AGM-86A Cruise Missile

This is the AGM-86A, the first version of the U.S. Air Force's air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) and built by Boeing. Launched from B-52 bombers, the missile had a nuclear warhead, a turbofan jet engine, a range of approximately 2,400 km (1,500 miles), and two navigation systems that enabled it to fly close to the ground making it difficult for enemy radars to pick up. First deployed in 1982, some of the missiles began to be converted in 1986 to the AGM-86C with a conventional warhead and a Global Positioning System-aided navigation system. This missile was the second flight model tested and was transferred to NASM by the U.S. Air Force in 1982.

Photo 149s, Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center, May 2013