Editing AIM-54 Phoenix (section)

===Background===
Since 1951, the Navy faced the initial threat from the [[Tupolev Tu-4|Tupolev Tu-4K 'Bull']] carrying<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=V-1 Flying Bomb, 1942–52: Hitler's Infamous "Doodlebug"|author1=Zaloga, S.J.|author2=Laurier, J.|date=2005|publisher=Osprey Publishing, Limited |isbn=9781841767918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kGyc0NZEe_QC|access-date=3 October 2014}}</ref> [[anti-ship missile]]s or nuclear bombs.

Eventually, during the height of the Cold War, the threat would have expanded into regimental-size raids of [[Tu-16 Badger]] and [[Tu-22M Backfire]] bombers equipped with low-flying, long-range, high-speed, nuclear-armed cruise missiles and considerable [[electronic countermeasures]] (ECM) of various types. This combination was considered capable of saturating fleet defenses and threatening carrier groups.

The Navy would require a long-range, long-endurance [[interceptor aircraft]] to defend [[carrier battle group]]s against this threat. The proposed [[Douglas F6D Missileer]] was intended to fulfill this mission and oppose the attack as far as possible from the fleet it was defending. The weapon needed for interceptor aircraft, the Bendix [[AAM-N-10 Eagle]], was to be an air-to-air missile of unprecedented range when compared to contemporary [[AIM-7 Sparrow]] missiles. It would work together with [[Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems|Westinghouse]] AN/APQ-81 radar. The Missileer project was cancelled in December 1960.