Operation Bumblebee was a US Navy effort to develop surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to provide a mid-range layer of anti-aircraft defense between anti-aircraft guns in the short range and fighter aircraft operating at long range. A major reason for the Bumblebee efforts was the need to engage bombers before they could launch standoff anti-shipping weapons, as these aircraft might never enter the range of the shipboard guns.
Bumblebee originally concentrated on a ramjet-powered design, and the initial Applied Physics Lab PTV-N-4 Cobra/BTV (Propulsion Test Vehicle/Burner Test Vehicle)[1] was flown in October 1945.[2] Cobra eventually emerged as the RIM-8 Talos, which entered service on 28 May 1958 aboard the light cruiser USS Galveston. As part of the development program, several other vehicles were also developed. One of these developed into the RIM-2 Terrier, which entered operational status on 15 June 1956, two years before Talos; Terrier was first installed aboard the heavy cruiser USS Canberra. The Terrier was later modified as a short-range missile system for smaller ships, entering service in 1963 as the RIM-24 Tartar. Together, the three missiles were known as the "3 Ts".
Bumblebee was not the only early Navy SAM project; the SAM-N-2 Lark was rushed into production as a short-range counter to the Kamikaze threat. However, it never matured into an operational weapon. The RIM-50 Typhon was developed to replace the 3 Ts but was cancelled during development. The 3 Ts were ultimately replaced by the RIM-66 Standard, a development of the Tartar.
- ^ Parsch, Andreas. "PTV-N-4". Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- ^ Parsch, Andreas. "Cobra-BTV". astronautix.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2003. Retrieved 2009-03-19.