Talk:AIM-97 Seekbat

Unreferenced claims
The following is an unreferenced statement added by a user who has only edited Wikipedia twice. It has been placed here until someone can be bothered to provide proper citation for it.

"During the testing of the Seekbat, CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missiles (SAM) were utilized in the target drone role; the Bomarc missile was used to simulate the high flying Foxbat. The Bomarc would prove to be a poor choice for target drone, due in part to the requirement to operate it in a manner outside its intended operational envelope.

In sustained high altitude flight, the Bomarc would roll onto its back and dive when the engines became oxygen starved. This flight characteristic was previously unknown to program officers. When the Bomarc rolled on its back, the wings shielded the engines, causing the Seekbat to unlock from the target during terminal guidance. Instead, the Seekbat test missile IR seeker would chase the sun once the Bomarc went "cold." Because this was misunderstood by engineers, continued efforts to develop the missile guidance systems were undertaken without any effort to correct the drone issues that were causing the targeting malfunctions. Each test missile was hand built and very expensive to produce, causing the program to suffer cost overruns."

Graham1973 (talk) 03:20, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

Researching contemporary reports
This is so that if anyone can be bothered to join in improving this article research is not duplicated.

Flight International magazine ran 'World Missile Survey' articles that covered the AIM-97 Seekbat in 1974, 1975 & 1976. Equivalent articles in 1973 & 1977 do not mention the missile, even though in the case of the 1973 article the program had begun and in the case of the 1977 issue the progam had been canceled the previous year. This is important because in the previous years articles cancelations were mentioned.

It is highly probable that mentions appear in Janes Weapon Systems and other similar publications in the same 1972 - 1977 time frame. These articles are critical to understanding the course of testing and whatever reasons were given for program cancellation.

Graham1973 (talk) 10:39, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

Two claims found on the internet that need investigating
These two claims were found on the internet while attempting to locate information to expand the article, neither claim has a documentary source. These are placed here as pointers to future research:


 * 1) The missiles were also intended for ASAT use.
 * 2) Israel was involved in the program to some extent. This makes sense as the Soviets had deployed MiG-25Rs to Egypt.

Graham1973 (talk) 10:42, 22 September 2016 (UTC)