RIM-24 Tartar
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| RIM-24 Tartar | |
|---|---|
 USN · Public domain · source | |
| Name | RIM-24 Tartar |
| Origin | United States |
| Type | Surface-to-air missile |
| Manufacturer | United States Navy |
| Service | 1960s–1970s |
RIM-24 Tartar was a medium-range naval surface-to-air missile developed for United States Navy fleet air defense during the Cold War. It served aboard destroyers and cruisers alongside contemporaries in programs managed by the United States Navy, Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and industrial partners such as Hughes Aircraft Company and General Dynamics. Employed during a period of tension involving actors like the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, and events such as the Vietnam War, the system influenced later programs including the NATO standardization efforts and allied procurements by navies of United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan.
Development and Design
Development began after confrontations involving aircraft carriers of the United States Atlantic Fleet and perceived threats from platforms of the Soviet Navy and Soviet Air Forces. The program evolved from earlier projects like the RIM-2 Terrier and paralleled the RIM-8 Talos development, drawing on lessons from trials run at facilities including the Naval Ordnance Test Station and laboratories affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Design goals sought to provide an automated engagement capability integrating systems such as the Aegis Combat System precursors, early radar suites from Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and command architectures influenced by Office of Naval Research studies. The Tartar project coordinated requirements with shipbuilders including Newport News Shipbuilding, Bath Iron Works, and Ingalls Shipbuilding to ensure launcher and magazine integration on classes like the Charles F. Adams-class destroyer and Leahy-class cruiser.
Specifications and Variants
Baseline specifications featured a high-explosive warhead, semi-active radar homing, and a solid-fuel rocket motor derived from work at Rocketdyne and contractors including Thiokol. Variants included modifications for seeker sensitivity, motor performance, and electronic counter-countermeasure suites developed in collaboration with firms such as Raytheon Company, ITT Corporation, and Northrop Grumman. Upgrades produced iterations comparable to contemporary Western systems fielded by Royal Navy and French Navy vessels, reflecting interoperability concerns discussed in meetings of NATO maritime committees and defense setters like the Pentagon.
Operational History
Tartar-equipped ships served in forward deployments across theaters where carriers of the United States Pacific Fleet and United States Seventh Fleet operated during incidents including the Gulf of Tonkin incident timeframe and Cold War maritime shadowing of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. Crews trained at centers linked to Naval Air Station Oceana, Naval Station Norfolk, and allied bases such as HMAS Albatross. Exercises such as Operation Sea Orbit and joint maneuvers with the Royal Australian Navy validated tactics that integrated Tartar with fighter direction teams composed of aviators from Carrier Air Wing units and controllers from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron detachments. Deployments also intersected with crises like the Six-Day War naval embargo periods and patrol operations near regions under influence of People's Liberation Army Navy and Soviet Northern Fleet units, shaping doctrines adopted by staffs at United States Fleet Forces Command.
Guidance and Propulsion Systems
The missile used semi-active radar homing linked to shipboard illuminators developed from radar families produced by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and signal processing advances from laboratories affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory. Guidance improvements paralleled electronic warfare developments coming out of research at RAND Corporation and testing at ranges including White Sands Missile Range. Propulsion relied on solid-propellant motors leveraging propellant chemistry studies from Aerojet Rocketdyne contractors and quality control standards influenced by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-sponsored projects. Countermeasure resistance incorporated algorithms and hardware informed by analyses from Naval Research Laboratory engineers and doctrine from Chief of Naval Operations staff.
Deployment and Naval Integration
Integration into ship combat systems required cooperation with combat information centers aboard destroyers and cruisers, involving personnel trained under programs at Naval Training Center San Diego and doctrine codified by Navy Warfare Development Command publications. Launchers were fitted onto platforms alongside other armaments such as guns designed by Bofors licensees and anti-ship missiles from firms like Grumman and McDonnell Douglas. International sales and transfers saw Tartar or Tartar-derived systems onboard vessels of the Royal Netherlands Navy, Spain, and Italy, coordinated through defense attachés and procurement offices within the Department of Defense and ministries such as the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Logistical support chains used depots at Naval Supply Systems Command installations and overhaul facilities at yards including Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Replacement and Legacy
By the late 1970s and 1980s, Tartar was superseded by more capable systems like the RIM-66 Standard Missile family developed under programs aligned with the Naval Sea Systems Command and procurement reforms from the Congressional Budget Office. The evolution influenced the design of multi-layered fleet air defense doctrines later embodied in Aegis Combat System deployments on Ticonderoga-class cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Technological heritage continued in seeker, propellant, and integration lessons applied in projects from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for later surface-to-air missile programs. Historic analyses of Tartar deployments informed studies at institutions such as the Center for Naval Analyses, Naval War College, and archives maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.