Le Prieur rocket

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	Weapon: Le Prieur rocket Type: Air-to-Air Rocket Country of Origin: France Year Adopted: 1916 Overall Length (mm): 1500.0 Overall Length (in): 59.06 Weight (kg): 5.00 Weight (pounds): 11.02

The Le Prieur rocket was an early French air-to-air weapon developed during World War I to give fighter aircraft a means of attacking enemy observation balloons and airships. Designed in 1916 by French naval officer Yves Le Prieur, it was a simple unguided solid-fuel rocket constructed from wooden shafts with steel warheads, launched from tubes mounted on aircraft struts. Its design was crude by later standards but represented a pioneering step in adapting rocketry to aerial combat.

Production of the Le Prieur rocket was relatively limited, with several thousand manufactured and issued to frontline French and British units during 1916-1917. The rockets were fired electrically in volleys of up to eight, giving pilots a brief but powerful attack against hydrogen-filled balloons. While accuracy was poor and effective range was only a few hundred meters, the weapon provided a unique capability at a time when incendiary ammunition was still under development and aircraft machine guns were often inadequate for destroying balloons.

The Le Prieur rocket achieved mixed success in service. Pilots reported occasional effectiveness, with some balloons brought down in spectacular fashion, but the weapon was also notorious for its inaccuracy and the risk of pilots having to close dangerously close to their targets before firing. Despite its shortcomings, the Le Prieur rocket marked the first operational use of air-to-air rockets in history, laying the groundwork for future developments in aerial rocketry and missile technology in the decades to come.