RIM-101 ship-based tube-launched missile

[Vahe Demirjian]

Does anyone have drawings or specs for the little known RIM-101 ship-launched missile? Andreas Parsch has info about the RIM-101 missile (http://designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-101.html), and you'll note that the RIM-101 was previously confused with the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and AIM-101 designation, prompting Parsch to consider the RIM-101 an advanced version of the Sea Sparrow.

 

[TomS]

Haven't come across that designation before, but from the timing and description, I wonder if it might be related to VELARC, a Raytheon shipboard self-defense weapon from c.1973. VELARC was a vertically launched missile for hydrofoils and other fast vessels. DoD Testimony to Congress in 1974 says it used a pneumatic ejector and then fired the main engine in flight, but possibly there were variations, or a misunderstanding (Redeye used an ejection charge in the main motor). VELARC is mentioned in a DOD T&E document as being in flight test at White Sands around 1973, possibly on a sled to simulate launches at high crosswind conditions (such as those encountered on hovercraft or hydrofoils). It also shows up in the 1974-75 Jane's Weapon Systems, which says it was to be about half the volume of Sea Sparrow and would have had both anti-air and anti-surface capability. No discussion of guidance, but the slightly earlier Sea Sparrow successor (APDMS) was using IR and semi-active radar.