1,400-pound "Lark" Ship-to-Air Missile

Over-all lenght

Wing span

Tail span

Warhead

Fuzing

Still experimantal

General: The "Lark" is launched from a ship board catapult for attacking high-altitude bombers. It has cruciform wings and tail surfaces, the tail surfaces being offset 45° from the wings, and is powered by two liquid-fuel rocket motors, one continuous and one in-termittient. It is radio-controlled in the first part of its flight, its position determined by the launching ship's radar. When it comes within radar homing range of the target, the homing range of the target, the homing mechanism takes control.

It is launched at 150 m.p.h. from a multiple-charge shipboard catapult by means of two 12AS1000 F JATO units which are jettisoned after exhaustion. With a range of 80,000 yards, an optimum ceiling of 30,000 feet, and a rate of climb of 8,200 feet per minute, it may develop a maximum speed of 650 m.p.h. Designed strength permits a ma-ximum lateral acceleration of 4g. Slant range is estimated to be 45 miles, with time of flight of about five minutes.

Control: By use of the ship radar intelligence, radio control will maintain the missile in the center of the tracking radar beam during the initial phase of flight. When the range of the automatic homing radar is reached, it will take over and navigate a collision course with the target. Both remote radio control and radar homing devices are connected to control surfaces by servo mechanisms. It is gyro-stabilized for roll, with a yaw angle-of-attack indicator.

Propulsion: Two acid-aniline liquid rocket motors furnish the propulsion. One 200-pound thrust continuous rocket is augmented by a 400-pound thrust intermittent motor. The latter is governed by a Mach Number meter so that a more or less constant speed is maintained. Both rockets total about 75 pounds weight and have a supply of 490 pounds of fuel. The two 12AS1000 F JATO units are used to assist launching and are jettisoned after exhaustion.

Warhead: The proposed warhead is a fragmentation type of explosive activated by a fuse to be fired electrically or on impact.

Figure 382. "Lark" Missile