Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk

The Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk, originally designated KD2B and Q-12, is an air-launched supersonic target drone built by Beechcraft that can simulate inbound ICBM warhead packages for fleet shoot-down exercises. In 1959 the US Navy and US Air Force issued a joint request for a new high-speed expendable target, and Beechcraft won the competition with a small delta-winged drone with wingtip fins and a liquid rocket motor, first designated XKD2B-1. It first flew in May 1961, entered service with the US Navy in 1963 and launched its last two remaining targets in September 2022. Subvariants simulated different threats such as sea-skimming antiship missiles, and one high-performance version reached Mach 4.7 and an altitude of over 112,000 feet on a ballistic trajectory. The US Army bought a batch of recoverable AQM-37As that used a parachute system.