When it was conceptually proposed by engineers at North American Aviation, the A-5 Vigilante seemed like it was going to be a game-changing weapon, a weapons delivery platform unlike any other. During the 1950s, the United States Navy had been investing in its fleet of jet-powered carrier-based fighters, which allowed the United States to project power to pretty much any part of the world in just a few days . Get all the latest aviation news from Simple Flying! For the most part, however, the capabilities of carrier-based fighter aircraft were still heavily limited by the maritime nature of their operations.
Landing on an aircraft carrier was still exclusively an option for smaller, lighter aircraft that were capable of using early-generation catapults and arresting wire technologies. The idea of putting an operational supersonic bomber into carrier-based service seemed ridiculous at the time, and it would have been a major leap forward for American technology, especially in a period where the Soviet Union was becoming an increasingly concerning world power . With these fears in mind, North American was able to convince the United States Navy that it could build a long-range supersonic bomber that was capable of operating off the decks of aircraft carriers.
Impressed with the company's ambitious plans, the Department of Defense awarded North American a contract for what would eventually enter service as the North American A-5 Vigilante. In this article, we will take a deeper .