MIM-46 Mauler

The General Dynamics MIM-46 Mauler was a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system designed to a late 1950s US Army requirement for a system to combat low-flying high-performance tactical fighters and short-range ballistic missiles. An advanced design for its era, the Mauler ran into intractable problems during development, and was eventually canceled in November 1965.

Mauler's cancellation left the US Army with no modern anti-aircraft weapon, and they rushed development of the much simpler MIM-72 Chaparral and M163 VADS to fill this niche. These weapons were much less capable than Mauler, and were intended solely as a stop-gap solution until more capable vehicles were developed. In spite of this, no real replacement entered service until the late 1990s. Both the US Navy and British Army were also relying on Mauler for their own short-range needs and its cancellation left them with the same problem. They built the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and Rapier missile, respectively, to fill these needs.