Navaho in flight, 1957. Navaho is a surface-to-surface missile developed by North American Aviation under the U.S. Air Force Navaho Program. The Navaho engine was an improvement of the V-2 engine. Though program began in March 1946 and was cancelled in July 1957, the research to develop the Navaho engine contributed to the development of the Redstone, Jupiter, Thor, and ATLAS engines.