The AQM-60 Kingfisher, developed by the Lockheed Corporation

Lockheed Corporation

The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...

, was a target version of the USAF's X-7

Lockheed X-7

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 test aircraft. The X-7's development began in 1946 after a request from the USAF for a Mach 3

Mach number

Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...

 unmanned test vehicle. This unmanned test craft eventually evolved into the Kingfisher when the need arose for a target to test anti-missile systems such as the SAM-A-7/MIM-3 Nike Ajax, SAM-A-25/MIM-14 Nike Hercules, and IM-99/CIM-10. Unfortunately for the tests the Kingfisher proved a bit too precise, managing to evade the vast majority of the anti-missile systems and only being shot down a few times during the tests. This, coupled with political fall-out from the program, led to the eventual discontinuation of production in 1959 and the cancellation of the project in the mid 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

.

Specifications

Length	11.6 m (38 ft)
Wingspan	3.0 m (10 ft)
Height	2.1 m (7 ft)
Diameter	61 cm (20 in)
Weight	3,600 kg (8,000 lb)
Ceiling	30,000 m (100,000 ft)
Speed	Mach 4.3; 4,500 km/h (2,800 mph)
Range	210 km (130 miles)
Booster	2x Thiokol XM45 (5KS50000) solid-fuel rocket; 222 kN (50,000 lb) each for 5 s
Sustainer	Marquardt XRJ43-MA ramjet