Check Six: F-102 Delta Dagger Armament

Posted on Oct 14, 2020 in 1960's, 1970's, Check Six

The 199th Fighter Squadron flew the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger from 1960–1976. It was the Air Force’s first supersonic interceptor that entered service in 1956. There were over a 1,000 F–102s built. The Hawai‘i Air National Guard was the longest user of the Deuce when the aircraft was retired in 1976. 

For its time, the Deuce was well armed for its air defense / fighter interceptor mission. The following information and photographs comes form the National Museum of the United States of Air Force.

United States Air Force photograph

The missiles mounted on this F-102 are from the Hughes “Falcon” family of air-to-air missiles. In the weapons bay are AIM-4A radar guided missiles in the forward positions and AIM-4D infra-red guided missiles in the rear position. On the bottom center rail is an AIM-26A, a kiloton range nuclear warhead. Additional armament consists of 24 2.75-inch folding-fin unguided “Mighty Mouse” rockets, two in each of 12 tubes located inside the weapons bay doors. These rockets are partially visible at the forward ends of the doors. The weapons bays on both sides normally open together. To show both the open and closed configuration in this display, only the right side is fully open to firing position.

More on these weapons


The appearance of external hyperlinks did not constitute endorsement by Retiree News, this included the linked websites, information, products, or services contained therein. Retiree News did not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Additionally, some of the sites linked to may limit the number of stories you can access without a paid subscription. All links were provided with the intent of meeting the mission of Retiree News.