Blue Streak missile

The Blue Streak missile was a British ballistic missile development programme of the mid to late-1950s, the initial design being based on licenced US technology. Black Knight was a vehicle intended to test the design for a re-entry head by firing them to altitudes of several hundreds of kilometers.

Postwar Britain's nuclear weapons armament was initially based on free-fall bombs delivered by the V bomber force. It soon became clear that if Britain wanted to have a credible threat a ballistic missile would be essential. There was a political need for an independent deterrent, so Britain could remain one of the major post-war powers. The use of any American missile would have appeared to hand control to the US.

In April 1954 the Americans proposed a joint development programme for ballistic missiles, the United States would develop an ICBM of 5000 nautical mile (9,300 km) range, the United Kingdom should develop with the United States support a MRBM of 2000 nautical mile (3,700 km) range. The proposal was accepted as part of the Wilson-Sandys Agreement of August 1954 - which provided for collaboration, exchange of information and mutual planning of development programs. The decision to develop was influenced by what could be learnt about missile design and development in the US.

De Havillands won the contract to build the missile, and it was to be powered by an uprated Rocketdyne S3D engine, developed by Rolls-Royce, called RZ2.

However doubts rose as the estimated cost rose, from the first tentative figure of £50m submitted to the Treasury in early 1955 to £300m in late 1959. The programme was crawling along compared with the speed of development in the US and the USSR.

Eventually the project was cancelled due to its apparent lack of credibility as a deterrent. It had been intended to site the missiles in underground silos capable of withstanding a one megaton blast at a distance of half a mile (800 m). However, finding sites for these silos proved extremely difficult. Whitehall opposition to the project grew, and it was cancelled on the ostensible grounds that it would be too vulnerable to a first strike attack. The arithmetic used for this decision was, however, extremely dubious. Around £60m had been spent.

The government transferred its hopes to the Anglo-American Skybolt missile, before that too was cancelled and the British had to wrangle Polaris from the Americans.

Civilian Programme

After the cancellation as a military project, there was reluctance to cancel the project outright because of the huge investment that had taken place. Blue Streak would have became the first stage of a projected all British satellite launcher known as Black Prince, the second stage was derived from the Black Knight test vehicle, and the orbital injection stage was a small hydrogen peroxide/kerosene motor. This launcher never progressed beyond the design stage.

However, this too proved to be too expensive, and so the European Development Organisation - ELDO - was set up. This used Blue Streak as the first stage, but used French and German second and third stages. The Blue Streak first stage was successfully tested three times at the Woomera test range in Australia as part of the ELDO programme.

Although a total of 8 launches were made of the multi-stage vehicle, the French and German components proved unreliable leading to the project's final cancellation, and the end of Blue Streak. The final launch was made at the French site of Korou in French Guyana.

As a footnote in the eleven Blue Streak test launches, there was not a single failure, a feat only equalled by the Saturn V.

See also: List of missiles

List of Aircraft | Aircraft Manufacturers | Aircraft Engines | Aircraft Engine Manufacturers Airlines | Air Forces | Aircraft Weapons | Missiles | Years in Aviation