Blue Steel missile
Encyclopedia
The Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

 Blue Steel was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...

 stand-off missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...

, built to arm the V bomber
V bomber
The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V-force or Bomber Command Main Force...

 force. It was the primary British nuclear deterrent weapon until the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 started operating Polaris missile armed nuclear submarines.

Development

Blue Steel was the result of a Ministry of Supply memorandum from 5 November 1954 that predicted that by 1960 Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 air defences would make it prohibitively dangerous for V bombers to attack with nuclear gravity bomb
Gravity bomb
An unguided bomb, also known as a free-fall bomb, gravity bomb, dumb bomb, or iron bomb, is a conventional aircraft-delivered bomb that does not contain a guidance system and hence, simply follows a ballistic trajectory....

s. The answer was for a rocket-powered
Rocket engine
A rocket engine, or simply "rocket", is a jet engineRocket Propulsion Elements; 7th edition- chapter 1 that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law...

, supersonic
Supersonic
Supersonic speed is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound . For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C this speed is approximately 343 m/s, 1,125 ft/s, 768 mph or 1,235 km/h. Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound are often...

 missile capable of carrying a large nuclear (or projected thermonuclear) warhead
Warhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...

 with a range of at least 50 mi (80.5 km). This would keep the bombers out of range of Soviet ground-based defences installed around the target area, allowing the warhead to "dash" in at high speed.

There would have to be a balance between the size of the warhead (Orange Herald
Orange Herald
- Technical :Orange Herald was a fusion boosted British fission nuclear weapon, comprising a U-235 primary surrounded by lithium deuteride. 'Herald' was suitable for mounting on a missile, utilizing 117 kg of U-235...

 or Green Bamboo as developed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
Atomic Weapons Establishment
The Atomic Weapons Establishment is responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. AWE plc is responsible for the day-to-day operations of AWE...

  (AWRE) and the need for it to be carried by any of the three V-bomber types in use, and that it should be able to reach Mach 3. The Air Staff
Air Staff
The Air Staff is one of the Department of the Air Force's two statutorily designated headquarters staffs: the other staff is the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, also known as the Secretariat. The Air Staff is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force . The Air Staff is primarily...

 issued this requirement for a Stand-off bomb as OR.1132 in September 1954.

The Ministry of Supply selected Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

 out of the British manufacturers though it had no previous experience in working on guided weapons other than some private venture work; Handley Page had suggested a 500 nmi (926 km) missile but the Elliots
Elliott Brothers (computer company)
-Elliott Brothers Ltd:Elliott Brothers Ltd was an early computer company of the 1950s–60s in the United Kingdom, tracing its descent from a firm of instrument makers founded by William Elliott in London around 1804. The research laboratories were based at Borehamwood, originally set up in...

 gyro based guidance system was inaccurate beyond 100 nmi (185.2 km).
Avro began work proper in 1955, with the assigned Rainbow Code name of "Blue Steel" which it would keep in service. With Elliots working on the guidance system Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury motor cars and aircraft engines.-Siddeley Autocars:...

 would develop the liquid fuel engine.
Its design period was protracted, with various development problems exacerbated by the fact that designers lacked information on the actual size and weight of the proposed boosted-fission warhead Green Bamboo, or its likely thermonuclear successor derived from the Granite series. The large girth of Blue Steel was determined by the 45 inches (1.1 m) implosion sphere diameter of Green Bamboo.

Avro proposed that Blue Steel would evolve over time, subsequent versions increasing speed (to Mach 4.5) and range. The ultimate Blue Steel would be a 900 nmi (1,666.8 km) range weapon that could be launched by the supersonic Avro 730
Avro 730
|-See also:-References:CitationsBibliography* Bartlett, Christopher John. "The Long Retreat: A Short History of British Defence Policy, 1945-70". Macmillan, 1971.* Brookes, Andrew J. "V-Force: The History of Britain's Airborne Deterrent ". Jane's, 1982....

 under development. They were told to limit themselves to the specification of OR.1132. The project was delayed by the need to develop the stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

 fabrication techniques; this would have been gained in building the Avro 730 but that had been cancelled by then. Elliots guidance system was plagued by accuracy problems delaying test flights.

As it turned out, neither of the originally-proposed UK-designed warheads were actually fitted, being superseded by Red Snow
Red Snow
Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon. Its physics package was apparently similar, if not identical, to that of the United States W28 nuclear warhead used in the B28 nuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile, with an explosive yield of approximately 1.1 megaton.The Red Snow warhead was...

, an Anglicised variant of the U.S. W-28 thermonuclear warhead
B28 nuclear bomb
The B28, originally Mark 28, was a thermonuclear bomb carried by U.S. tactical fighter bombers and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1972 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, American B28s also equipped six Europe-based Canadian CF-104 squadrons known as the RCAF Nuclear Strike Force...

 of 1.1 Mt yield. Red Snow was smaller and lighter than the earlier warhead proposals. The missile was fitted with a state-of-the-art inertial navigation unit. This system allowed the missile to strike within 100 metres of its designated target. In addition, the pilots of the Avro Vulcan
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan, sometimes referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Vulcan, was a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced,...

 or Handley Page Victor
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor was a British jet bomber aircraft produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers that provided Britain's nuclear deterrent. The other two V-bombers were the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. Some aircraft...

 bombers could tie their systems into those of the missile and make use of the guidance system to help plot their own flight plan, since the unit in the missile was more advanced than that in the aircraft.

Blue Steel emerged as a pilotless, winged aircraft roughly the size of the experimental Saunders-Roe SR.53
Saunders-Roe SR.53
|- See also :-References:NotesBibliography* Jones, Barry. "Saro's Mixed Power Saga". Aeroplane Monthly, November 1994, Vol 22 No 11 Issue 259. pp. 32–39. London:IPC. ISSN 0143-7240....

 interceptor
Interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent missions of enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Interceptors generally rely on high speed and powerful armament in order to complete their mission as quickly as possible and set up...

, with clipped delta wing
Delta wing
The delta wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta .-Delta-shaped stabilizers:...

s and small canard
Canard (aeronautics)
In aeronautics, canard is an airframe configuration of fixed-wing aircraft in which the forward surface is smaller than the rearward, the former being known as the "canard", while the latter is the main wing...

 foreplanes. It was powered by a two-chamber Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury motor cars and aircraft engines.-Siddeley Autocars:...

 Stentor Mark 101
Armstrong Siddeley Stentor
The Armstrong Siddeley Stentor was a two-chamber rocket engine used to power the Blue Steel stand-off missile carried by Britain's V-bomber force...

 rocket engine, burning a combination of hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...

 and kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...

. The fuel was a considerable operational problem, because fuelling the missile before launch took nearly half an hour, and was quite hazardous.

On launch the rocket engine's first chamber developing 24000 lbf (106.8 kN) thrust would power the missile along a predetermined course to the target at around Mach
Mach number
Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...

 1.5. Once close to the target, the second chamber of the engine (6,000 lb) would accelerate the missile to Mach 3. Over the target the engine would cut out and the missile would free-fall before detonating its warhead as an air burst
Air burst
An air burst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion....

.

To speed the trials at Woomera
Woomera Test Range
The RAAF Woomera Test Range is a weapons testing range operated by the Royal Australian Air Force Aerospace Operational Support Group...

, the test rounds were flown there by Victors and Vulcans in Operation Blue Ranger. The trials began in 1960 about the time the original requirement expected the weapon to be in service.

Blue Steel finally entered service in February 1963
1963 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1963:- Events :* Violating a 1959 requirement that all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais - which never has operated aircraft - belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy establishes an air group of its own for the...

, being carried by Vulcans
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan, sometimes referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Vulcan, was a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced,...

 and Victors
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor was a British jet bomber aircraft produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers that provided Britain's nuclear deterrent. The other two V-bombers were the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. Some aircraft...

, although its limitations were already apparent. The short range of the missile meant that the V bombers were still vulnerable to enemy Surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...

s. A replacement for Blue Steel, the Mark 2, was planned with increased range and a ramjet
Ramjet
A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...

 engine, but was cancelled in 1960
1960 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960:-January:* January 1 – Fiji Airways is reconstituted, becoming equally owned by BOAC, Qantas, and Tasman Empire Airways....

 to minimise delays to the Mk.1. The UK sought to acquire the much longer-ranged United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 AGM-48 Skybolt
AGM-48 Skybolt
The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile , equipped with a nuclear warhead, developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The UK joined the program in 1960, intending to use it on their V bomber force...

 air-launched ballistic missile, and was greatly frustrated when that weapon was cancelled in late 1962
1962 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1962:- Events :* Early 1962 – In Operation High Jump, the United States Navy McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II fighter sets a number of world climb-to altitude records: 34.523 seconds to 3,000 meters , 48.787 seconds to 6,000 meters , 61.629 seconds to...

.

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 1000 ft (304.8 m), even though its usefulness in a hot war was likely limited. A stop-gap weapon (WE.177B
WE.177
WE.177 was the last air-delivered tactical nuclear weapon of the British Armed Forces. There were three versions; WE.177A was a boosted fission weapon, while WE.177B and WE.177C were thermonuclear weapons...

) was quickly produced to extend the life of the V-bomber force in the strategic role until the Polaris missile was deployed. This WE.177 laydown weapon supplemented the remaining modified Blue Steel missiles using a low-level penetration followed by a pop-up manoeuvre to release the weapon at 1000 ft (304.8 m) Forty-eight live operational rounds were deployed on 48 Vulcan and Victor bombers plus a further five live rounds as operational spares. An additional four non-nuclear rounds were produced for various RAF requirements, and there were 16 other unspecified training rounds.

Blue Steel was officially retired on 31 December 1970, with the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear capacity passing to the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 fleet.

Specifications

  • Length: 10.7 m (35.1 ft)
  • Wingspan: 4 m (13.1 ft)
  • Diameter: 1.22 m (48 in) minimum
  • Launch Weight: 7270 lb (3,297.6 kg)
  • Speed: Mach 2.3
  • Ceiling: 21500 m (70,538.1 ft)
  • Maximum Range: 240 km (149.1 mi)
  • Guidance: Inertial
  • CEP
    Circular error probable
    In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...

    : ~100 metres
  • Warhead: Red Snow
    Red Snow
    Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon. Its physics package was apparently similar, if not identical, to that of the United States W28 nuclear warhead used in the B28 nuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile, with an explosive yield of approximately 1.1 megaton.The Red Snow warhead was...

     thermonuclear (1.1 Mt)


External links

  • Video of Blue Steel in operation
  • http://www.spaceuk.org/bsteel/bsteel.htm
  • http://www.skomer.u-net.com/projects/bluesteel.htm
  • Official history: RAF Nuclear Deterrent Forces: Author: Wynne. pps 201. 456. ISBN 0-11-772833-0. Publisher: HMSO, 1994.
  • http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/uk/blue_steel.htm
  • http://www.vectorsite.net/twcruz.html
  • The Vulcan Gets New Striking Power an AVRO advertisement for the Vulcan from Flight
    Flight International
    Flight International is a global aerospace weekly publication produced in the UK. Founded in 1909, it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine...

    in February 1959, showing the (still un-named) Blue Steel.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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