Rheintochter (German: "Daughter of the Rhine") is a German experimental surface-to-air guided missile of World War II. The Rheintochter was a two-stage missile with a range of 16,000 meters and capable of carrying a warhead weighing up to 22-24 kilograms. The first work on the Rheintochter began in 1941 at Rheinmetall-Borsig, but the first examples of the rocket were ready only in the fall of 1943. The Rheintochter was to be equipped with anti-aircraft guns and - from 1943 - fight the Allied bombing of Germany. The missile had to be as effective as possible, which involved the use of radio guidance. A total of three versions of the Rheintochter missile were created. The first, designated R1, did not reach the speed of sound and, in fact, was used mainly for experiments with the guidance system and general aerodynamic assumptions of the rocket. Very similar to the R1 version was the R2 version, which, however, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful, and work on it was stopped in 1944. The final version was the Rheintochter R3 missile, in which the propulsion system and the location of the warhead were changed. This led to a significant increase in productivity, but the drive turned out to be extremely unreliable, which made it impossible to introduce the system into the line. Ultimately, the Rheintochter program was canceled in February 1945. Probably about 50 rockets of this type were created, which were used only for tests and experiments.
