The Fairey Firestreak was the first effective British air-to-air missile. It used passive infrared homing.

Development

The Firestreak was developed from 1951, originally known as Blue Jay. It was a simplified version of the unsuccessful Fairey Fireflash.

Firestreak had an unusual configuration, with the warhead around the exhaust tube. The actuators were in the nose, operated by a compressed air bottle in the tail, operating the tail-mounted control surfaces via pushrods. Its liquid nitrogen-cooled seeker was slaved to the aircraft's radar for lock-on, and was suitable only for tail-chase (rear-aspect) engagements. It had an infrared proximity fuse.

Firestreak entered service in 1958, arming English Electric Lightning, De Havilland Sea Vixen, and Gloster Javelin fighter aircraft. It was phased out in favor of the superior Hawker Siddeley Red Top from 1964, but remained in limited service until the final retirement of the Lightning in 1988.

Note that this missile was manufactured under a number of different names - Fairey Firestreak, De Havilland Firestreak and Hawker Siddeley Firestreak due to the sequence of acquisition/mergers. See the Fairey Aviation article for more information.

Specifications

• Length: 3.19 m (125.5 in)
• Wingspan: 0.75 m (29.4 in)
• Diameter: 223 mm (8.75 in)
• Weight: 136 kg (300 lb)
• Speed: Mach 3
• Range: 6.4 km (4 mi)
• Guidance: rear-aspect infrared
• Warhead: 22.7 kg (50 lb) annular blast fragmentation