Post-3
The A9 was designed in January 1941 as a V2 with ogival delta wings, 373 miles (600 km) extended range and 17 minutes flight time.
With this new weapon, the
Wehrmacht would have the ability to attack Liverpool's industrial region from launch sites placed in northern France, but the A9 lacked enough range to reach Moscow by launching it from eastern Poland.
In October 1942, a proposal was made to launch it from a rocket catapult to increase the range by 1,000-1,300 km.
The Rheinmetall-Borsig catapult was made up of a launch ramp with 262 ft. (80 m) length and one rocket-sledge with 66,150 lb. (30,000 kg) peak thrust and was designed to launch a Fi 103 (V-1) flying bomb at 222.7 mph (360 km/h). But the Peenemünde engineers argued that the 15G-acceleration could damage the gyroscopic guidance system or disrupt the turbo pump operation.
In March 1941, it was proposed to develop a two-rocket assembly with the A9 slotted into the top of a V2 boost stage, but the project was stopped in October 1942.
In late 1944 the development of two-rocket combination was resumed, under
Projekt Amerika codename, with 5,000 km extended range.
To meet the specification the V-2 was replaced by a new rocket, with six V2 engines and 165 tons thrust, named A10.
The A9's rocket motor was based on the A8's technology and used
Visol (mixture of vinyl-isobutyl ether with aniline) and
S-Stoff-Salbei (96% nitric acid, 4% ferrous chloride) as propellants, with estimated peak thrust between 55,130-70,140 lb. (24,974-31,770 kg) and 68-115 seconds burn time, depending on the version and power of the turbo pump.
Early in 1945 the A10 project was modified with a new rocket motor, with 441,500 lb. (200,000 kg) peak thrust, that used as
SV-Stoff (94% nitric acid, 6% nitrogen dioxide) and
Visol as propellants.
The
Projekt Amerika called for the construction of two launch sites, the first located in Brest-France should be used to attack New York, and the second, in Cape Roca-Portugal, to attack Pittsburg and Washington DC.
The A10 boost stage would burn for 55-60 seconds taking the A9 to 80,000 ft. altitude and was recovered by parachute. The upper stage would separate and burn its engine, accelerating up to 6,165 mph and climbing to 100 miles suborbital apogee, followed by a long powerless supersonic glide into the atmosphere.
When the missile descended to 246,000 ft. it would arc back up to 328,000 ft. secondary peak using the kinetic energy accumulated during the supersonic glide.
A 3,108 miles range was attained by means of repeated ‘skips’ into and out of the atmosphere and one terminal shallow glide towards its target.
The ‘skips’ were at the expense of the missile kinetic energy, each ‘skip’ being slower than the previous one.
It was expected that the A9 would be guided using the four stages of the
Rheinland control method.
In the first stage the two-rocket assembly was to be steered, to the A9 separation, by
Elsass radio control, with the aid of optical two-axis tracking device and one
Rheingold radar set.
The second stage began after the A9 engine cut-off at 390 km altitude and 7,600 mph top speed. It used radar tracking, and the missile was still steered by means of the
Kehlheim radio link system.
The third stage started when the A9 reached its maximum ceiling at 300 miles of the launch pad. The inertial navigation computer of the missile was coupled with one FuG 102 pulse modulated radio altimeter to perform scheduled skips on the flight plan. The A9 would ride up the radar beam of one Fu SE 75
Mannheim Riese radar set.
During the fourth stage, the missile would use the
Elektra-Sonne long range navigation system and the FuG 126
Baldur automatic guidance system to make the necessary heading corrections, following a string of radio-beacons deployed by surfaced U-boats across of the Atlantic.
The terminal glide towards the target was to be steered by one rotating reticle infrared homing device developed by Wernher von Braun.
The intercontinental missile concept emerged far ahead of its time. Early in 1945 it was considered that existing guidance systems would not be accurate enough over a distance of 3,100 miles.
Engineers believed that a manned missile would have solved the problem of the added inaccuracies introduced by a long glide path, and could hit small targets with the accuracy of the
Reichenberg IV.
There were plans to develop a piloted A9 with pressurized cockpit, FuG 123
Truhe cartographic radar and
Butterblüme infra-red ground-mapping device.
EMW A9 first configuration (1941) technical data
Type: long range boost-glide missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: one EMW bi-propellant rocket motor with 60,500 lb. (27,500 kg) peak thrust, propellants: 5,533 kg of
A-Stoff and 4,173 kg of
M-Stoff, pressurizers: 172 kg of
T-Stoff (80 % Hydrogen Peroxide, 20 % Oxiquinoline) and
Z-Stoff (watery solution of sodium or calcium) actuating a turbo pump of 730 hp, wingspan: 11.6 ft. (3.58 m), length: 46 ft. (14.06 m), maximum diameter: 5.5 ft. (1.8 m), wing surface: 150 sq. ft. (13.5 sq. m.), take-off weight: 29,800 lb. (13,500 kg), estimated maximum speed: 1,740 mph (2,800 km/h), estimated ceiling: 316,818 ft. (96,000 m), estimated range: 373 miles (600 km), warhead: 2,150 lb. (975 kg) with 907 kg of
Amatol 60/40.
EMW A9 second configuration (1944) technical data
Type: long range boost-glide missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: one EMW bi-propellant rocket motor with 55,130 lb. (24,974 kg) peak thrust, propellants:
Visol and
S-Stoff, pressurizers:
T-Stoff and
Z-Stoff, wingspan: 11.6 ft. (3.58 m), length: 46 ft. (14.06 m), maximum diameter: 5.5 ft. (1.8 m), wing surface: 150 sq. ft. (13.5 sq. m.), take-off weight: 35,850 lb. (16,260 kg), estimated maximum speed (with A10 booster): 6,165 mph (9,920 km/h- Mach 9.4), estimated ceiling: 524,800 ft. (160,000 m), estimated range: 3,180 miles (5,000 km), warhead: 2,150 lb. (975 kg) with 907 kg of
Amatol 60/40.
EMW A9 third configuration (1945) technical data
Type: long range boost-glide missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: one EMW bi-propellant rocket motor with 70,170 lb. (31,787 kg) peak thrust, propellants:
Visol and
SV-Stoff, pressurizers:
T-Stoff and
Z-Stoff, wingspan: 11.6 ft. (3.58 m), length: 46 ft. (14.06 m), maximum diameter: 5.5 ft. (1.8 m), wing surface: 150 sq. ft. (13.5 sq. m.), take-off weight: 35,850 lb. (16,260 kg), estimated maximum speed (with A10 booster): 6,835 mph (11,000 km/h), estimated ceiling: 574,000 ft. (175,000 m), estimated range: 3,418 miles (5,500 km), warhead: 2,150 lb. (975 kg) with 907 kg of
Amatol 60/40.
EMW A10 first configuration (1941) technical data
Type: boost-stage for the A9 missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: one EMW bi-propellant rocket motor with 60,500 lb (27,500 kg) peak thrust, propellants: 5,533 kg of
A-Stoff and 4,173 kg of
M-Stoff, pressurizers: 172 kg of
T-Stoff (80 % Hydrogen Peroxide, 20 % Oxyquinoline) and
Z-Stoff (watery solution of sodium or calcium), wingspan: 20.3 ft. (6.2 m), stabilizer span: 18 ft. (5.5 m), length: 46.2 ft. (14.1 m), maximum diameter: 9.3 ft. (2.72 m).
EMW A9/A10 first configuration (1941) technical data
Length: 78.7 ft. (24 m), take-off weight: 56,000 lb. (25,370 kg).
EMW A10 second configuration (1944) technical data
Type: boost-stage for the A9 missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: six V2 combustion chambers with a total thrust of 363,000 lb. (164,439 kg) used as pre-burners of an additional low pressure combustion chamber formed by the main nozzle that form an aerospike with 440,920 lb. (199,737 kg) peak thrust, propellants: 111,470 lb. (50,560 kg) of
A-Stoff and
M-Stoff, pressurizers: 410 lb. (186 kg) of
T-Stoff and
Z-Stoff, tailfins span: 29.5 ft. (9 m), length: 65.6 ft. (20 m), maximum diameter: 13.8 ft. (4.2 m), take-off weight: 152,240 lb. (69,060 kg), estimated maximum speed: 2,685 mph (4,320 km/h), estimated ceiling: 80,000 ft. (24,000 m), parachute recovery of 2,990 square yards.
EMW A9/A10 second configuration (1944) technical data
Max weight: 191,835 lb. (87,000 kg), length: 84.3 ft. (25.7 m).
EMW A10 third configuration (1945) technical data
Type: boost-stage for the A9 missile, airframe: steel structure with riveted steel plates cladding, power plant: one EMW rocket motor with 449,600-518,611 lb. (203,670-234,926 kg) peak thrust, propellants: 136,700 lb. (61,490 kg) of
Visol and
SV-Stoff, pressurizers: 410 lb. (186 kg) of
T-Stoff and
Z-Stoff, tailfins span: 29.5 ft. (9 m), length: 65.6 ft. (20 m), maximum diameter: 13.8 ft. (4.2 m), take-off weight: 188,000-191,800 lb. (85,300-86,960 kg), parachute recovery of 2,990 square yards.
EMW A9/A10 third configuration (1945) technical data
Max weight: 223,746-220,460 lb. (101,580-99,960 kg), length: 84.3 ft. (25.7 m).
