The SAM-N-2 Lark project was a solid-fuel boosted, liquid-fueled surface-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy to meet the kamikaze threat.

It was developed as a crash program to introduce a medium-range defensive layer that would attack targets between the long-range combat air patrols and short-range anti-aircraft artillery.

This produced a design with roughly 30 miles (48 km) maximum range and subsonic performance, suitable for attacks against Japanese aircraft.

During one of these, a Convair-built airframe scored the first successful United States surface-to-air missile interception of a flying target in January 1950.

After several losses and significant damage from these weapons, both the US and Royal Navies began crash programs to introduce surface-to-air missiles to close this range gap.

Bumblebee's efforts were aimed at high-performance, supersonic weapons, and as much of the technology was brand new, they could not be expected to enter service in the short term.

It was boosted on launch by two bottle-like solid fuel rockets inside a square stabilizer arrangement similar to the German Rheintochter.

They planned to use command guidance for flight tests, with the intention to add a semi-active radar homing system for production examples.

[3] Six of the Convair airframes were given to Raytheon to explore the use of velocity-gated continuous wave doppler radar for guided missile target seekers.

[2] As the threat of jet-powered bombers like the Ilyushin Il-28 grew, Lark's subsonic performance was seen as incapable of effectively countering these aircraft—by the time they reached the target, it would have flown a considerable distance and be within weapons-launching range.