AUM-N-4 Diver

The AUM-N-4 Diver, also known as Kingfisher D and AUM-4, was a proposed anti-ship and anti-submarine missile, developed for use by the United States Navy in the late 1940s. It was intended to carry a rocket-propelled torpedo that used a single rocket motor for both airborne and underwater propulsion; due to technical issues encountered in the development of the torpedo, no missiles were built before the program was cancelled.

AUM-N-4 Diver
Type	Anti-ship missile
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	United States Navy
Production history
Designer	National Bureau of Standards
Designed	1946-1949
Specifications
Warhead	Torpedo
Engine	Rocket

Design history

As part of Project Kingfisher, a program for the development of air-launched missiles for use in attacking enemy ships and surfaced submarines with torpedoes from stand-off range, development of the "Kingfisher D" missile was proposed in 1946 by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Ordnance.[1] The Kingfisher D was similar in concept to the Kingfisher C, which became the AUM-N-2 Petrel,[2] but differed in that the torpedo the Kingfisher D carried was intended to have a dual-mode rocket engine, providing propulsion both to the missile in flight and to the torpedo itself underwater, following the release of the torpedo from the missile to allow it to make its terminal run to the target.[1]

Under contract to the National Bureau of Standards, work on Kingfisher D, given the designation AUM-4 in September 1947 and the definitive designation AUM-N-4 in 1948, continued through the late 1940s.[3] The torpedo was defined as a 1,000 pounds (450 kg) weapon;[4] however, the difficulties encountered in its development meant that a feasible weapon could not be produced.[2] Without the intended torpedo for it to carry, the Diver missile was no longer required,[1] and the program was cancelled prior to 1950.[3]

References

Citations

1. Friedman 1982, p. 203.
2. Friedman 1982, p. 82.
3. Parsch 2003
4. Ordway and Wakeford 1960, p. 118.

Bibliography

• Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Naval Weapons: Every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-735-7.
• Ordway, Frederick Ira; Ronald C. Wakeford (1960). International Missile and Spacecraft Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill. ASIN B000MAEGVC.
• Parsch, Andreas (6 January 2003). "Bureau of Standards AUM-N-4 Diver". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1: Early Missiles and Drones. Designation-Systems. Retrieved 26 December 2017.