Project Gorgon

Gorgon
Gorgon
	A PTV-N-2 Gorgon IV missile on a Northrop P-61A mother-ship
Type	missile / reconnaissance drone / target drone
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Naval Air Development Center (NADC)
Designed	1940s
Produced	from 1943 to 1953
Specifications
Mass	PTV-N-2 - 1,598 lb (725 kg)
Length	PTV-N-2 - 22 ft (6.6 m)*
Wingspan	PTV-N-2 - 10.0 ft (3.05 m)*
Engine	PTV-N-2 - Marquardt XRJ30-MA ramjet
Flight ceiling	PTV-N-2 - 35,100 ft (10,700 m)*

The Gorgon was an air-to-air missile powered by a turbojet engine and equipped with radio controls and a homing device.

It was developed by the U.S. during World War II, was later expanded into a more general program including turbojet, ramjet, pulsejet, and rocket power. Straight wing, swept wing, and canard (tail first) air frames were investigated and visual, television, heat-homing, and three types of radar guidance were looked at for use as possible air-to-air, air-to-surface and surface-to-surface guided missiles and as target drones.

The final development of the series, the ASM-N-5 Gorgon V, was to be an unpowered chemical weapons dispenser.

Variants

Data from:^[1]

KA2N-1 -

KU2N-1 -

CTV-4 -

CTV-N-4 -

Gorgon IIB

Canard layout with single pulse-jet

Gorgon IIIA

Conventional layout with single rocket

KA3N-1 -

KU3N-1 -

CTV-6 -

CTV-N-6 -

Gorgon IIIB

Gorgon IIIC

Conventional layout with twin rockets

KA3N-2 -

KU3N-2 -

RTV-4 -

RTV-N-4 -

Gorgon IV

Single ramjet

KUM-1 -

PTV-2 -

PTV-N-2 -

Gorgon V

Derivative of Gorgon IV

ASM-N-5 Gorgon V - proposed chemical weapons dispenser variant

NADC Plover

Drone variant of Gorgon IV

KDM-1 -

NADC Pollux

Similar to Gorgon IIC

RTV-N-15 -

Parsch, Andreas (2005). "Martin ASM-N-5 Gorgon V". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles Appendix 1: Early Missiles and Drones. designation-systems.net. Retrieved 2013-01-31.