Editing Loki (rocket) (section)

==Development==
As part of their anti-aircraft development program of 1942, the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' began developing a number of [[guided missile]] projects. However, there was concern that these would not develop in time to be useful in the 1943/44 time frame. To fill the gap, {{ill|Klaus Scheufelen|de|Klaus Scheufelen}} suggested building a simple unguided rocket that would be fired en-masse directly up into the bomber streams. The result was the [[Taifun (rocket)|Taifun]].

Taifun was powered by a [[hypergolic]] mixture pressure-fed into the [[combustion chamber]]. The pressure was provided by small [[cordite]] charges that were fired into the fuel tanks, in the process bursting a pair of thin diaphragms to allow the fuel and oxidizer to flow into the combustion chamber. The Germans were never able to get the engine to work reliably, and the rocket was never deployed operationally.

The [[US Army]] had initially studied the Taifun in 1946, and the German engineers now working for the Army were convinced the concept deserved more development.<ref name=ley>{{cite book |first=Willy |last=Ley |author-link=Willy Ley |title=Missiles, Moonprobes, and Megaparsecs |publisher=[[New American Library]] |year=1964 |page=81}}</ref> When similar concerns about the development time of their own guided missile projects were raised, the Taifun was reconsidered and a development program started at [[Bendix Corporation|Bendix]] in 1948. One major change was to replace the warhead area with a dart-like version, which was separated from the main rocket body at engine burnout to continue on without the drag of the airframe and thereby reach higher altitudes.

Like the Germans before them, Bendix had significant problems with the engine, and eventually decided to develop a [[solid-fuel rocket|solid-fuel]] engine based on a new elastomeric fuel from the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] (JPL), starting in March 1951. The first flight of a solid-fuel Loki occurred on 22 June 1951.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/loki.htm#chrono |title=Loki Chronology |website=www.astronautix.com |access-date=22 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102233831/http://astronautix.com/lvs/loki.htm#chrono |archive-date=2 January 2010}}</ref> The new engine was successful, and the liquid engine was abandoned in February 1952.

An initial meeting on June 25, 1954, at the [[Redstone Arsenal]], of [[Wernher von Braun]], [[Frederick C. Durant]], Alexander Satin (of the Air Branch of the [[Office of Naval Research]] (ONR)), David Young (of the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]]), [[Fred L. Whipple]], [[S. Fred Singer]], and Commander [http://www.astronautix.com/h/hoovergeorge.html George W. Hoover] (24 April 1915 - 1 March 1998) resulted in an agreement that a [[Redstone (rocket)|Redstone rocket]] with a Loki cluster as the second stage could launch a satellite into a {{Convert|200|mi|adj=on}} orbit without major new developments.<ref name=LokiRedstone>{{cite web |title=Chronology - Quarter 2 1954 |url=http://www.astronautix.com/chrono/19542.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100118152640/http://astronautix.com/chrono/19542.htm |archive-date=18 January 2010}}</ref>

JPL eventually fired 3,544 Lokis at [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands]] during the testing program. These tests demonstrated that the launch of one rocket would affect the flight path of the ones behind it, making the dispersion too large to be a useful weapon.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Hamilton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Pz7CijIZnAC&pg=PA85 |title=Blazing skies: air defense artillery on Fort Bliss, Texas, 1940-2009 |publisher=[[Government Printing Office]] |page=85 |isbn=9780160869495 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Although this problem was studied in depth, it appeared there was no obvious solution. The Army eventually gave up on Loki in September 1955, in favour of the [[MIM-4 Nike Ajax|Nike-Ajax]] missile, which had recently reached operational status, and the [[MIM-23 Hawk]] which was expected to be available shortly.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ryZQAAAAYAAJ& News], ''[[Aviation Week]]'', [[McGraw-Hill]], 1956, p. 29.</ref>

===Loki specifications===
* [[Payload (air and space craft)|Payload]]: {{convert|3.2|kg|lbs|abbr=on}} (dart)
* Dimensions:
*: Booster: 2.63 m long × 76&nbsp;mm diameter
*: Dart: 1.02 m long × 35&nbsp;mm diameter
* Weight:
*: Booster: 13&nbsp;kg
*: Dart: 3.2&nbsp;kg
* Maximum Height: 55&nbsp;km
* Maximum Speed 6,275&nbsp;km/h