F6D MISSILEER

The 'Douglas F6D Missileer' was a proposed carrier-based fleet defense fighter aircraft, designed in response to a 1957 US Navy requirement.

Contents

Design

Specifications (F6D-1, as designed)

Related content

Design

The F6D-1 would have weighed approximately 50,000 pounds (22,650 kg). It would have been powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P2 non-afterburning turbofan engines which were more fuel efficient that the turbojets common at the time. It would have had subsonic performance, but a loiter time of six hours on station 150 nautical miles from its carrier. Of conventional design with straight wings, and the engines in pods at the root, it looked much like a larger version of the company's earlier F3D Skyknight. The Missileer's radar was to be the Westinghouse AN/APQ-81 pulse Doppler set, with a range of 120 nm (220 km) and "track while scan" capability. It was to be able to engage up to six targets simultaneously with Bendix AAM-N-10 Eagle air-to-air missiles, with a range of 100 nm (185 km). The Eagle was to have a choice of conventional or nuclear warhead.
The Navy quickly developed doubts about the slow "missile truck" concept. The F6D-1 would have been helpless after launching its missiles, lacking defensive armament, speed, or maneuverability to defend itself, and despite its cost it was useless for any role other than air defense. It was cancelled in December 1960.
The Navy was eventually forced to participate in the TFX joint-services program that resulted in the General Dynamics F-111B. The Eagle missile was also cancelled, but after strenuous objections by the Navy, the technology was transferred to Hughes Aircraft for the AIM-54 Phoenix missile. The F6D-1's missile and radar technologies were both later used, in evolved form, first in the abortive F-111B and later in the Grumman F-14. The TF30 would also be used in the two supersonic fighters with an afterburner, and turbofans are now commonplace in military jets.

Specifications (F6D-1, as designed)

Related content