The AIM-4/26 Falcon - History, Design, Performance & Discussion

Machinery of War Discussion Aircraft
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The AIM-4/26 Falcon, or GAR as it was called before the new missile designation system, was the worlds first operational air to air missile and was created in many iterations by Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) and later on help from other well known companies. It was to be the USAFs main missile and eventually found itself competing against the Navy’s Sidewinder missile which saw them used operationally in The Vietnam War where both missiles showed their strengths and weakness’s.

Originally designed to be a tool to intercept bombers, it was developed into quite the advanced missile for the time. However these advancements were complex and that led to issues as not only do a lot of the series lack a proximity fuse but a lot of the time they did not function as intended, the latter part does not translate to in game, and this led to the pilots disliking them which degraded their reputation, especially as the lesser capable Sidewinders at the same time were achieving greater success. Although the USAF had already adopted the sidewinder by that point, they were forced to admit defeat in the missile game with the Navy as they took the falcons out of any ongoing conflict and instead equipping their Phantoms with Sidewinders.

This is not where the Falcon story ends however as it was still serviced on interceptors that had a much greater reliability with the missile, such as the F-101, F-106 and F-102

After the Air force lost interest in the falcons as their main air to air missiles they started to develop them into a wide range of weapons we use in war thunder already. Hughes however believed in their missile and developed further iterations which eventually led to the AIM-54!

The Falcons were also a, albeit limited, commercial success where Canada, Finland, Greece, Japan, Türkiye, Sweden and Switzerland used them operationally.
Sweden modified their missiles and due to licensing agreements they also sold them to Finland with the Drakens.

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A Falcon Illustration mid flight

Missiles are as follows:

GAR-1D / AIM-4A

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  • Length: 78 in.
  • Span: 20 in.
  • Height: 20 in.
  • Diameter: 6.4 in.
  • Weight: 126 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >3.2 Mach @ 56,000 ft
  • Propulsion: Thiokol SP-83B Solid Fuel Rocket
  • Thrust: 6540 lbf for 1.4 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 11 seconds
  • Warhead: 2.75lb of HBX-1
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >16Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: Radar
  • Radar Band: X
  • Radar Type: Pulse
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GAR-2A / AIM-4C

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  • Length: 79.5 in.
  • Span: 20 in.
  • Height: 20 in.
  • Diameter: 6.4 in.
  • Weight: 128 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >3.2 Mach @ 58,000 ft
  • Propulsion: Thiokol SP-83B Solid Fuel Rocket
  • Thrust: 6540 lbf for 1.4 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 11 Seconds
  • Warhead: 2.75lb of HBX-1
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >16Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: IR
  • IR Band: 2.0 - 2.7 microns
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GAR-2B / AIM-4D

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  • Length: 79.2 in.
  • Span: 20 in.
  • Height: 20 in.
  • Diameter: 6.4 in.
  • Weight: 132 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >3.55 Mach @ ? ft
  • Propulsion: Thiokol SP-83B Solid Fuel Rocket
  • Thrust: 6540 lbf for 1.4 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 25 seconds
  • Warhead: 2.75lb of HBX-1
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >20Gs
  • Guidance type: IR
  • IR Band: 3.84 - 5.5 Microns
  • Seeker gimble: 47 Degrees
  • Seeker sensor: 3.5 Degrees stationary
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XAAM-2 (Japanese AIM-4D / GAR-2B Upgrade)

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Info from below link
AAM-2 father of AAM-3

  • Length: 220cm
  • Span: 49cm
  • Diameter: 16cm
  • Weight: 74kg
  • Guidance Method: guided by infrared (IR)
  • Range: 5 km
  • Additional info: it is resistant to lure flares

Now for the estimates

  • Warhead: Explosive charge probably between 3.4 and 10 kg
  • Speed: Mach 3 ?
  • Engine: Liquid fuel engine, no additional data available.
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GAR-3 / AIM-4E

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  • Length: 86 in.
  • Span: 24 in.
  • Height: 24 in.
  • Diameter: 6.4 in.
  • Weight: 140 lb (Pre launch) Estimated
  • Speed: >3.2 Mach @ 50,000 ft
  • Propulsion: SRS M-9-195 Two Stage Solid Rocket Motor
  • Thrust: First stage - 4450 lbf - 0.6 seconds | Second stage - 685 lbf - 2.95 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 22 seconds
  • Warhead: 5.00 lb of HBX-3
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >40Gs at 3.35 mach >50,000 ft
  • Guidance type: Radar
  • Radar Band: X
  • Radar Type: Pulse
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GAR-3A / AIM-4F

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  • Length: 86.365 in.
  • Span: 23.970 in.
  • Height: 23.970 in.
  • Diameter: 6.640 in.
  • Weight: 126 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >2.9 Mach @ 40,000 ft
  • Propulsion: SRSM9-274C Two stage solid rocket motor
  • Thrust: First Stage - 4420 lbf for 0.63 seconds | Second Stage - 635 lbf for 4.09 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 22 Seconds
  • Warhead: 5.00 lb of HBX-3
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >11Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: Radar
  • Radar Band: X
  • Radar Type: Pulse
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GAR-4A / AIM-4G

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  • Length: 82.5 in.
  • Span: 24 in.
  • Height: 24 in.
  • Diameter: 6.64 in.
  • Weight: 146 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >2.9 Mach @ 40,000 ft
  • Propulsion: SRSM9-274C Two Stage Solid Rocket Motor
  • Thrust: First Stage 4420 lbf for 0.63 seconds | Second Stage 635 lbf for 4.09 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 22 Seconds
  • Warhead: 5.00 lb of HBX-1
  • Contact Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >11Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: IR
  • IR Band: ~
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GAR-11A / AIM-26B

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  • Length: 85 in.
  • Span: 24.5 in.
  • Height: 24.5?
  • Diameter: 11.4 in.
  • Weight: 258.62 lb (Pre launch)
  • Speed: >3.0 Mach @ 50,000 ft
  • Propulsion: SRSM9-292 Single Solid Fuel Rocket
  • Thrust: 5620 lbf for 2.09 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 30 Seconds
  • Warhead: <~48.5 lb continuous rod (unlike other the number given includes the warhead mechanism)
  • Proximity Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >20Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: Radar
  • Radar Band: X
  • Radar Type: Pulse
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GAR-11 / AIM-26A

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  • Length: 85 in.
  • Span: 24.5 in.
  • Height: 24.5?
  • Diameter: 11.4 in.
  • Weight: 258.62 lb (Pre launch) ?
  • Speed: >3.0 Mach @ 50,000 ft
  • Propulsion: SRSM9-292 Single Solid Fuel Rocket
  • Thrust: 5620 lbf for 2.09 seconds
  • Guidance Duration: 30 Seconds
  • Warhead: W54 250T TNT equivalent Nuclear Warhead
  • Proximity Fuse
  • Manoeuvring capability: >20Gs at sea level
  • Guidance type: Radar
  • Radar Band: X
  • Radar Type: Pulse
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Additional Details

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Though all details given are official, the numbers somewhat contradict the tests in the same document.

RB28 was modified by Sweden in a handful of unspecified ways but was based on the GAR-2B, one of the modifications was drastically reducing the spool time from around 16 seconds to 3 seconds.
RB27 was also modified to combat ground clutter and other interference in the early 80s, it is based on the AIM 26B

All thrust given is average thrust

@Yymer @Gunjob @DevilO6 All helped make this whether they knew it or not :)

I will update and add as more info is brought to light

The main sources:
Standard Aircraft Characteristics Arcive - a load of digitalised falcon documents as well as other stuff
RB27/RB28 - Arboga Robotmuseum - as of writing this it is somewhat dated and has a chunk of false info but some is reliable as it can be backed up elsewhere

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Any idea on the proximity fuze the Rb28 supposedly carried?

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A finnish manual but i’ll have to dig it out from somewhere

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Any excuse to get more awful early A2A missiles is fine by me! They’re stupid, silly, and fun! I’d like to get more beam-riding missiles too, like the K-5 and PL-1. Maybe even the Ruhrstahl X-4 and Henschel Hs 298!

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Didn’t they add it in with the new Heinkel two engined heavy dive bomber?

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That was the Hs 293 anti-shipping glide bomb. The Hs 298 was Henschel’s air-to-air missile and competitor to the X-4.

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Was it any good?

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As good as a mid-40s MCLOS A2A missile can be, I suppose

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It was not great, a very good documentary on it here, well worth a watch https://youtu.be/gh-RMI5xi6E?si=jxAQb7bXaKGo5xIS

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i know a whopping nothing on those missiles lol but they should 100% be added

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Added guidance times to all of them, theres a bit of extra info for each missile i might add later

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I would love this in game it would give a reason for Gaijin to add in the US delta wing aircraft

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You missed an AIM-26 variant

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I know the A isnt there but i dont have full info on it, thus far ive only included the ones i have official documents on
If you can provide anything then be my guest and i will add it

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Aim-26A has W54 warhead (250 tons TNT equivalent) and is SARH with radio proxy fuse. Flight performance should be the same as the conventional warhead

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image
in fairness that is what it says, not 100% sure on weight tho which affects a lot

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I mean they probably weigh about the same overall. If there was any notable differences they would have to change the body of the missile to adjust for it, then it wouldn’t be the same as AIM-26A except for warhead like your source says

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I’ll put it in tomorrow, thanks

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Has to be said that a lot of its bad reputation wasn’t from the missile itself, but how it was employed.

-In every purpose-built interceptor using it, the Falcon sat in a nice, enclosed, climate controlled internal weapons bay until it was time to be fired. It never had to deal with dust or pebbles getting kicked up into it, or the freezing cold air for extended periods of time. Reliability in Vietnam was also worsened by the hot and humid air alongside crude maintenance practices, which impacted the Sparrow even more (and led to its ABYSMAL reliability rates). This isn’t the end of it either, as meeting an enemy fighter in Vietnam was also very rare and those Falcons could spend several missions going from hot and humid to freezing cold several times;

-The Falcon-armed interceptors enjoyed a great deal of automation made possible by their intended mission: the Hughes MA-1 FCS would automatically choose the best intercept course (and steer the plane accordingly), pre-align the seeker, cool down the seeker, fire it at the optimal range. In the F-4 this all had to be done manually step by step, and coolant was limited as it was stored in the pylon instead of being provided by the internal weapons bay;

-The AN/APQ-120 in the F-4 also wasn’t made specifically to work with the Falcon (unlike the integrated Hughes FCS) and communication wasn’t exactly 1:1, though I wish I knew more. Lacking all the automation features it of course wasn’t be able to steer or instruct the pilot on the optimal course or when to fire it, and thus was left to whenever the pilot felt that he was in range;

-The impact fuse was chosen for a very specific reason: bombers are big and easy to hit, despite its smaller warhead when compared to Sidewinder, it had a much greater kill probability than it;

-All said and done, it was a much superior missile to the Sidewinder once it was in the air. Faster, greater range, greater G limit, a much superior seeker with limited all-aspect capability (versus none from the Sidewinder) and a limited degree of LOAL possible - the MA-1 could instruct the Falcon to steer to a given heading and elevation and point its seeker at a specific location after launch… within pretty strict limits, to get around the issue of fuselage blanking.

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Well said, given 100% reliability which is something we enjoy in game the missiles will likely be really good even without a proximity fuse

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