AGM-12B Bullpup
Contents
Description
Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell about the history of the development and combat using of the weaponry and also about it's features. Make a air or ground vehicles list on which this weapon is installed in our game.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
List out vehicles that are equipped with the weapon.
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available shells
Describe the shells that are available for the cannon and their features and purpose. If it concerns autocannons or machine guns, so write about different ammo belts and what is inside (which types of shells).
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns, that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.
Usage in battles
Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against the main opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.
Pros and cons
Summarize and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.
Pros:
Cons:
History
Development of the AGM-12 Bullpup began in the early 1950s, after the Korean War sparked a demand for more precise, guided, weapon systems that could hit targets which were usually more difficult to hit with conventional ordnance. Apart from that, the new weapon system ought to increase the safety of ground attack aircraft and their crews by keeping them further away from returning ground fire.
A competition was ran by the U.S. Navy and the Martin company was awarded a contract in 1954. Work on the new missile, designated ASM-N-7, began and after several years of development and testing, the new weapon system entered service with the Navy in April 1959.
The design of the American first air-to-ground missile was fairly simple - a 250lb (113 kg) warhead derived from an aerial bomb, mounted on a rocket-propelled, roll-stabilized body. The entire missile was manually guided via radio signal to its target, using direct vision. To aid with aiming, two bright flares would ignite on the missile’s rear end upon launch. These would make it easier for the operator to keep track of the missile in flight as it would be more visible.
The Bullpup was first employed in combat during the Vietnam War, although only seeing limited success. This was due to the fact that in order to ensure the highest probability of a successful hit, the aircraft that launched the missile had to fly the same course as the missile until impact. This of course, exposed the aircraft to anti-air fire and severely limited the pilot/operator’s situational awareness in the case of single-seat aircraft.
Nonetheless, the Bullpup was still mass-produced for both the U.S. Navy and Army, resulting in around 30,000 units made across all of the weapon’s variants. Although the missile was starting to be replaced in the ‘70s by more advanced systems, it wasn’t until the ‘80s when the Bullpup was finally retired from active service.
- From Devblog
Media
An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links