Beechcraft AQM - 37 Jayhawk The AQM - 37 Jayhawk ( originally designated the Beech KD2B ) is an air - launched supersonic target drone manufactured by Beechcraft ( now Raytheon ) capable of simulating inbound ICBM warhead packages for fleet shoot - down exercises . Development . AQM - 37 . In 1959 , the US Navy and US Air Force issued a joint request for a new high - speed expendable target . Beechcraft won the competition , and the result was a small delta - winged drone with wingtip fins and a liquid rocket motor , originally designated XKD2B - 1 but now known as the AQM - 37 . The type first flew in May 1961 , entered service with the US Navy in 1963 , and remains in service . The original version was the AQM - 37A or Beech Model 1019 . The AQM - 37A was followed by a confusing list of subvariants , some of which were new production , others which were modifications of existing AQM - 37s . These variants were intended to simulate different classes of threats , such as sea - skimming antiship missiles or high - altitude naval attack missiles , or provide better performance . One high - performance variant with improved thermal protection attained a speed of Mach 4 . 7 and an altitude of over 112 , 000 feet ( 34 kilometers ) on a ballistic trajectory . The final US Navy variant was designated AQM - 37C . After an evaluation of the AQM - 37A in the late 1960s , the US Army bought a small initial batch of Model 1100 / 1101 AQM - 37As that , unlike other variants , were recoverable , using a parachute system . Some of this batch were intended for low - altitude operation and fitted with a radar altimeter , and others were intended for high - altitude operation and had a barometric altimeter . The Army later ordered over 400 improved non - recoverable Model 1102 variants of the AQM - 37A . The USAF evaluated the AQM - 37 in the early 1970s but was slow to adopt it . Records of USAF procurement of the type are sketchy , but it does seem to be currently part of the Air Force target inventory . Small quantities of AQM - 37s were also sold to Italy , Israel , and France , while Britain bought several hundred of the type . The Meteor company of Italy built a number of AQM - 37s under license . All variants are air - launched , with the US Navy traditionally using the F - 4 Phantom for the job and the British using the Canberra . More than 5 , 000 AQM - 37 targets of all variants have been delivered since the early 1960s . The AQM - 37C / D is still in limited production for the U . S . Navy . The AQM - 37 ' s engine is built by Rocketdyne , though in some sources it is credited to Harley Davidson , the motorcycle manufacturer , which appears to be due to a sequence of company buyouts . The engine uses " storable " liquid propellants , in contrast to cryogenic propellants like liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen that have to be loaded up just before launch lest they evaporate away . The problem is that the storable propellants in common use are corrosive , highly toxic , and " hypergolic " , meaning that the propellants spontaneously ignite when mixed together . This tends to make them troublesome to deal with . AQM - 81A Firebolt . As a result , in the late 1960s the Air Force investigated an alternate propulsion scheme for the AQM - 37 under project " Sandpiper " . The program involved fitting a few AQM - 37As with " hybrid " engines that used solid fuel with storable nitric acid oxidizer . The tests were judged promising , and so the Air Force went on to establish a " High Altitude Supersonic Target ( HAST ) " program in the 1970s . HAST suffered various difficulties , and it wasn ' t until 1979 that a contract was awarded to Teledyne Ryan for the Model 305 / AQM - 81A Firebolt . The first Firebolt flew in 1983 . The new target looked very much like the AQM - 37 , but had the hybrid rocket engine . The flight test program was completed , but then the HAST effort stalled completely , and the AQM - 81A never went into production .