AGM-87 Focus

The AGM-87 Focus was an American air-to-ground missile made by converting the AIM-9 Sidewinder, an air-to-air missile with an infrared seeker. In the late 1960s the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake modified the design for the War Against Trucks, the aerial interdiction effort against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where most truck movement happened at night. General Electric converted an unknown number of AIM-9B missiles, which were designated AGM-87A Focus I. The missile was used in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 against infrared emitters such as truck headlights and is said to have worked well in that narrow role, yet it rarely appears in standard histories of the war. The program was discontinued in favor of other weapons, and the cost of an expensive missile fired at a cheap truck was not favorable. It should not be confused with the unrelated AGM-48 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile.