AGM-124 Wasp

In 1975, the United States Air Force initiated a program to develop anti-tank ammunition for continuous destruction ( Wide-Area Anti-Armor Munitions , abbr. WAAM) as part of which a family of new air-to-surface anti-tank weapons was developed for direct support aircraft. The WAAM program has led to the development of cluster-guided aviation anti-tank bombs CBU-90 / B ACM, guided aviation extended-range anti-tank bombs CBU-92 / B ERAM, as well as the creation of Wasp compact anti-tank missiles ^[1] .

Contractor Selection

Work on the Wasp project started in 1979 by distributing contracts between Boeing and Hughes to create prototype prototypes of small-sized aviation ATGMs intended for firing in a salvo manner (hence the allusion to the name of the “aspen swarm”). Following a review of the results of the two companies by the US Air Force command, the Boeing project was rejected, and a test contract was signed with Hughes ^[1] .

Development

The missile was developed for equipping it with direct support aviation in the amount of several dozen missiles per combat mission. In a combat situation it was supposed to shoot ten or more missiles in one salvo. For these purposes, the main tactical and technical requirements for the rocket being created were relatively light weight and small size. There were no specific requirements for the missile guidance system, both options with infrared homing and radar homing were considered . Ultimately, the choice focused on the latter as cheaper ^[1] .

Tests

Tests of radar homing heads for missiles in the Hughes factory laboratories began in 1981, but the flight tests of the ATGM themselves began only in early 1983. The initial production plan was supposed to begin production of the AGM-124A model already in 1987, but in October 1983 the project was curtailed for reasons of budgetary savings ^[1] .

Sources of information: ^[1]