AIR-2 Genie
| Type: | Air-to-air rocket |
| Guidance: | Free flight |
| Warhead: | Nuclear, 1.5 kilotons |
| Propellant: | Thiokol solid motor |
| Speed: | Mach 3.3 (974m/s) |
| Range: | 6 miles (9.6km) |
| Length: | 9 feet (2.7m) |
| Diameter: | 17 inches (43cm) |
| Weight: | 800 pounds (373kg) |
| First firing: | April 1956 |
The Genie was the nation’s first operational air-to-air nuclear-capable rocket and was also known as the MB-1. As a nuclear-capable weapon, the Genie was intended to destroy a maneuvering enemy bomber or a large formation of aircraft. Originally, its explosive yield made installing a guidance system unnecessary, but later models did include a guidance system. The Genie was developed by Douglas Aircraft in cooperation with the Air Force’s Air Research and Development Command over a period of three years.
The Genie’s nuclear warhead was developed by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, now the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and was designed to be mostly inert until it was armed while in flight, only a few moments prior to the actual firing.
General E. E. Partridge, commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), touted the Genie as “the most important defensive development since radar and probably the safest weapon ever developed.” Lieutenant General J. H. Atkinson, commander, USAF Air Defense Command, concurred, stating that “the development of a small nuclear warhead without significant hazard to our own personnel or to our population gives a tremendous boost to our deterrent force.”
In what we would today call a “bruh moment,” the Air Force demonstrated the safety and the negligible extent of fallout produced by the Genie’s nuclear warhead by positioning five Air Force officer observers directly beneath the detonation point of a test launch for one hour. After the one-hour waiting period, none of the observers showed any signs of injury or ill effects. Unfortunately, all six men (five observers and one cameraman) would eventually develop cancer. It can be assumed that any and all disability claims submitted later by the observers to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs were determined to be “not service-connected.” [citation needed]
Its primary carriers were the F-106 Delta Dart and F-101 Voodoo. It was capable of accelerating to a speed of Mach 3 because of its engine that produced 36,000 pounds of thrust. The Genie’s manufacturing cost was $7,000 per unit, without the warhead, in the 1960s. The nuclear warhead cost approximately $250,000.
