Corvus

American air-to-surface missile, development started in 1954. Program cancelled in 1960. Max warhead weight 450 kg.

Historical Essay © Andreas Parsch

Temco ASM-N-8 Corvus

In 1955, the U.S. Navy had a requirement for a long-range nuclear-armed heavy standoff air-to-surface missile to be employed by the latest carrier-based attack bombers like the A3J Vigilante and A4D Skyhawk. In April 1955, the ASM-N-8 Raven project was initiated to develop such a missile. In the same year, a parallel project for the Corvus anti-radar missile was redefined to cover the Raven requirements, and therefore Raven was terminated and the ASM-N-8 designation transferred to Corvus. A development contract for the ASM-N-8 Corvus was eventually awarded to Temco in January 1957, and the first flight test of an XASM-N-8 prototype occurred in July 1959.

The XASM-N-8 was powered by a prepackaged liquid-propellant rocket engine, and used delta wings and cruciform tailfins for flight stability and control. The Corvus was primarily designed as an anti-radar missile (ARM), and as such had a passive radar seeker in the nose to home on the emission of shore- and ship-based enemy radars. However, the Corvus seeker could also home on non-radiating targets when they were illuminated by a compatible radar in the launching aircraft. In the latter operating mode there was also a data-link between the missile and the launching aircraft, which could thereby provide mid-course command guidance until the missile's seeker could detect the radar reflections from the target. The missile could be launched from high or low level, and design ranges for high-altitude launches were 315 km (170 nm) in ARM mode and 185 km (100 nm) in semi-active homing mode. Corvus was to be armed with a light-weight W-40 nuclear warhead (10 kT yield).

By March 1960, the XASM-N-8 test program had progressed to fully guided flights, but in July that year the Corvus program was terminated. The reason was that overall responsibility for long-range nuclear air-to-surface missiles had been transferred to the U.S. Air Force, which regarded the Corvus as unneccessary.

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for XASM-N-8:

[1] Norman Friedman: "US Naval Weapons", Conway Maritime Press, 1983
[2] Bill Gunston: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles", Salamander Books Ltd, 1979

Manufacturer: Temco. Total Mass: 259 kg (570 lb). Core Diameter: 0.30 m (0.98 ft). Total Length: 4.88 m (16.01 ft). Standard warhead mass: 110 kg (240 lb). Maximum range: 160 km (90 mi). Boost Propulsion: Storable liquid rocket. Guidance: Radar Homing. Maximum speed: 1,940 kph (1,200 mph). Development Cost $: 80.000 million. in: 1957 average dollars.