P32001 RAF BLOODHOUND MK.2 SAM MISSILE AND LAUNCHER

The Bristol Bloodhound was a British medium- and long-range surface-to-air missile from the Cold War period. The Bristol Bloodhound missile was a solid fuel missile with a range of up to 190 kilometers and a top speed of up to 2.7 Ma. The first work on the Bloodhound missile began in the early 1950s at the Bristol Airplane Company. The new missile was to complement the already used Thunderbird missile used by the British Army. He entered the line in 1958. In the course of serial production, two main versions of the projectile were created. The first one, marked as Mark I, was the first production series. Later, in 1964, a version of the Mark II came into use with more powerful engines and much better radar guiding the missile at the target. It was also planned to introduce a missile with a nuclear warhead with a capacity of 6 kT (Mark III) and a missile on a mobile platform (Mark IV), but both of these projects did not enter into force. The main user of the Bristol Bloodhound missiles was the United Kingdom, but they also served in Australia, Singapore, Switzerland and Sweden. Missiles of this type were withdrawn from the line in the British armed forces only in 1991.