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The North American X-10 (originally designated RTV-A-5) is an unmanned technology demonstrator developed by North American Aviation. It was a subscale reusable design that included many of the design features of the SM-64 Navaho missile.
The first version of the Navaho was designated the Navaho X-10. The X-10 series was produced to test the missile’s canard aerodynamics, flight control system, inertial guidance, advanced honeycomb structure plus new materials and equipment.
The X-10 was essentially an unmanned high performance jet, powered by two afterburning Westinghouse J40 turbojets and equipped with retractable landing gear for take off and landing. It was capable of speeds up to Mach 2 and could fly almost 500 miles (800 km).
Navaho Missile Program: Part 2. By: Tony R. Landis. XSM-64 and XSM-64A. As Phase 1 testing of the X-10 Program came to an end, the flight test portion for Phase 2 began to ramp up at the...
The turbojet-powered X-10 tested flight characteristics and guidance, navigation and control systems for the planned SM-64 Navaho. The Navaho was intended to be a ramjet-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile launched by rocket boosters.
The missile separated at Mach 1.3 at 28,000 feet, well below the speed needed for ramjet ignition, but the ground-based safety pilot took control and glided the XSM-64 over the Atlantic, testing the landing gear system before impacting the ocean.
Some of the Navaho X-10 vehicles were used for aerodynamic flight tests while some acted as target drones during Bomarc missile tests. A total of seven Navaho XSM-64 missiles were launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 9-10 between 6 November 1956 and 18 November 1958.