Stored horizontally in a launcher shelter with a movable roof, the missile was erected, fired vertically using rocket boosters to high altitude, and then tipped over into a horizontal Mach 2. This lofted trajectory allowed the missile to operate at a maximum range as great as mi km. Controlled from the ground for most of its flight, when it reached the target area it was commanded to begin a dive, activating an onboard active radar homing seeker for terminal guidance.
A radar proximity fuse detonated the warhead, either a large conventional explosive or the W40 nuclear warhead. The Air Force originally planned for a total of 52 sites covering most of the major cities and industrial regions in the US. The United States Army was deploying their own systems at the same time, and the two services fought constantly both in political circles and in the press. Development dragged on, and by the time it was ready for deployment in the late s, the nuclear threat had moved from manned bombers to the intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM.
By this time the Army had successfully deployed the much shorter range Nike Hercules that they claimed filled any possible need through the s, in spite of Air Force claims to the contrary. As testing continued, the Air Force reduced its plans to sixteen sites, and then again to eight with an additional two sites in Canada. The first US site was declared operational in , but with only a single working missile.
Bringing the rest of the missiles into service took years, by which time the system was obsolete. Deactivations began in and by all Bomarc sites had been shut down. A small number were used as target drones, and only a few remain on display today. During World War II , the US Army Air Force USAAF concluded that existing anti-aircraft guns , only marginally effective against existing generations of propeller-driven aircraft, would not be effective at all against the emerging jet-powered designs.
Like the Germans and British before them, they concluded the only successful defence would be to use guided weapons. As early as the United States Army started exploring anti-aircraft missiles, examining a variety of concepts. At the time, two basic concepts appeared possible; one would use a short-range rocket that flew directly at the target from below following a course close to the line-of-sight, and the other would fly up to the target's altitude and then tip over and fly horizontally towards the target like a fighter aircraft.
