Black Dog A72062 AGM 48 SKYBOLT

The GAM-87 Skybolt (another designation: AGM-48) was an American prototype air-to-ground ballistic missile from the Cold War period. Its first prototypes appeared in the late 1950s, but the missile never entered mass production, and the entire program was canceled in 1962. The GAM-87 Skybolt measured 11.66 meters with a wingspan of 168 centimeters. It is estimated that the maximum range of the missile was approx. 1,850 kilometers. The GAM-87 Skybolt missile was primarily developed for the US Air Force, which sought to create a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but with a range that would allow it to be launched beyond the reach of Soviet air defense. It was assumed that the missile would carry the W47 nuclear warhead, but later changed it to the W59 with a power of 1 MT. Ultimately, however, the entire program was canceled relatively quickly. This resulted, on the one hand, from the success of the Polaris program implemented by the US Navy, and on the other hand - due to technical problems with which the entire program was plagued. First of all, the missile guidance system turned out to be problematic.