VB-6 Felix
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "VB-6_Felix".

The VB-6 Felix was a precision guided munition developed by the United States during World War II . It was one of the precursors of modern anti-ship missiles.

Created by the National Defense Research Committee, Felix relied on infrared to detect and home on targets, in clear weather, especially ships at sea at night. It was this property which earned the weapon its name, after the ability of cats to see in the dark.

Felix was a 1000 pound (454 kg) general purpose (GP) bomb with an infrared seeker in the nose and octagonal guidance fins in the tail. Unlike other weapons, such as Fritz X, Felix was autonomous (what a later generation would call launch and leave), though there was a flare in the tail for tracking.

Successful trials led to Felix being put in production in 1945, but the Pacific War ended before it entered combat.

Sources

• Fitzsimons, Bernard, editor. "Felix", in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare. Volume 9, p.926. London: Phoebus Publishing, 1978.

See also

• Fritz X
• Azon
• Razon
• GB-4
• Bat
• LBD-1 Gargoyle
• List of anti-ship missiles

This World War II article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

This guided missile-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article related to a weapon is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.