Lockheed X-7A1 Target Drone

Lockheed X-7A1 Target Drone. . Development of the X-7 series of unmanned aircraft began in December 1946, when the US Army Air Force requested an unmanned ramjet test vehicle for speeds up to Mach 3 and by the mid-1950s, as the Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules and Bomarc surface-to-air missile systems were becoming operational: the need arose for a very high performance target drone to test these new systems under realistic conditions. , The X-7A1 drone was launched from a carrier aircraft and would then be accelerated to where the ramjet engine could take over by a single large expendable solid-fueled rocket booster attached to the aircraft's tail. Once its mission was complete, the X-7A1 would deploy a multistage parachute system that slowed the drone to a descent in a vertical nose-down attitude. Literally like a giant lawn dart, the drone's nose spike would hit the ground vertically, burying itself nose first into the desert floor and preventing damage to the rest of the airframe. , A later variant, named Kingfisher, purchased by the Air Force was transferred to the Army, which re-designated the target as the AQM-60A. The Air Defense Artillery Museum also has a complete Kingfisher in the collection. In all, 61 airframes of all types of the X-7 family were built. , Length: - 32 ft 9 in - 9.98m , Wingspan: - 12 ft - 3.66m , Weight: - 8,000 lb - 3,600kg , Speed: - Mach 4.31 , Ceiling: - 106,000 ft - 32,317m ,