ADM-20 Quail

ADM-20 Quail [r]: A small jet-powered decoy launched from B-52 bombers in the 1960s, which imitated the radar signature of a B-52 as well as releasing chaff and generating a heat signature, to act as a deceptive decoy ^[e]

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The ADM-20 Quail was a defensive unmanned aerial vehicle, once carried by B-52 Superfortress bombers.^[1] The UAV would transmit a false radar image, and other signals, as a diversion, designed to trick enemies into firing the missiles designed to shoot down the bomber at itself.

The decoy would be dropped from its host aircraft shortly before entering the Soviet Union's airspace.^[2]

The UAV entered service in 1961.^[2] They were retired in 1972 after the Air Force conducted tests that concluded US Air Force radar technicians could distinguish between the B52 and the UAV. Consequently the Air Force worked on Air Launched Cruise Missiles that the B52 could deploy against Soviet targets, without entering Soviet airspace.

The UAV were just under 13 ft (3.96 m) long. They weighed 1153 pounds.^[1]

References[edit]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 McDonnell ADM-20 Quail. National Museum of the United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 2017-12-12. Retrieved on 2024-01-16. “Designed to produce a radar images very similar to that of the B-52 and to fly at approximately the same speed and altitude, the Quail was planned to be used during an actual bombing attack to confuse an enemy's defensive radar network.”
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 MCDONNELL ADM-20C QUAIL, Pima Air Museum. Retrieved on 2024-01-16. “The Quail decoy was designed to be released from a B-52 bomber just before it attempted to penetrate the aerial defenses of the Soviet Union. The Quail decoy was designed to be released from a B-52 bomber just before it attempted to penetrate the aerial defenses of the Soviet Union.”

[nationalmuseumAF-1] 1.0 ^1.1 McDonnell ADM-20 Quail. National Museum of the United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 2017-12-12. Retrieved on 2024-01-16. “Designed to produce a radar images very similar to that of the B-52 and to fly at approximately the same speed and altitude, the Quail was planned to be used during an actual bombing attack to confuse an enemy's defensive radar network.”

[pimaairAdm20c-2] 2.0 ^2.1 MCDONNELL ADM-20C QUAIL, Pima Air Museum. Retrieved on 2024-01-16. “The Quail decoy was designed to be released from a B-52 bomber just before it attempted to penetrate the aerial defenses of the Soviet Union. The Quail decoy was designed to be released from a B-52 bomber just before it attempted to penetrate the aerial defenses of the Soviet Union.”

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