TE-416 Tomahawk

For the cruise missile, see Tomahawk (missile family).

The TE-416 Tomahawk is a sounding rocket developed by the American company Thiokol at the beginning of the 1960s for Sandia National Laboratories.^[1] It was launched from Wallops Island, Point Mugu, Tonopah HAD4, Johnston Island and Barking Sands.^[2][1]

A Nike Tomahawk photographed at Wallops Flight Facility.

Initial flights were in the scope of the 1963 International Quiet Sun Year. In 1968 NASA used a version called D-Region Tomahawk for a single flight out of Wallops Island.^[1]

The TE-416 Tomahawk has a thrust of 9,500 lbf (42 kN) and a burn time of 9.5 seconds.^[2] The diameter of the TE-416 Tomahawk is 9 inches (23 cm) and the fin span is 36 in (91 cm).

Although the TE-416 Tomahawk can be launched alone, it was started predominantly as upper stage in connection with other rockets, for example with a Nike rocket as first stage (Nike Tomahawk).^[3]