After
World War II, the
USAF began looking for an
intercontinental nuclear delivery system. At the time, they considered
ICBMs to be
impractical for short term implementation, so the Navaho development program was born. The Navaho design called for a
ramjet powered
cruise missile with a
booster rocket. The program was designed around 3 landmarks:
- Development of the cruise missile concept. The X-10 was a small-scale, turbojet powered test platform.
- Design and testing of the booster rocket and a mid scale cruise missile in the G-46 vehicle.
- Creation of a full-scale, full-range prototype, the G-38.
The initial tests of the X-10 were disappointing. Usually, if the vehicle didn't
catastrophically fail in flight, it was because it didn't launch. Cruise missiles were significantly more complicated than was previously anticipated. In
1957, the Navaho project was cancelled. The
Atlas launch vehicle was already being test flown, and with the decrease in size of
nuclear payloads, the ICBM became the more promising option.
The Navaho program was not without its benefits. Many of the components developed as part of the program were used in other platforms, and some are still used today. The boosters developed for the G-38 served as the basis for all of the first generation of American orbital rockets, including the Atlas II and Delta 3 rockets still in use today.