[3] NATIV was designed to utilize the then-new FM/FM telemetry to send a number of channels of data in real time during the flight of the missile.
[7] The exhaust vanes used for low velocity control of Wasserfall were omitted and preliminary guidance was provided by a launch tower similar to that used by the RTV-A-2 and Aerobee (RTV-N-8 / RTV-A-1)rockets.
Jeff Schmidt, a guidance engineer on the project, commented upon the difficulties of an underfunded ad hoc program being conducted at a remote location.
"[11] Boeing engineers with the GAPA program, which occupied the pad adjacent to the NATIV effort, jokingly deemed the missile "North American Tried In Vain", and after launch failures, labeled it as "Not Able To Increase Velocity.
However, the program might well be considered a partial success in that on several missions telemetry of data occurred which was after all was one of the major objectives of the North American Test Instrumentation Vehicle.
[13] A product of project number MX-770,[5] NATIV - the North American Test Instrument Vehicle - was influenced by the design of the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile developed in Germany during World War II.
While almost lost in the history of missile development in the United States NATIV, RTV-A-3, was important for what it was a contributing portion of, both in telemetry and the greater MX-770 program.