RIM-24 Tartar

Tartar was a Navy surface-to-air, supersonic missile designed to be destroyer based. It 15 feet long, 12 inches in diameter and weighed 1,200 pounds. Propulsion was provided by a dual-thrust, solid-fuel rocket motor which had an initial high thrust to boost the missile to supersonic velocity, and a lower thrust for sustaining velocity. Tartar had a range in excess of 10 miles.

Basic development was carried out by the Johns Hopkins APL (as was that of Terrier), and Convair are again the prime contractor. In appearance the missile resembles an improved, and (at 12ft) rather smaller, Terrier, and it is launched without a booster. It is claimed to beat Terrier's performance, and is described as "proportionately more powerful." A very valuable advance is the inclusion in Tartar of a homing head.

Tartar came into pre-production — in America this probably meant more than a dozen rounds per week — at Pomona during late 1956, and in full production is expected to cost not more than $8,000-$10,000. The Navy decided to employ it as standard armament on several destroyers and as secondary armament on cruisers and capital ships, replacing 5in guns in each case.