LOCAT

Developed by Philco-Ford in the late 1960s, the LOCAT rocket was intended to be a high-speed, low-cost expendable target rocket for use in the air defense training role, being used in training exercises for anti-aircraft gunners and missile operators by the U.S. Army.[1]

Intended to be extremely simple and inexpensive in its construction, the fuselage tube of LOCAT was constructed from rolled paper tubing,[2] while the rocket's stabilising fins were made of molded plastic. An aluminum coating was applied as a surfacing to enhance the rocket's radar signature, and three solid-fuel rockets of the type used by Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets were used for propulsion.[1]

Forty examples of the LOCAT rocket were ordered by the United States Army during 1969, for operational evaluation to determine if they were suitable in the target-drone role. The contract included an option for ordering production quantities if the rocket was considered acceptable for service.[3] Although LOCAT proved to be reasonably satisfactory in the Army's testing, and it was estimated that, even when compared to reusable drones, LOCAT offered a 50% savings in cost over other methods of target training,[4] no production contract was placed, the MTR-15 BATS being judged superior for the Army's purposes.[1]