Typhon was an air defense system the United States Navy was working on in the early 1960s as a replacement for the Talos, Terrier, and Tartar missiles. It would have consisted of two
AN/SPG-59 radar variants (one for cruisers, one for destroyers), as well as two missile types, the
Bendix SAM-N-8/RIM-50 Typhon LR and the
Bendix SAM-N-9/RIM-55 Typhon MR. It was essentially the predecessor to AEGIS.
Ultimately, Typhon was abandoned because it lost too much signal strength during signal processing, resulting in the radar's maximum range being less than the minimum needed for target resolution. While I am unsure if signal processing refers to something having to do with the signal itself, or the processing computers chosen not being up to the task, there were quite a few 1960s and 1970s radar systems that failed to function either because the radar couldn't pick things up (the Nike missile had enough performance to hit targets the radar couldn't detect due to speed) or there wasn't enough processing power (
Sentinel/
Safeguard).
There were advanced computers and radars that were functioning around the time Typhon was being developed, so whatever the issue was, it seems it would have been possible to resolve. For radars, the Royal Navy had the successful
Type 984 set, and was planning a transistorized and possibly AESA version of it as the Type 985. The Type 984 also had an advanced command and control system that allowed it to both search and track using the same system as part of the
Comprehensive Display System. Another advanced radar is the Anglo-Dutch Type 988, which was planned for the Royal Navy
CVA-01 aircraft carriers and
Type 82 destroyers, and ultimately saw service on the Dutch
Tromp class frigates/destroyers. The Royal Canadian Navy and United States Navy also were developing systems to try to allow for integrated systems across ships, respectively
DATAR and the
Naval Tactical Data System. On land the United States Air Force and Army worked together with Canada to field the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system, which allowed for centralized command and control of interceptors and missiles and integrated information from ground, air, and sea based radar systems.
It seems that many of the components necessary for a workable AEGIS type system would have been available in the 1960s, well before the first AEGIS cruiser, USS
Ticonderoga, entered service in the early 1980s. So, would it have been possible? If so, how does this butterfly naval air defense, seeing as the premier naval aircraft of the 1960s and 1970s were interceptors for defending the carrier battle group?