Bristol Bloodhound

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This article is about the surface-to-air missile, for the earlier aircraft see Bristol Type 84 Bloodhound, for other uses see Bloodhound (disambiguation)

Bloodhound Mk 2

A Bloodhound missile at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London.

Type

SAM

Nationality

Era

Cold War

Launch platform

Fixed installation

Target

High altitude bomber

History

Builder

Bristol Aeroplane Co.

Date of design

1950's

Production period

Service duration

1958 (MK 1)/1964 - 1991

Operators

RAF, RAAF, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore

Variants

Mk 1, Mk 2

Number built

783

Specifications

Type

MK 2

Diameter

54.6 cm (body)

Wing span

2.83 m

Length

8.46 m (with booster)

Weight

2,270 kg

Propulsion

2 x Ramjet, 4 x solid fuel booster

Steering

Control surfaces

Guidance

Semi-active radar

Speed

Mach 2.7

Range

185 km

Ceiling

Payload

Warhead

Continuous-rod warhead

Trigger

Proximity fuse

The Bristol Bloodhound, a British surface-to-air missile, was developed during the 1950s as the UK's main air defence weapon and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of four other countries from 1958.

The Bloodhound served the RAF throughout almost the entire Cold War. The Bloodhound Mk I entered service in December 1958, the last Mk II missile squadron stood down in July 1991.

1 History
2 Variants
- 2.1 Mk I
- 2.2 Mk II
3 Mk II performance
- 3.1 Mk III
- 3.2 Mk IV
4 See also

[edit] History

A contract was placed with the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1947. The project, initially known as "Red Duster," became the Bloodhound. Deployment of the Bloodhound Mk I began in 1958 at the culmination of a development process begun a decade earlier by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Ferranti Ltd (both now part of BAE Systems) — the latter providing the radar guidance and control. Bloodhound 1 was used to protect the V-bomber bases and was usually installed nearby. Its pulsed radar could be jammed and was vulnerable to ground 'clutter', thus degrading low-level capability. These short-comings were quickly tackled, and resulting in Bloodhound 2 joining the RAF in 1964.

The Mk I's pulsed Type 83 radar was replaced with a continuous wave Type 86 or Type 87 radar, both of which were less susceptible to jamming. The Mk II was given a more powerful Thor engine and could engage targets at higher and lower altitudes than its predecessor. The first site to be developed solely for the Mk II system was RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, construction beginning in 1964. The Type 85 "Red Brick" gave way to the Type 86 "Indigo Corkscrew" target illumination radar.

Bloodhound was also stationed abroad, and in 1970 (after the Royal Navy's Polaris submarines had assumed the strategic deterrent role) all systems within the UK were withdrawn and either stored or transferred to RAF Germany for airfield defence with 25 Squadron. Changing operational requirements later prompted a re-appraisal of this policy in the light of the low-level threat, resulting in No. 85 Squadron forming at West Raynham on 18 December 1975. Its first missiles became operational with 'A' Flight and assigned to NATO on 1 July 1976.

In South East Asia, the Bloodhound was deployed with the RAF No. 65 Squadron based out of RAF Seletar, Singapore as part of the RAF Far East Air Force. With the withdrawal of British forces announced in 1968, Singapore bought over the entire Bloodhound assets of the No. 65 Squadron and established the Singapore Air Defence Command's 170 Squadron. Singapore's Bloodhound Mk 2 missiles were sold on to Burma in 1994.

There was an export version, Bloodhound 21, planned that had less sophisticated electronic countermeasures equipment.

As at 2006 the only surface-to-air missile in RAF service is the Rapier missile which has a much shorter range and a very much lower altitude capability.

A missile that is very similar in appearance, the Thunderbird, was produced for and operated by the British Army anti-aircraft artillery units to provide a more mobile defence system.

[edit] Variants

[edit] Mk I

Length : 7.7 m
Launch Weight : 2,000 kg
Range : 80 km
Max. Speed : Mach 2.2
Propulsion
- Main : 2 x Thor ramjet engines
- Booster : 4 Gosling booster rockets

Model of a Bloodhound missile. Solid-fuel boosters in yellow, ramjets in white

One of the two Thor ramjet engines of a Bloodhound missile (not a model)

[edit] Mk II

Length : 8.45 m
Launch Weight :
Range : 185 km
Max. Speed : Mach 2.7
Propulsion
- Main : 2 x Thor ramjet engines (Improved)
- Booster : 4 Gosling booster rockets

[edit] Mk II performance

Data taken from a public information board at the Bristol Aeroplane Company Museum at Kemble Airfield, Kemble, Gloucestershire, where a complete Bloodhound can be seen. The Mark of Bloodhound this data refers to is not given but is presumably the Mark II since the top speed of the Mk I is Mach 2.2:
"By the time the missile has just cleared the launcher it is doing 400 mph. By the time the missile is 25 feet from the launcher it has reached the speed of sound (around 720 mph). Three seconds after launch, as the four boost rockets fall away, it has reached Mach 2.5 which is roughly 1800 mph"

[edit] Mk III

The planned Mk III (also known as RO 166) was a nuclear warhead equipped Mark II with a longer range (around 75 mile) achieved with improved Ramjet engine and bigger boosters. The project, one of several adaptions of existing British missiles to carry tactical nuclear devices, was cancelled in 1960.