XF-108 Rapier - Mach 3 Interceptor

In 1954, as the world lay covered by a veil of impending nuclear doom, the US military rushed to develop protective technology to shield the nation in case the Soviet Union decided to unleash their nuclear arsenal on them.

One of the most significant fears that the US authorities had was in regards to Russian long-range nuclear bombers. Thus, they hastily approved hundreds of aircraft designs to provide the country with a wide array of long-range interceptors and contain a possible Soviet air attack.

The North American XF-108 Rapier was one of the models intended to protect US territory from a nuclear onslaught. The aircraft was specifically designed to intercept incoming bombers while they were still hundreds of miles away from US shorelines. For this purpose, the fighter had to showcase unprecedented speed and range capabilities.

However, even when the urgency couldn't be more pressing, the Rapier would take years to perfect, and time was quickly running out.

By February 15, 1954, a renowned aviation magazine published an article describing new Soviet jet bombers capable of delivering a nuclear warhead from their bases to the US without a need for refuel. Then, in a Soviet aircraft demonstration, 28 bombers named Myasishchev M-4 were presented to the world. American tacticians calculated that if the USSR could produce 28 of them in such a reduced window of time, they would have over 800 bombers by 1960.

By then, there would be no force on Earth capable of stopping such an amount of nuclear-armed bombers, and the US Air Force hoped projects like the North American XF-108 Rapier could be developed in time to stand a chance against such an assault.

But unbeknownst to the US commanders, the North American XF-108 Rapier was doomed from the start…


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