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Information about Hound Dog (missile)

AGM-28 "Hound Dog"
Hound Dog missile in flight
Typeair-launched nuclear stand-off missile
ManufacturerNorth American Aviation
Maiden flightApril 1959
IntroducedDecember 1959
Retired1976
Primary userUnited States Air Force
Number built~700
The North American AGM-28 Hound Dog was the first air-launched nuclear stand-off missile deployed by the United States.

Development

The development of the nuclear stand-off missile was initiated by the USAF in 1956 under General Operational Requirement 148. Initially known as Weapon System 131, it was intended to give Strategic Air Command heavy bombers the ability to attack targets in the Soviet Union from outside Red airspace. The development contract was issued to North American Aviation on August 21st 1957, with drop tests of dummy missiles underway by November of 1958. The first powered flight of the prototype missile, designated XGAM-77, was made on the 23rd of April 1959 with the first guided flight being completed in October. The first production missile was then delivered to the Air Force on December 21st, 1959 with the first all SAC launch occurring on March 1st 1960.[1]

The missile's engine, airframe, and warhead were straightforward adaptations of technology developed in the Navaho missile program of the 1950s. The airframe was a subscale version of the Navaho G-38 air-vehicle and the guidance and flight avionics were developments of the N-6 inertial navigation system. The engine was a non-man rated version of the J-52 engine used to power the Navy A-6 intruder bomber and the warhead was originally developed for a free fall bomb (B-28). This use of this on the shelf-tech made the weapon's development period quite short compared to contemporary systems.

Where it received the name Hound Dog has been the source of argument for decades. Old NAA engineers usually usually state it comes from the mixed parentage of all the components. In recent years however people have given credit to fans of Elvis Presley in the military.

Hound Dog was essentially an unpiloted jet airplane with small delta wings and forward canards . It was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J-52-P-3 turbojet in a ventral pod beneath the rear fuselage, with 7,500 lb. (33 kN) thrust. It used inertial navigation for guidance, with supplemental heading updates provided by astro-trackers mounted in the launch pylon. The W28 warhead (the same as the B28 nuclear bomb) had an explosive yield of 1.1 megatons. The missile's maximum range was about 700 miles (1,100 km) when launched at high altitude.

The Hound Dog was the first aircraft or missile in the Air Force inventory to have a totally "solid state" guidance & flight control system; no vacuum tubes of any kind were used in the GAM-77 guidance and flight control system. This fact made the Hound dog the most modern guidance unit on the B-52s until major avionics refits that were begun in the early 1970s. Throughout the 1960s the Hound dogs guidance units, which could be interregated by the B-52 navigator, were more reliable and more accurate then the internal systems of the bomber. In the mid-1970s and attempt was made to incorporate terrain following guidance to the Hound Dog. This involved the addition of two radar tubes for transmission and reception of the ground avoidance system radar signal. The terrain avoidance system was a forward facing microwave radar. The system was never implemented before the missile was retired from service.

Operational Service

The Hound Dog was carried by B-52 Stratofortress bombers; the B-52G and B-52H were fitted with provision for the large under wing pylons to launch the weapons, each bomber normally carrying one under each wing. The Hound Dog's fuel tanks, interestingly, could be topped up from the B-52's own fuel supply, and during takeoff its engines could be used as auxiliary booster engines for the bomber. The missile's inertial navigation system (INS) could be used as a backup system for determining the aircraft's position after the initial calibration and "leveling" which took a minimum of 90 minutes.

The original GAM-77 had three flight profiles available:

a. High Altitude Attack, where it flew at high altitude (up to 55,000 feet depending on amount of fuel on board) all the way to the target, then dived down to detonation altitude for the weapon,


b. Low Altitude Attack, where it flew at a low barometric pressure altitude of up to 5,000 feet to the target, then detonated. The problem whith this flight profile was that the missiles range was greatly reduced (to approximately 400 miles) and the terrain could not have major mountains along the flight path.


c. Dog Leg Attack, where it flew a designated heading (high or low) to a specific location, only to then turn and then speed to the real target. The goal in this maneuver was to draw off enemy defensive fighters from the real target of the Hound Dog.


Regardless of attack profile, the Hound dog could be programed to detonate on impact or at altitude. An airburst would be used against a large area soft target. A hard surface impact would be used against a hard target such as a missile site or command control center.

The original GAM-77 could be launched from the B-52 mother ship at high altitude or low altitude (not below 5,000 feet). This made several "attack profiles" for flights available: High launch/High flight, High launch/Low flight, Low launch/High flight, and Low launch/Low flight. As well as adding a "Dog Leg" in any of these launch/flight combinations.

The GAM-77 was subsequently upgraded to GAM-77A standard. The official story regarding this was the addition of improved Kollsman KS-140 astro-trackers mounted in launch pylon (to better update the INS navigation system before launch). The real upgrade however was the addition of newly developed Stealth technology. Tests had shown that the replacement of the metal nose cap, engine intake spike and certain other componets with non-metallic pieces greatly reduced the missiles already small radar image. These changes were made under the cover of the GAM-77A upgrades at the NAA facility at Wichta Kansas. These changes made the missile virtually impossible to find on radar until the 1980s. The top secret nature of these changes required that when the Hound Dogs were withdrawn from service these components were removed from the missiles. No Hound Dog on display has original nose cap or engine spike.

In June 1963 the GAM-77 and GAM-77A were redesignated AGM-28A and AGM-28B, respectively. An updated AGM-28C, with improved guidance, was proposed in the early 1970s, but never built. This was the version that would have incorporated a terrai following radar guidance system. Over a decade later a conventional armed Hound Dog was proposed for quick development and deployment for use in the first Guld War.

Retirement

A total of about 700 Hound Dogs were produced. They were intended to be replaced by the AGM-48 Skybolt, which did not enter service. The last Hound Dogs were retired in 1976.

They were replaced on SAC's B-52s by the AGM-69 SRAM missile, twelve SRAMS, six under each wing on pylons, rather than two Hound Dogs (one under each wing on pylons). Additional SRAM missiles could be carried in the bomb bay as well.

Service history

Numbers in Service

The number of AGM-28 missiles in service, by year:

19591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978 |1 ||54 ||230 ||547 ||593 ||593 ||542 ||548 ||477 ||312 ||349 ||345 ||340 ||338 ||329 ||327 ||308 ||288 ||249 ||0

Units using the Hound Dog[2]

19th Bombardment Wing, Heavy - Homestead AFB, Florida
  • *28th Bombardment Squadron
28th Bombardment Wing, Heavy - Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota

Survivors

Below is a list of museums which have a Hound Dog missile in their collection or locations where a static display exists: (The above list is incomplete, please help us complete this list)

Specifications (AGM-28)

General characteristics

  • Length: 42 ft 6 in (12.95 m)* Wingspan: 12 ft (3.66 m)
  • Height: ()* Loaded weight: 10,000 lb (4,500 kg)* Powerplant: 1 Pratt & Whitney J52-6 turbojet, 7,500 lbf (33 kN)*
  • Diameter: 28 in (0.71 m)

Performance

Armament

Avionics

Inertial guidance with astro-tracker heading correction

References

1. ^ *Gibson, James N. "Nuclear Weapons of the United States," Altglen, PA, Schiffer Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-7643-0063-0.
2. ^ [Dorr, R. & Peacock, L. (2000). B-52 Stratofortress: Boeing's Cold War Warrior. Osprey Aviation: Great Britain. ISBN 1-84176-097-8]

Related content

Comparable missiles

Designation sequence



  • M- sequence: -
 LGM-25 I- AIM-26 - UGM-27 - AGM-28 - MGM-29 - LGM-30 - MGM-31
LGM-25 II

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