AGM - 28 Hound Dog The North American Aviation AGM - 28 Hound Dog was a supersonic , jet propelled , air - launched cruise missile . The Hound Dog missile was first given the designation B - 77 , then redesignated GAM - 77 , and finally as AGM - 28 . The Hound Dog was conceived as a temporary stand - off weapon for the B - 52 Stratofortress bomber , to be used until the GAM - 87 Skybolt air - launched ballistic missile was available . Instead , the Skybolt missile was cancelled within a few years , and the Hound Dog was deployed for 15 years until the missile was replaced by newer weapons , including the SRAM missile and the AGM - 86 Air - Launched Cruise Missile . Development . During the 1950s the US became aware of developments the Soviet Union ' s surface - to - air missile s ( SAMs ) , notably at large installations being constructed around Moscow . At the time the entire nuclear deterrent of the United States was based on manned strategic bomber s , both with the U . S . Air Force and the U . S . Navy , and the deployment of large numbers of SAMs placed this force at some risk of being rendered ineffective . The importance of having the ability to penetrate the Soviet air - defense system was later described by Senator John F . Kennedy in a speech to the American Legion convention in Miami , Florida , on October 18 , 1960 : " We must take immediate steps to protect our present nuclear striking force from surprise attack . Today , more than 90 percent of our retaliatory capacity is made up of aircraft and missiles which have fixed , un - protectable bases whose location is known to the Russians . We can only do this by providing SAC with the capability of maintaining a continuous airborne alert , and by pressing projects such as the Hound Dog air - ground missile , which will enable manned bombers to penetrate Soviet defenses with their weapon s " . The Air Force ' s solution to this problem was the introduction of stand - off missiles . Since the Soviet air - defenses were static and easy to spot from aerial reconnaissance or satellite reconnaissance photos , the plan was to use a long - range cruise missile to attack these air - defense bases before the bombers got into range of them . The SA - 2 Guideline missile had a maximum range of about 30 kilometers at that time , but since the bombers would be approaching the sites , their own guided missile s would have to be launched well - before it entered this SAM range . If the American missile was to be used to attack enemy air base s as well , an extended range of several hundred kilometers would be needed . A missile with these capabilities was called for in General Operational Requirement 148 , which was released on March 15 , 1956 . GOR 148 called for a supersonic air - to - surface cruise missile with a weight of not more than ( fully fueled and armed ) to be carried in pairs by the B - 52 Stratofortress . Each B - 52 would carry two of the missiles , one under each wing , on a pylon located between the B - 52 ' s fuselage and its inboard pair of engines . Both Chance Vought and North American Aviation submitted GAM - 77 proposals to the USAF in July 1957 , and both based on their earlier work on long - range ground - launched cruise missiles . Vought ' s submission was for an air - launched version of the Regulus missile , developed for the US Navy , while North American ' s was adapted from their Navajo missile . On August 21 , 1957 , North American Aviation was awarded a contract to develop Weapon System 131B , which included the Hound Dog missile . Design . The Hound Dog missile ' s engine , airframe , and warhead were all adaptations of technology developed in the Navajo missile , adapted for launching from the B - 52 . The Hound Dog ' s design was based on that of the Navajo G - 38 missile , which featured small delta wings and forward canards . A Pratt & Whitney J52 - P - 3 turbojet propelled the Hound Dog , replacing the Navajo ' s ramjet engine . The J52 engine was located in a pod located beneath the rear fuselage , giving it an appearance similar to the Lockheed X - 7 high - speed experimental drone . The J52 - P - 3 used in the Hound Dog , unlike J52 ' s installed in aircraft like the A - 4 Skyhawk or the A - 6 Intruder , was optimized to run at maximum power during the missile ' s flight . As a result , the Hound Dog ' s version of the J52 had a short operating lifetime of only six hours . However , in combat , the Hound Dog was expected to self - destruct in less than six hours . A derivative of the Navajo ' s NAA Autonetics Division N - 6 inertial navigation system ( INS ) , the N5G , was used in the Hound Dog . A Kollsman Instruments Company star - tracker located in the B - 52 ' s pylon was used to correct inertial orientation errors with celestial observations while the Hound Dog was being carried by the B - 52 . The INS could also be used to determine the bomber ' s position after the initial calibration and " leveling " process , which took about 90 minutes . The Hound Dog had a circular error probable ( CEP ) of , which was acceptable for a weapon equipped with a nuclear warhead . The thermonuclear warhead carried by the Hound Dog was the W28 Class D bomb . The W28 warhead could be preset to yield an explosive power of between 70 kilotons and 1 . 45 megatons . Detonation of the Hound Dog ' s W28 warhead could be programmed to occur on impact or air burst at a preset altitude . An air burst would have been used against a large area , soft target . A surface impact would have been used against a hard target such as a missile site or command and control center . The Hound Dog could be launched from the B - 52 Stratofortress at high altitudes or low altitudes , but not below in altitude . Initially , three different flight profiles for the Hound Dog were available for selection by the commander and the bombardier of the bomber ( though other options were added later ) : The first air - drop test of a dummy Hound Dog was carried out in November 1958 . 52 GAM - 77A missiles were launched for testing and training purposes between 23 April 1959 and 30 August 1965 . Hound Dog launches occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , at Eglin Air Force Base , Florida , and at the White Sands Missile Range , New Mexico . The Hound Dog missile ' s development was completed in only 30 months . North American received a production contract to build Hound Dogs on 16 October 1958 . The first production Hound Dog missile was then delivered to the Air Force on 21 December 1959 . 722 Hound Dog missiles were produced by North American Aviation before its production of them ended in March 1963 . In May 1961 , an improved Hound Dog missile was test - flown for the first time . This upgrade incorporated improvements to reduce its radar cross - section . The Hound Dog already had a low head - on radar cross - section because of its highly swept delta wings and canards . This low radar cross - section was lowered further by replacing its nose cap , its engine intake spike , its engine duct with new components that scattered or absorbed radar energy . It has been reported that these radar cross - section improvements were removed as Hound Dogs were withdrawn from service . The GAM - 77A version of the GAM - 77 also included a new Kollsman Instruments KS - 140 star - tracker that was integrated with the N - 6 inertial navigation system . This unit replaced the celestial navigation star - tracker that had been located in the B - 52 ' s wing pylon . The fuel capacity of the GAM - 77A was increased during this upgrade . A radar altimeter was added to the missile to provide ( vertical ) terrain - following capability to the Hound Dog . 428 Hound Dog missiles were upgraded to the GAM - 77A configuration by North American . 66 GAM - 77A Hound Dog missiles were launched for testing and training up through April 1973 . In June 1963 the GAM - 77 and GAM - 77A were re - designated AGM - 28A and AGM - 28B , respectively . In 1971 , a Hound Dog missile was test - flown with a newly developed Terrain Contour Matching ( TERCOM ) navigation system . Reportedly , the designation AGM - 28C was reserved for this version of the Hound Dog if development had been continued . While a Hound Dog with TERCOM was never deployed , this technology , with much better electronics and digital computers , was later used in both the Air Force ' s Air Launched Cruise Missile and the Navy ' s Tomahawk missile . In 1972 , the Bendix Corporation was awarded a contract to develop a passive anti - radiation missile radio seeker to guide the Hound Dog missile to antennas transmitting radar signals . A Hound Dog with this radar seeker was test - flown in 1973 , but never mass - produced . Operational history . On December 21 , 1959 , General Thomas S . Power , the Commander in Chief of the U . S . Air Force ' s Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) , formally accepted the first production Hound Dog missile . Just two months later in February , SAC test - launched its first unarmed Hound Dog at Eglin Air Force Base . In July 1960 , the Hound Dog reached initial operational capability with the first B - 52 unit . The Hound Dog was used on airborne alert for the first time in January 1962 . In 1962 , SAC activated missile maintenance squadrons to provide maintenance for both the Hound Dog and the ADM - 20 Quail decoy missile . Full operational capability was achieved in August 1963 when 29 B - 52 bomber wings were operational with the Hound Dog . In 1960 , SAC developed procedures so that the B - 52 could use the Hound Dog ' s J52 engine for additional thrust while the missile was located on the bomber ' s two pylons . This helped heavily laden B - 52s into the air . The Hound Dog could then be refueled from the B - 52 ' s wing fuel tanks . One Hound Dog missile crashed near the town of Samson , Alabama , when it failed to self - destruct after a test launch from Eglin Air Force Base , Florida . In 1962 , a Hound Dog was accidentally dropped to the ground during an underwing systems check . In May 1962 , operation " Silk Hat " was conducted at Eglin Air Force Base . During this exercise , a Hound Dog test launch was conducted before an audience of national and international dignitaries headed by President John F . Kennedy and Vice - President Lyndon B . Johnson . On September 22 , 1966 , Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara recommended retiring all of the remaining Hound Dog missiles , within a few years . The Hound Dogs would be retained pending the outcome of the Terrain Contour Matching ( TERCOM ) guidance system development program . Secretary McNamara ' s recommendation was not acted upon , and the Hound Dog remained in service After thirteen years of service with the Air Force , the last Hound Dog missile was removed from alert deployment on June 30 , 1975 . The Hound Dog missiles were kept in dead storage for a number of years . The last Hound Dog was retired for scrapping on June 15 , 1978 , from the 42nd Bomb Wing at Loring Air Force Base , Maine . No Hound Dog missile was ever used in combat , since it was strictly a weapon for nuclear war fare . Numbers in Service . The number of Hound Dog missiles in service , by year : Ģ Popular culture . Where it received the name Hound Dog has been the source of argument for decades . In recent years however people have given credit to fans in the Air Force of Elvis Presley ' s version of song .