Why anti-aircraft rockets looked promising

These weapons were force multipliers for countries confronting different versions of the same problem: too many attacking aircraft and too little time to stop them. British designers worried about heavy bombers, Japan about the volume of incoming aircraft, and Germany about RAF and USAAF formations. Those threat pictures shaped whether a country emphasized fixed barrages, shipboard flame barriers, or elaborate guided missiles. Each eccentric-looking invention was an attempt to multiply scarce fighters, guns, crews, or warning time.