The nuke AD weapon was primarily designed to guarantee a kill against single high speed target at any aspect, not take out formations. The reason, the chances of the weapon actually hitting the target are very low and though the weapon would proximity fuze with a near miss, the target will outrun the resultant blast / fragment effects of the warhead (as what happened with Patriot against the Iraqi Al Hussians (Modified Scuds) in 1991. The Patriots warheads mostly detonated behind the target and did no damage). Try outrunning the effects of a low yield nuclear detonation. (Effective lethal blast effects of a 200 Lb HE warhead at 40,000ft were around a radius of 100 Ft. The kill radius by blast of the AIR-2 was ten times that and at 100 Ft the target is instant plasma as it's within the fireball) The other reason (the the case of the AIR-2) is most of the USAF interceptors in the era were fitted with AIM-4 which wasn't the most impressive weapon as regards reliability or 2.25 inch FFAR which wasn't the most impressive weapon as regards accuracy. Genie didn't suffer from either of those issues.
Last edited by MAINJAFAD; 6th Feb 2015 at 05:57.