AIM - 4 Falcon The Hughes AIM - 4 Falcon was the first operational guided air - to - air missile of the United States Air Force . Development began in 1946 ; the weapon was first tested in 1949 . The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956 . Produced in both heat - seeking and radar - guided versions , the missile served during the Vietnam War with USAF McDonnell Douglas F - 4 Phantom II units . Designed to shoot down slow bombers with limited maneuverability , it was ineffective against maneuverable fighters over Vietnam . Lacking proximity fusing , the missile would only detonate if a direct hit was scored . Only five kills were recorded . With the AIM - 4 ' s poor kill record rendering the F - 4 ineffective at air - to - air combat , the fighters were modified to carry the AIM - 9 Sidewinder missile instead . The Sidewinder was much more effective and continues to serve the armed forces of the United States to this day . Development . Development of a guided air - to - air missile began in 1946 . Hughes Aircraft was awarded a contract for a subsonic missile under the project designation MX - 798 , which soon gave way to the supersonic MX - 904 in 1947 . The original purpose of the weapon was as a self - defense weapon for bomber aircraft , but after 1950 it was decided that it should arm fighter aircraft instead , particularly in the interception role . The first test firings took place in 1949 , at which time it was designated AAM - A - 2 and given the popular name Falcon . A brief policy of awarding fighter and bomber designations to missiles led it to be redesignated F - 98 in 1951 . In 1955 , the policy changed again , and the missile was again redesignated GAR - 1 . The initial GAR - 1 and GAR - 2 models entered service in 1956 . It armed the Northrop F - 89 Scorpion , McDonnell F - 101B Voodoo and Convair F - 102 Delta Dagger and F - 106 Delta Dart interceptor s . The only other users were Canada , Finland , Sweden and Switzerland , whose CF - 101 Voodoo , Saab 35 Draken and Dassault Mirage III S carried the AIM - 4 Falcon . Canada also hoped to use them on the Avro CF - 105 Arrow interceptor ; however , this was never realized because of the Arrow ' s cancellation . Fighters carrying the Falcon were often designed with internal weapons bays for carrying this missile . The Scorpion carried them on wingtip pods , while the Delta Dagger and Delta Dart had belly bays with a trapeze mechanism to move them into the airstream for launch ( see picture above ) . The F - 101B had an unusual bay arrangement where two were stored externally , and then the bay door would rotate to expose two more missiles . It is likely the F - 111 Aardvark ' s internal bay would have accommodated the missile as well , but by the time of service , the Air Force had already dropped the Falcon for use against fighters , as well as the idea of using the F - 111 as an air combat fighter . The GAR - 1 had semi - active radar homing ( SARH ) , giving a range of about . About 4 , 000 missiles were produced . It was replaced in production by the GAR - 1D ( later AIM - 4A ) , with larger control surfaces . About 12 , 000 of this variant were produced , the major production version of the SARH Falcon . The GAR - 2 ( later AIM - 4B ) was a heat - seeker , generally limited to rear - aspect engagement s , but with the advantage of being a ' fire and forget ' weapon . As would also be Soviet practice , it was common to fire the weapon in salvos of both types to increase the chances of a hit ( a heat - seeking missile fired first , followed moments later by a radar - guided missile ) . The GAR - 2 was about 1 . 5 in ( 40 mm ) longer and 16 lb ( 7 kg ) heavier than its SARH counterpart . Its range was similar . It was replaced in production by the GAR - 2A ( laterd AIM - 4C ) , with a more sensitive infrared seeker . A total of about 26 , 000 of the infrared - homing Falcons were built . All of the early Falcons had a small 7 . 6 lb ( 3 . 4 kg ) warhead , limiting their lethal radius . Also limiting them tactically was the fact that Falcon lacked a proximity fuze : the fuzing for the missile was in the leading edges of the wings , requiring a direct hit to detonate . In 1958 , Hughes introduced a slightly enlarged version of the Falcon , initially dubbed Super Falcon , with a more powerful , longer - burning rocket engine , increasing speed and range . It had a larger warhead ( 28 . 7 lb / 13 kg ) and better guidance systems . The SARH versions were GAR - 3 ( AIM - 4E ) and the improved GAR - 3A ( AIM - 4F ) . The infrared version was the GAR - 4A ( AIM - 4G ) . About 2 , 700 SARH missiles and 3 , 400 IR Super Falcons were produced , replacing most earlier versions of the weapon in service . The Falcon was redesignated AIM - 4 in September 1962 . The final version of the original Falcon was the GAR - 2B ( later AIM - 4D ) , which entered service in 1963 . This was intended as a fighter combat weapon , combining the lighter , smaller airframe of the earlier GAR - 1 / GAR - 2 weapon with the improved IR seeker of the GAR - 4A / AIM - 4G . A larger version of the Falcon carrying a 0 . 25 - kiloton nuclear warhead was developed as the GAR - 11 ( later designated the AIM - 26 Falcon ) , while a long - range version was developed for the North American XF - 108 Rapier and Lockheed YF - 12 interceptors as the GAR - 9 ( later AIM - 47 Falcon ) . Operational history . The Air Force deployed AIM - 4 in May 1967 during the Vietnam War on the new F - 4D Phantom II , which carried it on the inner wing pylons and was not wired to carry the AIM - 9 Sidewinder . The missile ' s combat performance was very poor . The Falcon , already operational on Air Defense Command aircraft , was designed to be used against bombers , and its slow seeker cooling times ( as much as six or seven seconds to obtain a lock on a target ) rendered it largely ineffective against maneuvering fighters . Moreover , it could only be cooled once . Limited coolant supply meant that once cooled , the missile would expend its supply of liquid nitrogen in two minutes , rendering it useless on the rail . The missile also had a small warhead , and lacked proximity fusing . As a result , only five kills were scored , all with the AIM - 4D version . ( The Falcon was also experimentally fired by the F - 102 Delta Dagger against ground targets at night using its infrared seeker . ) The weapon was unpopular with pilots from the onset and was supplemented or partially withdrawn in 1969 , to be replaced in the F - 4D by the Sidewinder after retrofitting the proper wiring . Col . Robin Olds , commanding the F - 4D - equipped 8th Tactical Fighter Wing , was an outspoken critic of the missile and said of it : By the beginning of June , we all hated the new AIM - 4 Falcon missiles . I loathed the damned useless things . I wanted my Sidewinders back . In two missions I had fired seven or eight of the bloody things and not one guided . They were worse than I had anticipated . Sometimes they refused to launch ; sometimes they just cruised off into the blue without guiding . In the thick of an engagement with my head twisting and turning , trying to keep track of friend and foe , I ' d forget which of the four I had ( already ) selected and couldn ' t tell which of the remaining was perking and which head was already expiring on its launch rail . Twice upon returning to base I had the tech rep go over the switchology and firing sequences . We never discovered I was doing anything wrong . Col . Olds became exasperated with the Falcon ' s poor combat performance . He ordered his entire fighter wing rewire the F - 4D ' s to carry more reliable Sidewinders . Although it was an unauthorized field modification , the entire air force eventually followed his example . An effort to address the limitations of AIM - 4D led to the development in 1970 of the XAIM - 4H , which had a laser proximity fuze , new warhead , and better maneuverability . It was cancelled the following year without entering service . Vietnam War : U . S . AIM - 4 Falcon Air to Air Victories . The AIM - 4F / AIM - 4G Super Falcon remained in USAF and ANG service , primarily with Convair F - 102 Delta Dagger and F - 106 Delta Dart interceptors , until the final retirement of the F - 106 in 1988 . The AIM - 4C was also produced as the HM - 58 for the Swiss Air Force for use on the Dassault Mirage III S , and license - manufactured in Sweden for the Swedish Air Force ( as the Rb 28 ) to equip the Saab 35 Draken and 37 Viggen . The seeker of the missile was also re - designed . See also . Related Development :