Zuni (rocket)

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The Zuni is a 5.0 inch (130mm) unguided rocket deployed by the United States armed forces ^[1]. The rocket was developed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It can be used to carry various types of warheads, including chaff for countermeasures. It is usually fired from the LAU-10 rocket pod holding four rockets.

Various configurations of Zuni rocket have been developed. On 1 May 1967 during a sortie against North Vietnam’s MiG airfield at Kep, Lieutenant Commander Theodore R. Swartz shot down a Soviet-built MiG-17 with air-to-ground Zuni rockets. This was the first, and only, MiG aircraft to be downed by an A-4 Skyhawk during the Vietnam conflict.^[2] Lieutenant Commander Swartz received the Silver Star for his action.

In 1967 a MK-32 Zuni rocket was responsible for a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal leading to the loss of 134 lives. Again, in 1969 a MK-32 Zuni rocket was responsible for a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise leading to the loss of 27 lives and an additional 314 injured. Fifteen aircraft were destroyed.

[edit] Student use

The Australian Government has donated its Zuni rockets to the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) and they are used for students experiments which are launched from the Woomera launching range. Every year a few Zunis are launched there.

ASRI has also designed and constructed custom nosecones and payload recovery mechanisms for the Zuni. With a payload of 20 kg, the Zuni has an apogee of 5.9 km, which it attains in about 40 seconds, experiencing 55 g and 491 m/s (Mach 1.4) during the flight.