Zuni (rocket)

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Sailors aboard Enterprise battle a massive ordnance fire triggered by a Zuni rocket.

The Zuni is a 5.0 inch (127mm) unguided rocket deployed by the United States armed forces.^[1] The rocket was developed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It can be used to carry various types of warheads, including chaff for countermeasures. It is usually fired from the LAU-10 rocket pod holding four rockets.

Various configurations of Zuni rockets have been developed. On 1 May 1967 during a sortie against North Vietnam’s MiG airfield at Kep, Lieutenant Commander Theodore R. Swartz shot down a Soviet-built MiG-17 with air-to-ground Zuni rockets. This was the only MiG aircraft to be downed by an A-4 Skyhawk during the Vietnam conflict.^[2] Lieutenant Commander Swartz received the Silver Star for his action.

In 1967 an MK-32 Zuni rocket was responsible for a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal leading to the loss of 134 lives. Again, in 1969 an MK-32 Zuni rocket was responsible for a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise leading to the loss of 27 lives and an additional 314 injured. Fifteen aircraft were destroyed.

[edit] Student use

The Australian Government has donated its Zuni rockets to the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) and they are used for students experiments which are launched from the Woomera launching range. Every year a few Zunis are launched there.

ASRI has also designed and constructed custom nosecones and payload recovery mechanisms for the Zuni. With a payload of 20 kg, the Zuni has an apogee of 5.9 km, which it attains in about 40 seconds, experiencing 55 g and 491 m/s (Mach 1.4) during the flight.

[edit] Laser Guided Zuni

There is currently (2007) a proposed plan to develop a laser guidance capability for Zuni rockets, similar to the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System upgrade to the Hydra 70 system.^[3]