RIM-101

• Name — RIM-101A • Origin — United States • Type — Surface-to-air missile • Is Missile — yes • Used By — United States Navy • Design Date — 1973 • Filling — PBX-W107 • Guidance — Midcouse: semi-active radar homing Terminal: infrared homing

In the early 1970s, the United States Navy initiated a project for the development of a new surface-to-air missile to act as a defense against air and missile attack against its vessels. The project received the planning designation ZRIM-101A in 1973. The RIM-101 missile was planned to be a tube-launched weapon, a small ejector charge being used to propel the missile from its launching tube before ignition of a solid-fueled rocket sustainer, based on that of the FIM-43 Redeye SAM. Midcourse guidance of the new missile was planned to be of the semi-active radar homing type, using an I-band radar system, while terminal guidance would be provided by an infrared seeker. However, the RIM-101 project was cancelled early in the design-and-development stage, before any hardware had been built. It has been speculated that the RIM-101 was intended to be an advanced development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile, then in U.S. Navy service as the Basic Point Defense Missile System. While the basic RIM-7 does not match the description of RIM-101, an advanced development of the RIM-7E would fit the timeframe and description, with RIM-7F being developed following the cancellation of RIM-101.