The TDU-12/B Skydart was an unguided target rocket built by Curtiss-Wright for use by the United States Air Force. It was used operationally from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s.
Skydart, designated TDU-12/B by the U.S. Air Force,[2] was developed by the Santa Barbara Division of Curtiss-Wright.[3] It was designed for use as a target for practice with infrared homingair-to-air missiles such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-4 Falcon. It had a small cylindrical body fitted with four cruciform fins aft for control and fixed forwards canards to set the rocket's trajectory. Propulsion was by a dual-thrust boost-sustain solid-propellant rocket supplied by the Grand Central Rocket Company and the Hercules Powder Company. A gyroscopic-driven autopilot stabilized the rocket in flight.[4]Aninfrared flare was installed to provide signature enhancement for training purposes, and the rocket could be equipped with a telemetry system.[1] Skydart was designed to use a common launching rail and electronic connections to the launch aircraft as Sidewinder.[5] Launch would be undertaken at speeds between Mach 0.8 and 2.0. Design endurance was nominally 90 seconds, but in service 110-second endurance was demonstrated.[3]
A $470,000 contract was awarded to Curtiss-Wright by the USAF for production of Skydart.[5] Launched from F-100 Super Sabre and F-104 Starfighter fighters, Skydart was used throughout the early-to-mid 1960s, but was out of service before the end of the decade.[1] Proposals for improved versions of Skydart, including a ground-launched version and an enlarged target drone, do not appear to have been developed.[5]
Jacobs, Horace; Eunice Engelke Whitney (1962). Missile and Space Projects Guide 1962. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN978-1-4899-6967-5.
Ordway, Frederick Ira; Ronald C. Wakeford (1960). International Missile and Spacecraft Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill. ASINB000MAEGVC.
Parsch, Andreas (16 June 2004). "Curtiss-Wright TDU-12/B Skydart". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles. Designation-Systems. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
