[1] The Talos was the primary effort behind the Bumblebee project but was not the first missile the program developed; the RIM-2 Terrier was the first to enter service.

The airframe was manufactured by McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis; final assembly was by Bendix Missile Systems in Mishawaka, Indiana.

The SAM-N-6c/RIM-8E "Unified Talos" had a warhead that could be swapped while embarked, eliminating the need to waste magazine capacity carrying dedicated nuclear-tipped variants.

[6] The surface-to-air versions also saw action in Vietnam, with a total of four MiGs being shot down by USS Chicago and Long Beach.

Initial testing of the RGM-8H was performed in 1965, and soon after, it was deployed in Vietnam on Chicago, Oklahoma City, and Long Beach, attacking North Vietnamese SAM radars.

Talos was phased out of fleet service with the decommissioning of USS Oklahoma City in 1979, though the Albany-class ships carrying the system soldiered on a few more years with the launchers left in place until they were retired in 1980.

Another example can be seen at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, located at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

A Talos missile and booster were on display at Rita Blanca Park (home of the XIT Rodeo & Reunion) in Dalhart, Texas, at least from 1981 or earlier, but as of 2017 had been removed.

A Talos missile is on display in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Washington Dulles International Airport.