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Air-to-surface missile. Year: 1974. IOC: 1974. Country: USA. Department of Defence Designation: AGM-80. Popular Name: Viper. Cancelled 1974. Radar-homing. US/German co-development. Historical Essay © Andreas Parsch Chrysler AGM-80 Viper The AGM-80 Viper was another USAF project of the late 1960s (the first one being the AGM-79 Blue Eye) with the intention to develop an improved AGM-12 Bullpup derivative with an automatic guidance system. Unfortunately, I don't know many details about Viper except that it was to use an on-board inertial guidance unit, and a radar-altimeter fuze for airbursts. The missile's airframe was probably based on the larger AGM-12C/E versions of the Bullpup, but I have found no hard evidence for this. The program was cancelled in the early 1970s, probably after some tests with the XAGM-80A prototypes. SpecificationsThe XAGM-80A was probably based on the AGM-12C/E Bullpup, whose dimensions are given in the table: | Length | 4.14 m (13 ft 7 in) | | Wingspan | 1.22 m (48 in) | | Diameter | 0.46 m (18 in) | Main Sources[1] Bill Gunston: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles", Salamander Books Ltd, 1979
Manufacturer: Chrysler. Total Mass: 80 kg (176 lb). Core Diameter: 0.15 m (0.49 ft). Total Length: 2.71 m (8.89 ft). Span: 0.46 m (1.50 ft). Maximum range: 20 km (12 mi). Boost Propulsion: Solid rocket. Guidance: Inertial + Infrared Homing.
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