As the missile gets nearer the enemy jet, the period gets shorter; when the echo is almost instantaneous, the computer gives the signal to detonate, and the 25 pound warhead explodes, destroying the jet. For several reasons. The sun gives off a great deal of visible wavelength light as well as infrared, much more of it than a jet; so the computer can be instructed to ignore any infrared source that also gives off more than a certain proportion of visible light.
Naturally, rockets are now designed with built in counter countermeasures to distinguish between its own commands and countermeasure signals and to help it tell the difference between infrared flares, the enemy jet, and the sun. Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist.
His AIM-9B promptly misguided all the way down to the ground. Clearly, the AIM-9 was not infallible. Its range was relatively short—from two miles in high, thin, cold air to less than half a mile in low, warm, dense air. Military aircraft became laden with diversionary flare launchers. But the AIM-9 was only beginning an extraordinarily long career, characterized by near-constant improvements. The radar-homing 9C, designed for the Crusader, was phased out along with that plane the remaining 9Cs were adapted as AGMA Sidearm anti-radar missiles.
The 9D, featuring a nitrogen-cooled seeker for enhanced heat sensitivity, employed a more powerful rocket motor to triple its range. The 9E introduced Peltier-effect thermoelectric cooling, while the 9H and 9J were the first to feature solid-state electronics.
When one of the Fitters missed with an Atoll from nearly head-on, the Tomcats Sidewindered them both from behind as they fled. The U. On May 1, the opening day of battle, Flight Cmdr. If the 9L still had trouble acquiring other missiles head-on, against jet pipes it was a magic bullet. On May 24, No. From first launch to last kill, the dogfight lasted less than five seconds.
I fired two missiles in very quick succession against two targets. The missiles guided, and…. I was trying for a gun kill on the third, when my wingman fired over my shoulder and his missile scored.
Using the new missile, Soviet technicians were able to once again reverse engineer the improved technology the Americans had developed, resulting in the RM missile just a few years later.
The Soviets would go on to share this weapon with the Warsaw Pact nations as well as others, making it one of the most common weapon systems American aircraft have had to worry about in the decades since. It can even be used to attack ground targets like tanks without modification. The Sidewinder remains one of the most widely deployed air-to-air weapons in service today, flying aboard American fighters ranging from the longest-serving Fs to newest Fs just rolling off the assembly line.
Type keyword s to search. By Alex Hollings. Related Story. McLean, second from left, with some of the team that developed the Sidewinder missile in Getty Images.
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