"""
"""
The Sprint was a two-stage, solid-fuel anti-ballistic missile (ABM), armed with a W66 enhanced radiation thermonuclear warhead. It was designed to intercept incoming reentry vehicles (RV) after they had descended below an altitude of about 60 kilometres, where the thickening air stripped away any decoys or radar reflectors and exposed the RV to observation by radar. RV would be travelling at about 8 km per second [...] Nike-X's interceptions would last about five seconds. [...] nuclear explosions in space had been tested in 1958 and found that they blanketed a huge area with radiation that blocked radar signals above about 60 kilometres altitude
[...]
Sprint accelerated at 100 g, reaching a speed of Mach 10 in 5 seconds. Such a high velocity at relatively low altitudes created skin temperatures up to 3,430°C, requiring an ablative shield to dissipate the heat. The high temperature caused a plasma to form around the missile, requiring extremely powerful radio signals to reach it for guidance. The missile glowed bright white as it flew.

Sprint was the centerpiece of the Nike-X system, which concentrated on placing bases around large cities to intercept Soviet warheads. [...] The conical Sprint was stored in and launched from a silo. To make the launch as quick as possible, the cover was blown off the silo by explosive charges; then the missile was ejected by an explosive-driven piston. As the missile cleared the silo, the first stage fired and the missile was tilted toward its target. The first stage was exhausted after only 1.2 seconds, but produced 2,900 kilonewtons of thrust. On separation of the spent first stage, it disintegrated due to aerodynamic forces. The second stage fired within 1 to 2 seconds of launch. Interception at an altitude of 1.5 to 30 km altitude took at most 15 seconds.
[...]
The "HIBEX" (HIgh Boost EXperiment) missile is considered to be somewhat of a design predecessor and competitor to the Sprint missile, as it was a similar high acceleration missile in the early 1960s, with a technological transfer from that program to the Sprint development program occurring. Both were tested at the White Sands Launch Complex 38. Although HIBEX's initial acceleration rate in G's was higher at near 400 G, its role was to intercept reentry vehicles at a much lower altitude than Sprint, 6,100 m, and it is considered to be a last ditch anti-ballistic missile "in a similar vein to Sprint".
[...]
The small "Thunderbird" rocket of 1947 produced an acceleration of 100 G
"""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(missile)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(missile)

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

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