SRAM

The Short Range Attack Missile, or SRAM, was a small air-to-surface Air Force missile launched from B-52 and F-111 strategic bombers. On the B-52, it replaced the Hound Dog missile. Armed with a nuclear warhead, it was propelled by a two-pulse solid-fuel rocket motor, with the first motor stage propelling it to Mach 3 after launch and the second stage ignited near the target for a powered terminal approach. Maximum range varied from 55 km (35 miles) for low-altitude launches to 160 km (100 miles) for high-altitude firings. Its simple inertial guidance system allowed individually programmed flights and change of direction after launch. As nuclear warheads became smaller throughout the 1950s, fighters could carry and deliver missiles from a range of over 100 miles, and the B-52 Stratofortress and F-111 could carry as many as 20 of these relatively small missiles. SRAM greatly increased the number of targets that could be attacked by a single bomber and made it possible to attack fixed air-defense installations en route to the primary target. The program was initiated in November 1963 by Headquarters of Strategic Air Command, the first powered flight occurred in July 1969 at White Sands Missile Range, 95 SRAMs were tested there between 1969 and 1977, and the program was cancelled in the late 1970s.

White Sands, New Mexico · United States