Flight in February 1959, showing the (still unnamed) Blue Steel. "Blue Steel And Its Engine" a 1960 Flight article on the Blue Steel Cold War air-to-surface missiles of the United Kingdom Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
107, September/October 2003.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05