Dating from ca. 1963, this is a design for a subsonic aircraft using boundary layer control for improved lift/drag ratio. Coupled with the sailplane-like configuration, this design was intended for long endurance. One of the potential configurations was as a “missileer,” capable of hauling and launching up to 24 AAM-N-10 Eagle two-stage air to air missiles (a predecessor of the AIM-54 Phoenix). Data on this design is pretty lean… but what’s available seems to indicate that an anti-ICBM role may have been envisioned. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything on the Eagle being capable of taking out incoming warheads/missiles, but I suppose it’s certainly possible. Given that the Eagle could have been equipped with a nuclear warhead, it wouldn’t have needed to be all that accurate in the ABM role to still be able to take out incoming warheads.
Other roles envisioned for the Multipurpose BLC Aircraft included logistics (transport) and ballistic missile launcher.
One Response to “Northrop Multipurpose BLC Aircraft”
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I never heard of Eagle having a ABM capability; was it to destroy SLBM’s?
Those have lower velocity and therefore are supposed to be easier targets.
You could picture these aircraft patrolling offshore in times of crisis, looking for Soviets subs launching their missiles and destroying them during their ascent phase (One version of the Eagle was to carry a W-42 nuclear warhead, so that would give it a good kill radius as well).
That would also cut down on the insects getting sucked into the wing boundary layer control slits that were the downfall of the X-21, as there wouldn’t be that many insects out over the ocean.