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SIDEWINDER MISSILE

WHY IT IS CALLED SIDEWINDER MISSILE

The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft and recently, certain gunship helicopters. It is named after the Sidewinder snake, which also detects its prey via body heat. The Sidewinder was the first truly effective air-to-air missile, widely imitated and copied. Its latest variants remain in active service with many air forces

SMART WEAPONS
Short-range, air-to-air missile.
Missiles like the Sidewinder are called smart weapons because they have built-in seeking systems that let them home in on a target.
After World War II, Most early guided weapon prototypes were built around radar technology, which proved to be expensive and problematic. These missiles had their own radar sensors, but obviously could not carry their own radar transmitters.
Pilot had to keep the aircraft in a vulnerable position after firing in order to keep a radar lock on the enemy until the missile could find it. Additionally, the radar equipment in the missile was large and expensive

ARCHITECTURE
manufactured by different companies, including Aerojet and Raytheon.
The missile is divided into four main sections: guidance, target detector, warhead, and rocket motor.

THE SYSTEM
"umbilical cable" near the nose of the missile connects the onboard electronic control system to the aircraft's computer system.
The aircraft computer sends a command to the missile control system to activate the Mk 36 rocket motor and release the missile.
The rocket motor burns up solid propellant material to generate a high-pressure gas that streams out the back of the missile
This provides the initial thrust necessary to get the missile off the launcher and push it through the air at supersonic speeds

TRACKING: GUIDANCE CONTROL SYSTEM
The guidance control system's main goal is to keep the infrared image of the enemy aircraft roughly centered so that the missile nose continues to point toward the target.
If the infrared image moves off center, the control system sends a signal to the servo assembly.
To compensate for the target's own motion, the control system uses a strategy called proportional navigation. The basic idea of this approach is to over-compensate course corrections .

INFLICTING DAMAGE: OPTICAL TARGET DETECTOR

It's designed to go off when it gets very close to the target.
For this it uses optical target detector which consist of eight laser-emitter diodes and eight light-sensor diodes .
When the Sidewinder is in flight, the detector is constantly emitting laser beams in a spoke pattern around the missile.


Mechanism of explosion
The explosive charge from the initiator ignites low-explosive material in the booster plate channels, which ignites explosive pellets surrounding the high-explosive material. The pellets ignite the high explosive, causing it to release a huge amount of hot gas in a short amount of time.
The powerful explosive force from this expanding gas blasts the titanium rods outward, breaking them apart to form thousands of metal pieces, all zipping through the air at top speed.

ADVANTAGES
Low cost of development and ownership compared to other missiles.
Superior performance exceeds tactical requirement.
Greater efficiency than conventional radar guided missiles .
Greater success rate.

CONCLUSION
Most early guided weapon prototypes were built around radar technology, which proved to be expensive and problematic.
The Sidewinder AIM-9 is classified as a short-range, air-to-air missile.
Missiles like the Sidewinder are called smart weapons because they have built-in seeking systems that let them home in on a target.
The Sidewinder is so successful that the United States Navy hosted a 50th anniversary celebration of its existence in 2002.