The Origins of Surface-to-Air Guided Missile Technology

German Flak Rockets and the Onset of the Cold War

James Mills

• Publisher: Casemate
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781636242781
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

"Author James Mills presents an amazing, detailed history review of the German surface-to-air guided missile technology development." —Military Review World War II saw the appearance of numerous revolutionary armaments on both sides of the conflict that would radically change the nature of warfare, from jet aircraft to the ballistic missile and the atomic bomb. The greatest conflagration in history also saw the conception of the first surface-to-air guided missile systems, technology pioneered by German scientists and engineers through an extensive development program which ran from 1942 to 1945. Although the program did not achieve its main objective – to introduce a functional weapon system into the Luftwaffe air defense network – German research and development in most aspects of the technology was ahead of comparable research in the United Kingdom and the United States. The history of the transfer of German SAM technology to the Allies after 1945 has previously been overshadowed by the well-published transfers of the V-1 and V-2 guided missiles. This book presents the first complete history of Germany's wartime development of surface-to-air missile (SAM) technology, how the Allies acquired this secret research towards the end of World War II in Europe and in the early postwar period, and how they then exploited this knowledge.

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 German Flak-Rakete Research and Development During World War II
• 2 Comparative British and American SAM Research and Development up to 1945
• 3 Anglo-American Investigations of Intelligence Targets Linked to the German SAM Development Programme, 1944–48
• 4 The Transfer and Exploitation of German SAM Technology by the United States After 1945
• 5 The Transfer and Exploitation of German SAM Technology by the United Kingdom After 1945
• 6 The Transfer and Exploitation of German SAM Technology by France After 1945
• 7 Conclusion
• App. 1 General aerodynamic, structural and performance specifications of World War II German Flak-Raketen
• App. 2 Key personalities in the German SAM development programme
• App. 3 The transfer and exploitation of German SAM technology by the Soviet Union after 1945
• Chronology of Events
• Glossary of Terminology
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Backcover