A 1984 General Dynamics patent for a system to turn jetliners such as the DC-10 or L-1011 into missile launchers with minimal modification. The end result could be aircraft that would be visually identical to a commercial jetliner when readied.
The actual missiles intended are not named, but are clearly small… 10 inches diameter by 180 inches long. Many racks of them would be stored in the emptied-out passenger compartment, angled to fire forward and upward through ports in a replacement passenger compartment door. The launch rack would index forward to position missiles in launch position; launch rate would be one per second per side. 28 missiles could be fired from either side of the aircraft, for a total of 56. Presumably these would be some form of narrow-bodied cruise missile. Missiles up to 20 inches diameter and 20 feet long could also be loaded, but they would only be able to be fired from one side of the aircraft.
3 Responses to “Flying Boomers 4: Missilestorm”
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What mission was this intended to carry out? The only thing I can think of is a terrorist attack…
Could these be intended to launch anti-missile missiles? Stop incoming weapons with sheer volume of fire?
anyone know the standard dimensions of a US sonobouy? maybe “missile” is meant as a more generic term like “projectile”?
use this to blanket an area with sonobouys for later use by p-3’s or MIUW units?