page_title: MIM-46 Mauler
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: MIM-46 Mauler / Background / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Test launch of MIM-46 "Mauler" surface-to-air missile.
context_page_description: The General Dynamics MIM-46 Mauler was a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system designed to a late 1950s US Army requirement for a system to combat low-flying high-performance tactical fighters and short-range ballistic missiles. Based on the M113 chassis, Mauler carried search and attack radars, fire control computers and nine missiles in a highly mobile platform. An ambitious design for its era, the Mauler ran into intractable problems during development, and was eventually canceled in November 1965.
  Mauler's cancellation left the US Army with no modern anti-aircraft weapon, and they rushed development of the much simpler MIM-72 Chaparral and M163 Tracked Vulcan to fill this niche. These weapons were much less capable than Mauler, and were intended solely as a stop-gap solution until more capable vehicles were developed. In spite of this, no real replacement entered service until the late 1990s.
  Both the US Navy and British Army were also expecting Mauler to fulfil their own short-range needs and its cancellation left them with the same problem. They developed RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and Rapier missile, respectively, to fill these needs.
context_section_description: Several companies responded to the FAAD contract tender, which General Dynamics (Convair Pomona Division) won in 1959. In 1960 the project was given the official name "Mauler".
  The Army was not the only potential user of the Mauler system; both the British Army and US Navy planned on using Mauler for their own needs. The British Army's intended role was essentially identical to the US's, but the Navy was looking for a solution to the problem of air attack against their capital ships both by high-speed aircraft as well as early (non-skimming) anti-shipping missiles. Starting in 1960 they had developed a program for a "Basic Point Defense Missile System", and intended to use a modified version of the Mauler, the "RIM-46A Sea Mauler", to fill this role. Mauler's beam riding system made it preferable to other missile systems because it would have fewer problems with clutter from the sea. Additionally, its fast-acting semi-automatic fire control was highly desired for a weapon that was expected to counter targets with engagement times under a minute. Expecting its arrival, the Navy's latest destroyer escorts, the Knox class, were built with space reserved for the Sea Mauler launchers when they arrived.
  Development of the missile airframe and engine progressed rapidly. Unguided examples, known as "Launch Test Vehicles", started firing tests in September 1961. These were quickly followed by the "Control Test Vehicle" guided examples in 1961, which flew simple paths to test the aerodynamic controls. Both test series demonstrated a variety of problems, including failures of the rocket casings, and excessive drag and wing flutter.
  The first "Guidance Test Vehicle", essentially the service prototypes, started firing in June 1963. These also demonstrated an array of problems, most worrying was the continued tendency to lose guidance instructions immediately after launch. Additionally, when mounted in the 3 by 3 box launcher, the missiles would break their containers and damage the missiles in adjacent containers. Eventually no less than 22 different container materials would be used in an attempt to find a suitable solution.
caption: Test launch of Mauler
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