The 1950s were a golden age in the aerospace industry. With the development of the jet engine, engineers were constantly testing the boundaries of what this new technology was capable of. The 50s saw ...

It was the jet designed to save America from nuclear annihilation—a Mach 3 interceptor built to take out Soviet bombers ...

So much for the XF-108 Rapier—it would have been a phenomenal interceptor. Caleb Larson is a Defense Writer with The National Interest. He holds a Master of Public Policy and covers U.S. and ...

Ultimately the XF-108 Rapier program never progressed past the mock-up stage, a victim of changing technology. In the 1950s and 1960s, both the Soviet Union’s and the United States’ nuclear ...

And now, the 60% sized scale model that played the on-stage role ... shorter than the proposed but cancelled North American XF-108 Rapier long range interceptor at a massive 89-feet, 2-inches.