KAN-1 Little Joe
As dangerous as the conventional Kamikaze proved to be, by the spring
of 1945 US ships were facing an even more formidable threat in the form
of the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka ("Cherry Blossom") a purpose-designed
rocket-powered suicide plane. Although nicknamed "Baka" ("Fool") by the
Allies, this diminutive manned bomb could deliver 2,6001b warload at
terminal speeds reaching nearly 600mph, following air launch from a
Betty bomber. Fewer than 200 ended up being used in action, but many
hundreds more were built, and longer-range turbojet powered models were
projected. Although quite vulnerable prior to being dropped, the Ohka
was very hard to hit in the terminal phase of flight. Anticipating
massed Ohka attacks as the war neared Japan, the USN directed the Naval
Aircraft Modification Unit to proceed with the KAN-1 Little Joe
program, aimed at fielding a near-term naval SAM,
Since the object of any SAM was to get a decent sized warhead into
lethal radius of an attacking aircraft, NAMU took the straightforward
approach of adapting a general-purpose bomb to the role. The Little
Joe's airframe basically consisted of an M30 100lb bomb fitted with
cruciform tail surfaces and four canards up front. There was no time to
develop a self-contained guidance system, so the weapon would have to
be radio controlled from the launching ship. Rocket motors wrapped
around the airframe would send the 650 lb weapon aloft. Propulsion for
the remainder of the flight came from a JATO unit, giving the Little
Joe an altitude ceiling of around 10,000 feet. Since the chances of
directly hitting an incoming Ohka were at best slim, a proximity fuse
was fitted.
The Little Joe program was instituted in May 1945, and flight testing
began in late July of that year. Operational KAN-1s would have been
fired from shipboard launchers similar in size to the standard 40-mm AA
mount, but the war was over long before the Little Joe was ready to see
action. Recognizing that the design was strictly an interim weapon, the
USN canceled the KAN-1 program in March 1946.
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