video of a phoenix missile being launched from near space!!!

[venture160]

http://mrdata.com/~blakef/mystery-aircraft/mystery.mov

the guy on the website says its being launched from a modified sr-71... interesting...

[Sierra]

it doesnt work.

[MVSpartan117]

yeah, didn't work for me either

[von_Moo142]

It works for me.

Looks like a YF-12 launching a AIM-47. YF-12 was a fighter variant of the SR-71, but only 2 or 3 were built IIRC. Like the Pheonix and Maverick missiles, AIM-47 is a Hughes product, and they all share a similar design.

Will try and dig up some info for you.

[von_Moo142]

YF-12 stuff

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/annex/an12.htm

http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/yf-12/

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f12.html


AIM-47 stuff

http://www.voodoo.cz/sr71/o/aim47.jpg

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-47.html

Some quotes from here: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f12.html


The first YF-12A (60-6934) took off on its initial flight on August 7, 1963, piloted by James D. Eastham. It was equipped with a streamlined camera pod mounted underneath each engine nacelle for photographing AIM-47 missile launches.



On April 16, 1964, the first airborne AIM-47 missile separation test was conducted. Unfortunately, the missile's nose-down position was not correct, and had the missile's rocket motor actually fired, the aircraft would probably have shot itself down. On March 18, a YF-12A successfully engaged a Q-2C target drone at 40,000 feet while the interceptor was flying at Mach 2.2 at an altitude of 65,000 feet. The first powered launch was undertaken on March 18, 1956. Six out of seven AIM-47 tests resulted in hits, including One fired from an altitude of 75,000 feet and a speed of Mach 3.2 against a target approaching head-on at 1500 feet.[/quote]