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Britain's ground forces entered a frightening new world of guided missiles in the second half of the Fateful Fifties. In the incredibly short space of five years almost all the Army's tried and trusted field weapons became obsolete. Virtually overnight, accurate, radio-controlled rocket power swept away the lessons and tactics of a century. Corporal, the British Army's first guided missile, endowed a single regiment of gunners with the fire-power of a division's-worth of Second World War artillery. Among the new systems being trialled or developed were Thunderbird, the Army's first ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile, and Bloodhound, a ground-to-air Thunderbird-lookalike for the Royal Air Force. Guided to its target by radar it would "replace the manned fighter" in the defence of Britain from air attack, according to a Soldier article published in July 1957. Not all weapons fulfilled their early promise. An anti-tank guided weapon announced by the then war minister would "if all goes well, remove the heavy tank from the battlefield". |
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