The first modern research into military solid-propellant rockets in the United States was conducted by Colonel Leslie Skinner at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1932.

Little interest was shown by the US Armed Forces however, until the introduction of a British anti-aircraft rocket;[4] both nations exchanged their research data before the United States entered World War II.

[5] The M8 rocket was developed by the National Defense Research Committee and the Army Ordnance Department in the early 1940s[6] at Picatinny Arsenal.

Skinner produced the first prototypes which were tested at Aberdeen that fall, improvised from old fire extinguisher tanks for rocket casings, thereby determining the 4.5 inch diameter.

[8] It was stabilized by base-hinged flip-out fins on the tail, a system patented by Edgar Brandt in 1930[9] (and also used on German R4M rocket), which proved less than satisfactory for ground-launched rockets as their initial low velocity and resulting low fin forces led to wandering in the first moments of flight.

[3][10] The method of launching the M8 from the wings of fighters were finally solved by the development of an M10 triple-tube launcher made of plastic or alloy.