AGM-65
Maverick
Unofficial
names/slang: n/a
Function:
Air-to-Ground Guided Missile
Date
deployed: 1986
Contractor:
Hughes Aircraft / Raytheon
Unit cost:
$123,000 - $153,000
Length:
8' - 6" (2.59m)
Wingspan:
2' - 4" (0.71m)
Diameter:
1' - 0" (0.30m)
Speed:
approx. Mach 2
Weight at
launch: 670 lbs
Guidance:
Laser / Infrared
Range:
approx. 17 mi
Engine:
Thiokol TX-481
solid rocket
Warhead:
300 lb High Explosive (HE) w/ delayed fuse |
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Mission:
The AGM-65 Maverick is a tactical, air-to-surface
guided missile designed for close air support,
interdiction and defense suppression mission. It
provides stand-off capability and high probability
of strike against a wide range of tactical targets,
including armor, air defenses, ships, transportation
equipment and fuel storage facilities.
Features: The Maverick is a modular
design weapon. A different combination of the
guidance package and warhead can be attached to the
rocket motor section to produce a different weapon.
The Maverick has three different seekers and two
different warheads. The solid-rocket motor
propulsion section is common to all variants. The
seeker options are electro-optical (EO) imaging,
imaging infrared (IR) or a laser guidance package.
The warhead is in the missile's center section.
Either a 125-pound shaped-charge warhead or a
300-pound penetrator warhead can be used. A contact
fuse in the nose fires the shaped-charge warhead.
The penetrator uses a delayed-fuse, allowing the
warhead to penetrate the target with its kinetic
energy before firing. The latter is very effective
against large, hard targets. The AGM-65 has a
cylindrical body with long-chord delta wings and
tail control surfaces mounted close to the trailing
edge of the wing of the aircraft using it.
A-10, F-15E and F-16 aircraft carry Mavericks.
As many as six Mavericks can be carried by an
aircraft, usually in three round, underwing
clusters, allowing the pilot to engage several
targets on one mission. The missile also has "launch-and-leave"
capability that enables a pilot to fire it and
immediately take evasive action or attack another
target as the missile guides itself to the target.
Mavericks can be launched from high altitudes to
tree-top level and can hit targets ranging from a
distance of a few thousand feet to 13 nautical miles
at medium altitude.
Maverick B models have an electro-optical
television guidance system. After the protective
dome cover is automatically removed from the nose of
the missile and its video circuitry activated, the
scene viewed by the guidance system appears on a
cockpit television screen. The pilot selects the
target, centers cross hairs on it, locks on, then
launches the missile. The Maverick B also has a
screen magnification capability that enables the
pilot to identify and lock on smaller and more
distant targets.
The Maverick D has an imaging infrared
guidance system, operated much like that of the A
and B models, except that infrared video overcomes
the daylight-only, adverse weather limitations of
the other system. The infrared Maverick D can track
heat generated by a target and provide the pilot a
pictorial display of the target during darkness and
hazy or inclement weather.
The Maverick E model is the only version
having the laser-guided seeker section. It uses the
heavyweight penetrator warhead. The U.S. Marine
Corps are the only users of this variant.
The Maverick F is a naval variant of the D/G
model (IR) currently in use by the U.S. Navy. It
also uses the 300-pound penetrator warhead.
The Maverick G model essentially has the same
guidance system as the D, with some software
modifications that track larger targets. The G
model's major difference is its heavyweight
penetrator warhead, while Maverick B and D models
employ the shaped-charge warhead.
Maverick K models are currently in
development. They were developed by taking a G model
and replacing the IR guidance system with an
electro-optical (EO) television guidance system.
Background: The Air Force accepted the
first AGM-65A Maverick in August 1972. A total of
25,750 A and B Mavericks were purchased by the Air
Force. Maverick A's have recently been phased out of
the inventory. The Air Force is exploring the
possibility of converting phased out A's and near
obsolete B's and making an EO version to be named
AGM-65H. The software in the H would be upgraded
increasing its capability.
The Air Force took delivery of the first
AGM-65D in October 1983, with initial operational
capability in February 1986. Delivery of operational
AGM-65G missiles took place in 1989. More than 5,000
AGM-65 A/B/D/E/F/G's were employed during Operation
Desert Storm, mainly attacking armored targets.
Mavericks played a large part in the destruction of
Iraq's significant military force.
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