nightcrawler
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-To say Sprint was a phenomenal missile, is putting it mildly. A cone shaped missile that accelerated at 100g, achieved a speed of
Mach 10 in 5 seconds, had an ablative coating to dissipate the heat that was generated from the fiction from the atmosphere and
was so accurate that the radar had to be de-tuned during testing so that it would not hit incoming RVs. It was a phenomenal
missile.
Sprint came about from a study that started in 1959 as a result of identifying the need for a quick acting last ditch missile to
intercept incoming RVs, specifically those fromsea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and to also intercept RVs that may have got
through the higher layer defence. It took three years of research before the study concluded that with the use of phased array
radars and appropriate heat shielding, sucha terminal defence missile was possible. Asa result, in January 1963, the DoD directed
that the Nike-X system be developed which included not only the Nike-EX missile (subsequently Spartan), but also another missile
called Sprint. In March 1964, Martin Marietta was awarded the development contract for the Sprint missile.
No missile like Sprint is created from a vacuum. Spartan came from years of
development of the Nike Zeus missile, and so various programs and other missiles
were used to assist the Sprint program. One program which ran concurrently with
Sprint for a short time was HiBEX (HIgh Boost EXperiment).
Another programinvolved which was designed to test Sprint components was called
Squirt. It had a different booster to the Sprint missile, but the second stage of the
missile was comparable to the Sprint missile. It was used during 196? at White
Sands. Its first flight was on 14 July 1964, with another six flights following with at
least one more in 1964. Some sources report that flight testing of Sprint components
started at White Sands early in 1964 with the first Sprint launch taking place in
November 1965. These early flights probably would have been of Squirt missiles
To say Sprint was a phenomenal missile, is putting it mildly. A cone shaped missile that accelerated at 100g, achieved a speed of
Mach 10 in 5 seconds, had an ablative coating to dissipate the heat that was generated from the fiction from the atmosphere and
was so accurate that the radar had to be de-tuned during testing so that it would not hit incoming RVs. It was a phenomenal
missile.
Sprint came about from a study that started in 1959 as a result of identifying the need for a quick acting last ditch missile to
intercept incoming RVs, specifically those fromsea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and to also intercept RVs that may have got
through the higher layer defence. It took three years of research before the study concluded that with the use of phased array
radars and appropriate heat shielding, sucha terminal defence missile was possible. Asa result, in January 1963, the DoD directed
that the Nike-X system be developed which included not only the Nike-EX missile (subsequently Spartan), but also another missile
called Sprint. In March 1964, Martin Marietta was awarded the development contract for the Sprint missile.
No missile like Sprint is created from a vacuum. Spartan came from years of
development of the Nike Zeus missile, and so various programs and other missiles
were used to assist the Sprint program. One program which ran concurrently with
Sprint for a short time was HiBEX (HIgh Boost EXperiment).
Another programinvolved which was designed to test Sprint components was called
Squirt. It had a different booster to the Sprint missile, but the second stage of the
missile was comparable to the Sprint missile. It was used during 196? at White
Sands. Its first flight was on 14 July 1964, with another six flights following with at
least one more in 1964. Some sources report that flight testing of Sprint components
started at White Sands early in 1964 with the first Sprint launch taking place in
November 1965. These early flights probably would have been of Squirt missiles
Launches
There were two series of test launches of Sprint missiles. The first series covered the initial development launches atWhite Sands
and then testing switched over to system and operational launches at Kwajalein. This first series of launchers had 12 successes,
with 2 partial successes and 2 failures. The second series of operational launches took place at Kwajalein of which 29 were
successful.
At Kwajalein, missile launches took place from Meck Island which also had a MSR with a single phase array. However, in an
operational system Sprint could also be fired from a site which was not co-located with the MSR. To test this capability, a second
Sprint launch facility was constructed on Illeginni Island which was north of Meck Island. The first launch fromthis second site took
place in March 1972 and was successful
Specifications
Sprint was a a cone shaped missile, with four small fins approximately 40% of the way up the missile near the base of the 2nd
stage. Sprint was armed with an enhance radiation nuclear warhead in the low kiloton range. This replaced a megaton warhead
which was canceled in 1968.
Length: 8.2m(27ft 0in)
Diameter: 1.4m(4ft 6in) at base
Weight: 3400kg (7,500lb)
Range: 40km(25 miles)
Ceiling: 30,000m(100,000ft)
1st Stage Motor: Hercules solid (Approx 300,000kg thrust)
2nd Stage Motor: Hercules solid
Guidance: Radio command
Warhead: Nuclear, lowkiloton range
Sprint II
Development and interest in Sprint did not end with the flight testing of the missile. Martin was awarded a definition study contract
for Sprint II in May 1971. This was followed by a design contract in October 1971. In May 1972 a contract worth $168 million was
signed for the development and flight testing of Sprint II. The main improvements of the Sprint II missile included greater accuracy,
a manoeuvring capability three times greater than the original Sprint, improved reliability, hardening and strengthening against the
increased manoeuvring forces and the final improvement included a faster launch process. No known launches of Sprint II were
done, and investigations into such a missile were completed during 1983 as non-nuclear forms of ABM defence started taking
precedence.
HiBEX
If Sprint was a phenomenal missile, HiBEX was even more interesting in some ways. It was
part of a project called Defender run by DARPA in conjunction with the Army for a last ditch
ABM missile in a similar vein to Sprint. However, it was literally a last ditch missile and was
designed to intercept an incoming RV at less than 6,100m (20,000ft) altitude. At that altitude,
the incoming RV would be traveling at around 3,000m/sec (10,000ft/sec) so a very fast
reaction time was essential to insure interception. In fact, HiBEX was designed to have exited
from its silo within 1/4 second and it accelerated at over 400g.
HiBEX was only 5.2m (17ft) long and due to the high acceleration, the fuel did not last very
long at all, so it was characterised with very short rocket burn times and hence a very short
range. One of the problems with such a high accelerating missile was that of guidance, and the
onboard gyros presented a problem. Mechanical gyros were not really practical due to the spin
up times and flight characteristics (ie they took to long to spin up, and didn't take kindly to
rapid shifts in trajectory), so ARPA developed the laser gyro. This meant that the gyros and
associated guidance system was available essentially instantaneously permitting a very rapid
launch which was a major design goal
All up, 7 missiles were tested at White Sands Missile Range during 1965.
Mach 10 in 5 seconds, had an ablative coating to dissipate the heat that was generated from the fiction from the atmosphere and
was so accurate that the radar had to be de-tuned during testing so that it would not hit incoming RVs. It was a phenomenal
missile.
Sprint came about from a study that started in 1959 as a result of identifying the need for a quick acting last ditch missile to
intercept incoming RVs, specifically those fromsea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and to also intercept RVs that may have got
through the higher layer defence. It took three years of research before the study concluded that with the use of phased array
radars and appropriate heat shielding, sucha terminal defence missile was possible. Asa result, in January 1963, the DoD directed
that the Nike-X system be developed which included not only the Nike-EX missile (subsequently Spartan), but also another missile
called Sprint. In March 1964, Martin Marietta was awarded the development contract for the Sprint missile.
No missile like Sprint is created from a vacuum. Spartan came from years of
development of the Nike Zeus missile, and so various programs and other missiles
were used to assist the Sprint program. One program which ran concurrently with
Sprint for a short time was HiBEX (HIgh Boost EXperiment).
Another programinvolved which was designed to test Sprint components was called
Squirt. It had a different booster to the Sprint missile, but the second stage of the
missile was comparable to the Sprint missile. It was used during 196? at White
Sands. Its first flight was on 14 July 1964, with another six flights following with at
least one more in 1964. Some sources report that flight testing of Sprint components
started at White Sands early in 1964 with the first Sprint launch taking place in
November 1965. These early flights probably would have been of Squirt missiles
To say Sprint was a phenomenal missile, is putting it mildly. A cone shaped missile that accelerated at 100g, achieved a speed of
Mach 10 in 5 seconds, had an ablative coating to dissipate the heat that was generated from the fiction from the atmosphere and
was so accurate that the radar had to be de-tuned during testing so that it would not hit incoming RVs. It was a phenomenal
missile.
Sprint came about from a study that started in 1959 as a result of identifying the need for a quick acting last ditch missile to
intercept incoming RVs, specifically those fromsea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and to also intercept RVs that may have got
through the higher layer defence. It took three years of research before the study concluded that with the use of phased array
radars and appropriate heat shielding, sucha terminal defence missile was possible. Asa result, in January 1963, the DoD directed
that the Nike-X system be developed which included not only the Nike-EX missile (subsequently Spartan), but also another missile
called Sprint. In March 1964, Martin Marietta was awarded the development contract for the Sprint missile.
No missile like Sprint is created from a vacuum. Spartan came from years of
development of the Nike Zeus missile, and so various programs and other missiles
were used to assist the Sprint program. One program which ran concurrently with
Sprint for a short time was HiBEX (HIgh Boost EXperiment).
Another programinvolved which was designed to test Sprint components was called
Squirt. It had a different booster to the Sprint missile, but the second stage of the
missile was comparable to the Sprint missile. It was used during 196? at White
Sands. Its first flight was on 14 July 1964, with another six flights following with at
least one more in 1964. Some sources report that flight testing of Sprint components
started at White Sands early in 1964 with the first Sprint launch taking place in
November 1965. These early flights probably would have been of Squirt missiles
Launches
There were two series of test launches of Sprint missiles. The first series covered the initial development launches atWhite Sands
and then testing switched over to system and operational launches at Kwajalein. This first series of launchers had 12 successes,
with 2 partial successes and 2 failures. The second series of operational launches took place at Kwajalein of which 29 were
successful.
At Kwajalein, missile launches took place from Meck Island which also had a MSR with a single phase array. However, in an
operational system Sprint could also be fired from a site which was not co-located with the MSR. To test this capability, a second
Sprint launch facility was constructed on Illeginni Island which was north of Meck Island. The first launch fromthis second site took
place in March 1972 and was successful
Specifications
Sprint was a a cone shaped missile, with four small fins approximately 40% of the way up the missile near the base of the 2nd
stage. Sprint was armed with an enhance radiation nuclear warhead in the low kiloton range. This replaced a megaton warhead
which was canceled in 1968.
Length: 8.2m(27ft 0in)
Diameter: 1.4m(4ft 6in) at base
Weight: 3400kg (7,500lb)
Range: 40km(25 miles)
Ceiling: 30,000m(100,000ft)
1st Stage Motor: Hercules solid (Approx 300,000kg thrust)
2nd Stage Motor: Hercules solid
Guidance: Radio command
Warhead: Nuclear, lowkiloton range
Sprint II
Development and interest in Sprint did not end with the flight testing of the missile. Martin was awarded a definition study contract
for Sprint II in May 1971. This was followed by a design contract in October 1971. In May 1972 a contract worth $168 million was
signed for the development and flight testing of Sprint II. The main improvements of the Sprint II missile included greater accuracy,
a manoeuvring capability three times greater than the original Sprint, improved reliability, hardening and strengthening against the
increased manoeuvring forces and the final improvement included a faster launch process. No known launches of Sprint II were
done, and investigations into such a missile were completed during 1983 as non-nuclear forms of ABM defence started taking
precedence.
HiBEX
If Sprint was a phenomenal missile, HiBEX was even more interesting in some ways. It was
part of a project called Defender run by DARPA in conjunction with the Army for a last ditch
ABM missile in a similar vein to Sprint. However, it was literally a last ditch missile and was
designed to intercept an incoming RV at less than 6,100m (20,000ft) altitude. At that altitude,
the incoming RV would be traveling at around 3,000m/sec (10,000ft/sec) so a very fast
reaction time was essential to insure interception. In fact, HiBEX was designed to have exited
from its silo within 1/4 second and it accelerated at over 400g.
HiBEX was only 5.2m (17ft) long and due to the high acceleration, the fuel did not last very
long at all, so it was characterised with very short rocket burn times and hence a very short
range. One of the problems with such a high accelerating missile was that of guidance, and the
onboard gyros presented a problem. Mechanical gyros were not really practical due to the spin
up times and flight characteristics (ie they took to long to spin up, and didn't take kindly to
rapid shifts in trajectory), so ARPA developed the laser gyro. This meant that the gyros and
associated guidance system was available essentially instantaneously permitting a very rapid
launch which was a major design goal
All up, 7 missiles were tested at White Sands Missile Range during 1965.
