Semi armor-piercing (AGM-12C) W45 Nuclear (GAM-83B/AGM-12D) The AGM-12 Bullpup is a short-range air-to-ground missile developed by Martin Marietta for the US Navy.

It first saw operational use in 1959 on the A-4 Skyhawk, but soon found use on the A-6 Intruder, F-100 Super Sabre, F-105 Thunderchief, F-4 Phantom II, F-8 Crusader, and P-3 Orion in both Navy and US Air Force service, as well as NATO allies.

The weapon was guided manually via a small joystick in the aircraft cockpit, which presented a number of problems and its ultimate accuracy was on the order of 10 metres (33 ft), greater than desired.

Development of Bullpup began in 1953 when Korean War experience demonstrated the almost complete inability for conventional bombing to attack point land targets like bridges.

These experiments mostly ended in the post-war era, especially as nuclear weapons made accuracy a less interesting problem to solve.

The initial XASM-N-7 prototypes were powered by the Mark 8 Mod 1 solid propellant rocket motor made by Aerojet-General, which delivered about 38 kN of thrust for 2.5 seconds.

The US Air Force was interested in the system as early as 1954, and in 1955 began development of their own version, known as White Lance.

Desiring higher performance, White Lance was to use a liquid fuel rocket engine, the Thiokol LR44 which provides approximately 53.9 kN of thrust for 2 seconds.

While they waited for GAM-79, the Air Force also purchased examples of the ASM-N-7, which they put into service under the name GAM-83 on the North American F-100 and Republic F-105.

The Air Force also introduced the GAM-83B, which differed in having a slightly larger diameter to carry the 1.5 kT W45 nuclear warhead.

[3] For training purposes, Martin produced a guidance system that could be fit to surplus High Velocity Aircraft Rockets, which entered service as the TASM-N-7/TGAM-83.

In its most famous early use, 16 Air Force F-105's each carrying two AGM-12Bs were part of the group of aircraft that attacked the Thanh Hóa Bridge on 3 April 1965.

In flight, the pilot or weapons operator tracked the Bullpup by watching the flares and used a control joystick to steer it toward the target using radio signals.

After launching the Bullpup, best accuracy was maintained by continuing to fly the same track, so that the pilot could sight down the smoke trail and steer the missile from directly behind as much as possible.