SSM-N-8 Regulus

SSM-N-8 Regulus
SSM-N-8 "Regulus I" display at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
TypeCruise missile
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1955-64
Used byUnited States Navy
Production history
ManufacturerChance Vought
ProducedMarch 1951
Specifications
Mass13,685 pounds (6,207 kg)
Length32 feet 2 inches (9.80 m)
Diameter4 feet 8.5 inches (1.435 m)
Wingspan21 feet (6.4 m) extended
9 feet 10.5 inches (3.010 m) folded
Warhead3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) such as the W5 warhead or the W27 warhead

EngineAllison J33-A-14 turbojet 4,600 lbf (20 kN)
2 × booster rockets 33,000 lbf (150 kN)
Operational
range
500 nautical miles (926 km)
Maximum speed Subsonic
Guidance
system
radio-command by ground stations, aircraft, or ships along the flight path

The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy tests conducted with the German V-1 missile at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California.[1] Its barrel-shaped fuselage resembled that of numerous fighter aircraft designs of the era, but without a cockpit. Test articles of the Regulus were equipped with landing gear and could take off and land like an airplane.[2] When the missiles were deployed they were launched from a rail launcher, and equipped with a pair of Aerojet JATO bottles on the aft end of the fuselage.

  1. ^ Regulus: America's First Sea-borne Nuclear Deterrent Archived 11 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Edward C. Whitman. Undersea Warfare vol. 3 no. 3., pp 31.
  2. ^ Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines documentary, Spark, 2002