The AIM-9 Sidewinder family

[Flame2512]

I was at the National Archives recently and came across this description of how IRCCM works on the AIM-9M:

 

[MissileMan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1469059617078525955

View: https://twitter.com/Ascii211/status/1469059617078525955

https://twitter.com/x/status/1496654823764209664

View: https://twitter.com/Ascii211/status/1496654823764209664

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501428341328564224

View: https://twitter.com/Ascii211/status/1501428341328564224

Hey everyone, Arsenio here.
I've since been working on cleaning out more of the goop and making good progress.
In addition, will be getting access to the first production AIM-9B ever and directly comparing it to a different friend's K-13 Atoll.
Currently figuring out how to get some x-ray time with the local EODs, and also booking some time at the national archives, as it's a short metro ride away for me.
Any questions, hit me with em.

 

[NMaude]

Any questions, hit me with em.

Have you been able to get access to any more of the service manuals?

 

[MissileMan]

Have you been able to get access to any more of the service manuals?

Not yet, just got panned on my most recent FOIA request for more recent 'winder stuff.
Working through building a list of docs I want to get at the archives, and picking out a scanner.
In the mean time I tracked some other hardcopies down on various sites and spent a bit of cash on buying em for digitization.

 

[Scott Kenny]

China Lake has a really interesting museum with a lot of the early Sidewinder history. They are very proud of that missile.

They should be!

Sidewinders literally started as a guidance package for 5" Zuni rockets back in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and has gone on to be probably the single most highly produced AAM ever. Sidewinders will still be in use 100 years after they were first flown. Yes, the rocket motor has been changed (several times) and the guidance has been changed (several times), but you could take the designers or people who worked on Sidewinders back in the 1950s and walk them through each update and they'd be able to follow you all the way up through the current AIM-9X block 2 or whatever they're on.

That's bragging rights!