| Blue Boar | |
|---|---|
| Type | Guided glider bomb |
| Place of origin | UK |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Vickers |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 5,000 lb (2,300 kg)–10,000 lb (4,500 kg)[1] |
Guidance system | Television, with remote manual operator |
Steering system | Movable flight control surfaces |
Launch platform | Aircraft |
The Vickers Blue Boar was a family of British air-launched television-guided glide bombs of the 1950s which was cancelled during development. A key role was as an anti-shipping missile, using its guidance system to attack the moving targets. It would also replace unguided bombs between 5,000 and 10,000 lb (2,300 and 4,500 kg) against point targets, or be equipped with a nuclear warhead. A smaller 1,000 lb (450 kg) version was also developed for testing. The name is a randomly assigned rainbow code.
The goal of the system was to allow the bomb to be guided to 100 yards (91 m) of its target after being dropped from a jet bomber flying at 50,000 ft (15,000 m) altitude. It could manoeuvre at up to 3.5G so that it could quickly be aimed after breaking through cloud cover as low as 10,000 ft (3,000 m). Nuclear-armed versions were primarily intended to provide the launching aircraft with some stand-off range and avoid overflying the target, gliding about 50,000 to 60,000 feet (9.5 to 11.4 mi; 15 to 18 km) from the launch point. In this role, guidance using H2S radar instead of the television camera was considered.
Development was cancelled when it proved too large for a newer generation of jet-powered naval strike aircraft while the nuclear stand-off role went to the much longer ranged Blue Steel. The anti-ship role went to a series of weapons, all of which were cancelled, before finally emerging as another television guided weapon, Martel.