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de Havilland Firestreak

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de Havilland Propellers
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAerospace, Defence
Founded1940s
FateBecame part of Hawker Siddeley
SuccessorHawker Siddeley
Headquarters
United Kingdom
,
United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom, Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm
ProductsAircraft, Air-to-air missiles (Firestreak)


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File:Firestreak missile.png

The de Havilland Firestreak represents a British pioneering air-to-air missile employing passive infrared homing technology, designed to track heat emissions. Conceived by de Havilland Propellers (which later became part of Hawker Siddeley) during the early 1950s, it officially entered operational use in 1957. This missile was the first of its kind to be adopted by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm, arming aircraft such as the English Electric Lightning, de Havilland Sea Vixen, and Gloster Javelin. It functioned as a rear-aspect, fire and forget weapon system with an engagement envelope extending 20 degrees on either side of the target's rear.[1]

Initially developed under the rainbow code "Blue Jay," Firestreak was the third heat-seeking missile to be introduced globally, following the US-made AIM-4 Falcon and AIM-9 Sidewinder, both entering service a year earlier. Compared to these American counterparts, Firestreak was notably larger and nearly double in weight, equipped with a significantly more substantial warhead. Despite this, its speed and operational range were comparable. The missile's internal design was notably intricate, necessitating the launch aircraft to supply cooling for its valve-based electronics and heating systems to prevent mechanical components from freezing before launch.

A subsequent enhanced variant named "Blue Vesta" was created as part of the now-canceled Operational Requirement F.155 initiative in 1957. Development resumed later with a streamlined version designed specifically for the Lightning aircraft, which retained the "Red Top" designation. This updated model incorporated transistorized electronics and featured a much simpler internal layout. Maintaining its original codename, it entered service on both Lightning and Sea Vixen platforms as the Hawker Siddeley Red Top. Since early Lightning models could not accommodate Red Top missiles, Firestreak continued in active service until 1988 when the final RAF Lightnings were retired.

Red Hawk

The Firestreak missile originated from a sequence of initiatives initiated with the OR.1056 Red Hawk missile, which aimed to develop an all-aspect seeker capable of engaging targets from any launch angle. Since this goal exceeded the technological capabilities of the time, a revised specification without the all-aspect criterion was issued under the name Blue Sky. This variant briefly entered operational service as Fireflash one year prior to Firestreak.

Blue Jay

By 1951, the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), responsible for missile development, assessed that infrared guidance technology had advanced sufficiently to revisit the Red Hawk requirements. However, even then, fully all-aspect seekers were unattainable, though a more limited tail-aspect seeker was achievable in the near term. This concept was informally referred to as "Pink Hawk".[lower-alpha 1] Consequently, an official lower-performance Red Hawk specification was issued in 1951 as OR.1117 and assigned the Ministry of Supply rainbow code Blue Jay.

The Blue Jay missile exhibited a conventional appearance featuring cropped delta wings positioned just behind the midpoint of the fuselage and small rectangular control surfaces arranged in tandem near the rear. Internally, however, the design was notably intricate. The vacuum tube electronics occupied most of the forward quarter of the missile body, limiting space for the warhead. This constraint necessitated relocating the warhead to the rear section where it encircled the rocket nozzle. Due to this arrangement, actuators for the rear control fins could not be installed at the back; instead, they were mounted in the nose and operated via extended pushrods.[2] Compressed air stored in bottles at the extreme rear powered these actuators through long piping running forward. These air bottles also supplied a turbo-alternator generating electrical power after launch. If a target was missed, the missile self-destructed once the alternator decelerated after depletion of compressed air.[3]

The Magpie rocket motor occupied only a small segment of the fuselage, situated between the actuators and warhead roughly beneath the mid-mounted wings. It contained 61 pounds (28 kg) of cordite propellant that burned for approximately 1.9 seconds and expelled exhaust through an extended tailpipe running through the missile’s aft section.[3]

The infrared seeker utilized lead telluride (PbTe) sensors housed beneath an eight-faceted conical nose made from arsenic trisulphide ("pencil" nose) and cooled to around −180 °C (−292.0 °F) to enhance signal-to-noise ratio performance. This distinctive faceted design replaced a traditional hemispherical nose due to ice accumulation issues encountered with the latter.[4] Cooling was achieved by passing filtered air through an ammonia-cooled heat exchanger.[5]

Two concentric rows of triangular windows encircled the forward fuselage behind which optical proximity fuzes were installed for warhead detonation. The substantial 19.3 pounds (8.8 kg) warhead had an effective lethal radius of about 40 feet (12 m) and could be triggered either by these proximity fuzes or by four contact fuzes mounted on the leading edges of the wings. Its casing was engineered to fragment into 0.25 ounces (7.1 g) pieces dispersed forward within a 50-degree cone angle.[3]

The vacuum tube-based electronics generated considerable heat during operation. To manage this during ground testing, Firestreak missiles were cooled using Arcton (Freon), while in flight cooling relied on ammonia pumped from bottles located in the rear section of the launch cradle. These bottles contained sufficient ammonia for 15 minutes of cooling, restricting missile activation to approach phases only. An air bottle within the fuselage-mounted weapon pack maintained pressure on these ammonia bottles prior to launch. Additionally, hot air from engine compressor stages was routed into the rear of the launch pack and then directed into missiles during flight to keep various moving parts warm enough to prevent freezing throughout their approximately 13-second flight duration.[6]

Service

File:Ee lightning t4 xm974 arp.jpg
Lightning T4 trainer equipped with a dummy Firestreak missile drill round (1964)

The initial airborne deployment of the Blue Jay missile occurred in 1954, launched from a de Havilland Venom, successfully destroying a Fairey Firefly target drone.[4] Entering RAF service in 1957 as the Blue Jay Mk.1, it was designated Firestreak. Both the Royal Navy and RAF began operating Firestreak in August 1958;[7] marking it as the first effective British air-to-air missile.[7]

During launch, the missile's seeker was linked to the launch aircraft's radar system (the Ferranti AIRPASS in the Lightning and the GEC AI.18 in the Sea Vixen) until target lock was achieved, allowing the interceptor to engage additional targets after firing.[8] However, the missile posed significant toxicity risks—attributed to either its Magpie rocket motor or ammonia coolant—requiring RAF armourers to wear chemical protective gear when mounting it on aircraft.Template:Fix/category[citation needed] Unlike missiles developed in the 1990s, Firestreak could only be fired under clear sky conditions; over the UK’s winter months, such weather was infrequent.[9]

Improvements

Two additional Blue Jay variants were investigated but never entered service. The Blue Jay Mk.2 featured an enhanced Magpie II motor and a lead telluride (PbTe) seeker that improved target detection. The Blue Jay Mk.3 incorporated a larger wingspan paired with a downgraded motor designed to limit acceleration for launches from supersonic rocket-powered interceptors like the Saunders-Roe SR.177 and Avro 720, where increased speed from the Magpie II could cause excessive aerodynamic heating.[10]

In pursuit of a more advanced missile for interceptors under Operational Requirement F.155, the Air Ministry issued OR.1131 in 1955 calling for an all-aspect engagement capability against Mach 2 enemy aircraft. De Havilland responded with Blue Jay Mk.4, later renamed Blue Vesta. This model utilized the PbTe seeker from Mk.2 but enhanced it by cooling to boost sensitivity—a system known as the "Violet Banner" seeker. The propulsion was upgraded to the Magpie III motor. To mitigate aerodynamic heating effects at high speeds, steel fins replaced aluminum ones and featured cut-away sections—referred to as "mach tips"—to keep rear fin areas outside Mach cones.[11][lower-alpha 2] Development of Mk.4 ended post-1956 when RAE concluded that closing speeds between two Mach 2+ aircraft would be too rapid for successful missile launches within seeker range.[11]

In August 1956, the Fleet Air Arm assumed responsibility for advancing Blue Jay technology with Blue Jay Mk.5, which replaced the infrared seeker with a semi-active radar homing (SARH) system designed to operate alongside the De Havilland Sea Vixen’s AI.18 radar using a specialized continuous wave illuminator mode. Aside from swapping the seeker section for a longer ogive nose cone housing the radar receiver antenna, it was otherwise similar to Mk.4. Difficulties integrating the illuminator antenna into the Sea Vixen halted progress on this variant. Although briefly revived in November 1957 under the name Blue Dolphin following cancellation of other radar-guided projects, this version never reached operational deployment.[11]

Red Top

Main article: Red Top (missile)

Following the repercussions of the 1957 Defence White Paper, which resulted in the termination of the F.155 along with numerous other aircraft and missile initiatives, development of the English Electric Lightning was permitted to proceed mainly because it was nearing completion. However, this left the aircraft without a contemporary armament, prompting the revival of Blue Vesta in a slightly altered version.[7] By November 1957, documentation labeled Blue Vesta had been declassified, and the project was subsequently renamed "Red Top".[12]

Several significant modifications distinguished Red Top from the Mk.4. The replacement of thermionic valves with transistor-based circuits removed the necessity for electronic cooling and considerably reduced the size of the guidance system. This redesign enabled relocation of the warhead from its previous tail position to the missile’s center, allowing an increase in its dimensions and weight. Consequently, the original blast-fragmentation warhead was substituted with a more lethal expanding-rod type. The rear compartment was left vacant, permitting fin actuators to be positioned there, which simplified internal routing. Additional space was occupied by swapping out the Magpie III seeker for the advanced Linnet model, which delivered markedly enhanced performance, raising the missile’s maximum speed from Mach 2.4 to Mach 3.2 and nearly doubling its effective range to 7.5 miles (12.1 km).

With the removal of ammonia-based cooling—previously used by the Violet Banner seeker on the Mk.4—the design incorporated a more straightforward seeker that did not demand such intensive cooling. This resulted in a new indium antimonide (InSb) seeker cooled by purified air compressed to 3,000 psi (21 MPa), filtered down to 3 μm. Although this seeker had reduced sensitivity compared to Violet Banner and lacked true all-aspect tracking capability, it simplified handling procedures and eliminated concerns related to ground operations.

Although never officially named by the RAF itself, this updated missile entered service under the designation Red Top in 1964. It outperformed Firestreak by offering higher speed and extended range,[7] and was "capable of all aspect homing against super-sonic targets."[7] Despite Red Top being designed as Firestreak’s successor, Firestreak remained in restricted use until Lightning’s retirement in 1988; since accommodating Red Top necessitated a larger vertical tail to counterbalance its bigger wings, older Lightning variants continued to operate with Firestreak.

Operators

File:Firestreak operators.png
Map highlighting Firestreak operators in blue
File:Firestreak AAM - Elvington - BB.jpg
Firestreak missile mounted on its trolley, with fuse windows visible next to protective red rubber bands
File:Firestreak Missile.jpg
Firestreak displayed at RAF Museum Cosford

Former operators

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Notes

  1. ↑ This seems to be an informal nickname rather than an official designation.
  2. ↑ Commonly recognized today as a cropped delta wing shape.

Citations

  1. ↑ Gibson 2007, p. 33
  2. ↑ BAC 1983, p. 7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 BAC 1983, p. 8.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Gibson 2007, p. 34
  5. ↑ BAC 1983, pp. 9.
  6. ↑ BAC 1983, pp. 8–9.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Boyne, Walter J, Air Warfare: an International Encyclopedia, Volume 1, pub ABC-CLIO Inc, 2002, ISBN 1-57607-345-9 p267.
  8. ↑ Gibson 2007, p. 35
  9. ↑ Black, Ian, The Last of the Lightnings, pub PSL, 1996, ISBN 1-85260-541-3, p141.
  10. ↑ Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 35.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 36.
  12. ↑ Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 40.
  13. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

Bibliography

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  • Template:Cite tech report

External links

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