Регулус I: АҚШ Әскери-теңіз күштерінің крылаты зымырандары

Type of cruise missile

The SSM N 8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy developed ship and submarine launched, nuclear capable turbojet powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U. S. Navy tests conducted with the German V 1 missile at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California. Its barrel shaped fuselage resembled that of numerous fighter aircraft designs of the era, but without a cockpit. Test articles of the Regulus were equipped with landing gear and could take off and land like an airplane. When the missiles were deployed they were launched from a rail launcher, and equipped with a pair of Aerojet JATO bottles on the aft end of the fuselage.

In October 1943, Chance Vought Aircraft Company signed a study contract for a 300 mile (483 km) range missile to carry a warhead. The project stalled for four years, however, until May 1947, when the United States Army Air Forces awarded Martin Aircraft Company a contract for a turbojet powered subsonic missile, the Matador. The Navy saw Matador as a threat to its role in guided missiles and, within days, started a Navy development program for a missile that could be launched from a submarine and use the same J33 engine as the Matador. In August 1947, the specifications for the project, now named "Regulus," were issued: Carry a warhead, to a range of , at Mach 0.85, with a circular error probable (CEP) of 0.5% of the range. At its extreme range the missile had to hit within of its target 50% of the time. Regulus development was preceded by Navy experiments with the JB 2 Loon missile, a close derivative of the German V 1 flying bomb, beginning in the last year of World War II. Submarine testing was performed from 1947 to 1953 at the Navy's facility at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, with Cusk and Carbonero converted as test platforms, initially carrying the missile unprotected, thus unable to submerge until after launch. Army Navy competition complicated both the Matador's and the Regulus' developments. The missiles looked alike and used the same engine. They had nearly identical performances, schedules, and costs. Under pressure to reduce defense spending, the United States Department of Defense ordered the Navy to determine if Matador could be adapted for their use. The Navy concluded that the Navy's Regulus could perform the Navy mission better. Regulus had some advantages over Matador. It required only two guidance stations while Matador required three. It could also be launched quicker, as Matador's boosters had to be fitted while the missile was on the launcher while Regulus was stowed with its boosters attached. Finally, Chance Vought built a recoverable version of the missile, designated KDU 1 and also used as a target drone, so that even though a Regulus test vehicle was more expensive to build, Regulus was cheaper to use over a series of tests. The Navy program continued, and the first Regulus flew in March 1951. Due to its size and regulations concerning oversize loads on highways, Chance Vought collaborated with a firm that specialized in trucking oversize loads to develop a special tractor trailer combination which could move a Regulus I missile.

The first launch from a submarine occurred in July 1953 from the deck of Tunny, a World War II fleet boat modified to carry Regulus. Tunny and her sister boat Barbero were the United States's first nuclear deterrent patrol submarines. They were joined in 1958 by two purpose built Regulus submarines, Grayback and Growler, and, later, by the nuclear powered Halibut. Halibut, with its extremely large internal hangar could carry five missiles and was intended to be the prototype of a whole new class of cruise missile firing SSG N submarines. The Navy strategy called for four Regulus missiles to be at sea at any given time. Thus, Barbero and Tunny, each of which carried two Regulus missiles, patrolled simultaneously. Growler and Grayback, with four missiles each, or Halibut, with five, could patrol alone. Operating from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the five Regulus submarines made 40 nuclear deterrent patrols in the Northern Pacific Ocean between October 1959 and July 1964, including during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. According to the documentary "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" by Nick T. Spark, their primary task in the event of a nuclear exchange would be to eliminate the Soviet naval base at Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky. These deterrent patrols represented the first ever in the history of the submarine Navy and preceded those made by the Polaris missile firing submarines. Barbero also earned the distinction of launching the only delivery of missile mail. Additional submarines including USS Cusk and USS Carbonero were equipped with control systems that allowed them to take control of a Regulus in flight, thus extending its range in a tactical situation. Production of Regulus was phased out in January 1959 with delivery of the 514th missile; in 1962, it was redesignated RGM 6. It was removed from service in August 1964. Some of the obsolete missiles were expended as targets at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Regulus not only provided the first nuclear strategic deterrence force for the United States Navy during the first years of the Cold War and especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis, preceding the Polaris missiles, Poseidon missiles, and Trident missiles that followed, but it was also the forerunner of the Tomahawk cruise missile. Following retirement, a number of Regulas I missiles were converted for target drone usage under the designation BQM 6C.

A second generation supersonic Vought SSM N 9 Regulus II cruise missile with a range of and a speed of Mach 2 was developed and successfully tested, including a test launch from Grayback, but the program was canceled in favor of the UGM 27 Polaris nuclear ballistic missile. The Regulus II missile was a completely new design with improved guidance and double the range, and was intended to replace the Regulus I missile. Regulus II equipped submarines and ships would have been fitted with the Ships Inertial Navigation System (SINS), allowing the missiles to be aligned accurately before take off. Forty eight test flights of Regulus II prototypes were carried out, 30 of which were successful, 14 partially successful and four failures. A production contract was signed in January 1958 and the only submarine launch was carried out from Grayback in September 1958. Due to the high cost of the Regulus II (approximately one million dollars each), budgetary pressure, and the emergence of the UGM 27 Polaris SLBM (submarine launched ballistic missile), the Regulus II program was canceled on 18 December 1958. At the time of cancellation Vought had completed 20 Regulus II missiles with 27 more on the production line. Production of Regulus I missiles continued until January 1959 with delivery of the 514th missile, and it was withdrawn from service in August 1964. Both Regulus I and Regulus II were used as target drones after 1964.