Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

FROM GUNS TO MISSILES
Figure 46. Hawk launch. The Hawk went into service (1959) only a year
after the Nike Hercules. Whereas the Nike family was only employed
from fixed installations, the Hawk was mobile. (Reprinted from US Army
Air Defense Museum.)
program that became known as Improved Hawk or I-Hawk.
The changes included better electronics (including solid-state),
an improved warhead, and a more powerful engine. Using the
same basic airframe, the weight increased from about 1,250
pounds to 1,380 pounds. While speed was about the same or
perhaps somewhat faster (Mach 2.5 or Mach 2.7), the I-Hawk
increased its range (from 20 to 25 miles) and altitude (from
45,000 to 58,000 feet) capabilities and its lethality with a 20
percent heavier warhead. The Hawk was air transportable and
quite mobile and was mounted on either a three-round trailer or
a self-propelled unit (fig. 47). 44 The most notable aspect of the
Hawk, however, is its adaptability. It has been modified, improved,
and fielded in a number of advanced variants, some of
which remain first-line equipment today in the Marine Corps,
Army National Guard, and several foreign countries. 45
The Army’s success with the Hawk tends to obscure its
other less successful efforts. In addition to the various investigations
with machine guns and cannons, the Army also studied
missiles. One of these was Porcupine, a system proposed in
the mid-1950s that consisted of 2.75-inch rockets. A battery of
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