The AGM-53 Condor - A long range punch for 1970s US Naval Aviation

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History

The AGM-53 Condor was a weapon project of the US Navy to create a long range stand-off weapon to hit ships and static high value targets.

it can be seen as the predecessor to the AGM-84E SLAM and a evolution of the AGM-62 Walleye.

in 1962 the USN issued a requiredment for a high precission long range stand-off missile, it was to use similar components to the Walleye project and was developed by the walleye team at china lake.
its initial designation was ASM-N-11, but it was changed in 1963 into AGM-53 after the Tri-service rule was introduced.

The first ever test flight of a XAGM-53 was conducted in March 1970, after the second test flight the missile got new requirement, the navy wanted a thermal seeker (developed for Walleye III) on it to give it night attack capabilities. another thing that was changed is its propulsion, China lake initially wanted a liquid fuel booster, but issues with this led them to change to a solid fuel rocket motor from Rockedyne.
this new version AGM-53A was then pretty much the main production model that then had its 13th and last flight test and the end of the evaluation phase in 1975.
the succes of the tests led to the USN ordering 250 weapons, however the project was cancelled shortly before completion of this order due to the exceeding cost in 1976 and no weapons where delivered.
Funily enough, because it was that close to full USN adoption it can be found listed in A-6 loading manuals and various other manuals from the time.

AGM-53 was only tested on A-6, however the USN had plans to also add them to F-14 and A-7 respectively:
F-14A AGM-53

Condor next to walleye, you can see the similarities of the 2 weapons:

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Flight Phase of the AGM-53

  1. Launch of the weapon, it drops free from the aircraft
  2. Ignition of the rocket motor, andctivation of the datalink
  3. Data-link and INS steer the weapon towards target point
  4. When in range of the seeker the crew of the launch aircraft can use the Data-link to select a final aimpoint and fly the weapon into the target

AGM-53_Condor_on_A-6A_Apr_1973
Condor on A-6 (mounted on inner pylon) its datalink is also visible

XAGM-53_Condor_missile_1973
Condor mounted on another A-6 (outer wing pylon)

General characteristics:

  • Lenght: 4.22m (166")
  • Diameter: 0.42m (17")
  • Wingspan: 1.35m (53")
  • Weight: 950kg (2130lbs)

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Kinematics:

  • Motor: Rockedyne Mk.70
  • Speed: Mach 2.9
  • Max Range: 30NM (53km) during weapons trials / 60NM (110km) max theoretical

Guidance and Ordnance:

  • Warhead: 630lbs (290kg) Linear shaped charge
    Explosive mass: 331lbs (150kg) of Comp.B or 199,5 kg TNT

  • Seeker:
    XAGM-53A uses the TV seeker of Walleye 1
    AGM-53A uses a thermal seeker similar to the one of the AGM-65D taken from Walleye III

  • Guidance: Inertial Navigation with a additional Possible Data-link guidance with Man-In-The-Loop control via the CONDOR OK-221 AMCS Datalink pod.

Launch platforms:

  • A-6E (tested and approved)
    can be mounted on all 4 wing pylons
  • F-14 (planned)
    mounted on the 2 outside pylons
  • A-7 (planned)

In War thunder:

Performance wise this weapon combines features from the large russian KH-29TE, the KH-38TE and the british AJ.168 cruise missile on the Bucaneer S2B that also had about 60nm range IRL

a Single A-6E can carry 4 Condors but also need to load the datalink pod in the central station. compared to its loadouts with Laser guided bombs (9x GBU-12) that would limit the A-6 in carrying capacity, however its advantage is stand-off shots.

without MITL game mechanics the Condor is limited to what TV / thermal seekers can lock onto, only when MITL gets added to WT is it able to make use ot its maximum potential.

this weapon would give the A-6 a interesting weapon lost to time that would make it capable dealing better with far away targets and give the A-6 some Fire and Forget standoff weapon that it needes to stay competitive in this ever changing game.

All in all the AGM-53 is pretty much a Walleye 1 with rocket motor that can be carried by the A-6E TRAM

_ _

info Videos and sources:

Pursuit of precission, history of the AGM-62 walleye (timecode for Condor’s full history told by its engineers)

Condor test footage:

more condor tests:

Text sources:

7 Likes
2

It was tested and mounted, don’t see why it can’t be added. +1 from me.

3

+1 the PGMs are in game and this seems to be of a similar line design wise

4

I would love to see this added. Would also like to see the ability when tracking the release of the bomb seeing it through tv sight like the show in the clips going into the target instead of 3rd person.

5

that TV view is actually part of the Man In The Loop (MITL) guidance
it allows the crew to steer the weapon with this camera view

there is some other weapons in the game that would have this feature as well, but MITL guidance can be extremely strong because it would be difficult to counter such weapons that get pinpoint accuracy via TV datalink from their total max range.

1 Like
6

They dont have to implement all that, just hold u ans watch the bomb go in through the camera. Just think i would be fun to have.

7

+1. I would love to see this on F-14A early

8

A US KH-38. batter come with A-6E SWIP, and sit in 12.3 GRB

9

the SWIP cant use it, this weapon is only for early A-6E and TRAM models

the weapon for SWIP could be the AGM-84E SLAM

1 Like