Saunders-Roe SR.177

The Saunders-Roe SR.177 was a 1950s project to develop a combined jet- and rocket-powered interceptor aircraft for the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. It was an enlarged derivative of the SR.53, differing mainly in a nose-mounted interception radar that could scan for and lock onto its own targets and in a more powerful turbojet, the de Havilland Gyron Junior, rated at 8,000 pounds-force of thrust. The German Navy also showed interest and followed the project closely. After the SR.53 first flew in May 1957 the SR.177 became the main focus of work at Saunders-Roe, but the 1957 Defence White Paper called for crewed combat aircraft to be replaced by missiles, and on 24 December 1957 the Ministry wrote to terminate the project. About 90 per cent of the first prototype had been completed, and the prototypes were stored and later broken up.