Technology Explained

F-4G Anatomy of R Wild Weasel

The Allied practice of using fighter bombers to actively suppress or destroy hostile anti-aircraft defences dates back to the latter phases of World War II, when USAAF P- 38s, P-51s and RAF Typhoons carried out gun and rocket attacks on Luftwaffe AAA sites. The electromagnetically benign Korean War saw little change in this area of combat, though in its aftermath the idea of the dedicated radar killing Anti Radiation Missile (ARM) emerged.

The USN Naval Weapons Center at China Lake created the first ARM by fitting an experimental seeker, warhead and fuse to the new AIM-7 Sparrow airframe. The mid-1950s test program led to production orders for the Texas Instruments AGM-45A Shrike, second sourced by Sperry, quietly initiating a new family of weapons.

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