Sidewinder - The Weapon That Changed Air Combat

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Sometimes the origins of the most successful inventions belie the life they go on to have and this was the same for the weapon that changed aerial combat, the Sidewinder AIM-9.
This is the story of the project that was killed off once by the infighting within the US Navy and kept alive by the engineers that created it until it proved itself against the competition.
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Written, Researched and Presented by Paul Shillito
Images and Footage : US DoD, USAF, US Navy
A big thank you also goes to all our Patreons :-)
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[@Someguy0013]

When your missile only needs a flashlight and a meter stick to do a function check, I'd say it's pretty damn simple, and along with being intended to be in service for likely 100+ years, pretty damn reliable.

[@KomradeDoge]

It's gone through quite a bit of upgrades and tunes, but the principle has stayed the same ever sense inseption.

[@1978garfield]

This reminds of a land speed record holding pickup, incidentally called Sidewinder. All the other vehicles going for the record were towed in on a trailer. The Sidewinder, a Dodge Dakota with a Cummins Diesel hot rodded by Banks, showed up pulling a trailer. They unhooked the trailer, swapped the street tires for racing slicks and were ready to go.

[@juntingiee2602]

the m1911 of the missiles

[@BillAnt]

The Russian MiG pilot who got a sidewinder stuck in its fuselage without exploding was a lucky SOB. Due to its relative simplicity it was fairly easy to reverse engineer it by the Russians, talk about a rare find. ;)

[@MadScientist267]

Not to mention a right squirrelly nut... The antics at the end there were impressive

[@robertschumacher2707]

The Sidewinder is a 'grandpa's axe' type weapon. in that almost everything on it has been upgraded or altered since the beginning. 'It's had 5 new handles and 2 new heads, but it's still Grandpa's axe.'

[@cdwilliams1]

Also known as the ship of Theseus :-)

[@MattFenlon]

Or Trigger's Broom

[@lindongreen8922]

@@MattFenlon or my 1200 bandit. Thinking about it, there is the frame that is original and that's been cut and welded.

[@slyonerz]

You got sweaty nuts? I'm over drinking water,butt pirates from London town and pvc foam and bbvccc you know it's Osama bin Laden BING bong vin diesel

[@BuddyLee23]

What piece of modern war tech isn’t though? Consider every longstanding vehicle, weapon, gear, etc. Almost all of them which aren’t immediately replaced and enjoys even the slightest longevity will be incrementally upgraded continually until obsolescence. At this point, I would be more interested in seeing a reliable piece of military hardware that *isn’t* more or less ‘grandpa’s axe’.

[@mrben6573]

What's super cool about the Sidewinder is you can slap it onto almost anything. Super Tucanos can carry the Sidewinder. That's a single turboprop counter insurgency aircraft. The idea of a propeller plane armed with heat seeking missiles is pretty neat.

[@MastaChiefa99]

​@@fella704 what kind of ducks are you hunting?

[@CarlosAlejandro.-ke6gr]

@@MastaChiefa99 All of them.

[@hourlardnsaver362]

It can also be carried by attack helicopters such as the Apache and Viper.

[@jacplac97]

It can also be mounted on M113 for self defense.

[@BillAnt]

Ya it slammed into a MIG in the Korean war and failed to detonate. Just imagine the luck of that MIG pilot. lol

[@fiftycal1]

Despite all the changes made in it - The Sidewinder is still basically the same as it was it began: a 5 inch diameter tube stuffed with best available technology. The one big advantage of The Sidewinder - it basically carries its’ own Fire Control with it. When the seeker head acquires the target - it sends a signal to the pilot’s headphones in the form of a growling noise - which turned into a high pitched whine when locked on.

[@Averagesonarian]

The missile letting the pilot know that the enemy won’t escape alive lol

[@uNiels_Heart]

If I understand you correctly, the seeker head already actively sought for a suitable target when the missile was still attached to the aircraft? Where did it get its power in that environment, as the gas generator wouldn't be running, yet? Are there power lines/connectors in the attachment of the missile so it can be powered by the aircraft?

[@fix0the0spade]

@@uNiels_Heart When connected to the aircraft's Fire Control System, the missile will also receive power. It will only need to use it's own power once it's been fired.

[@uNiels_Heart]

@@fix0the0spade Ah, I see, that makes sense, thank you

[@deusvult5978]

I heard an interesting story about the missile Soviets got their hands on. That particular Sidewinder was filled with epoxy resin and engineers have trouble with disassembling it without damaging it, so they gathered talented bone carvers across the country to painstakingly clean all inner components from resin.

[@bertvandenberg8677]

The inert space around the electronics was filled with a product called "ecojell". Similar to silicon rubber.

[@Averagesonarian]

Classic communists lol. Would rather painstakingly steal equipment to copy than just make their own damn missiles

[@aletheia6672]

Being the first practical self-guided "fire & forget" missile, the Sidewinder inadvertently became the first robotic system to contravene all three of Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics.

[@Fede_uyz]

Asimov's rules were meant to be breaken in his books

[@switchtheflip9422]

@@Fede_uyz seems like most people watched that awful film "I, robot" instead of actually reading the book.

[@Fede_uyz]

@@switchtheflip9422 no, the rules were meant for asimov to break them later

[@aletheia6672]

@@Fede_uyz My point is that the current heated debate over the dangers of AI and robot drones is human society's appallingly slow reaction to the reality that robots have been tasked to kill people since at least the 1950s.

[@switchtheflip9422]

@@Fede_uyz no, the book shows that the rules were flawed.

[@CarlosRodriguez-dd4sb]

It always amazes me - these guys often accomplished these engineering marvels with slide rules and similar technology

[@letsburn00]

One thing people often don't realise is that engineering teams are much much smaller today than they used to be. 100 people's work is now often done by 15 people today. One side effect of this is how the core deliverables always get done. But all those extra brains aren't available to solve things.

[@honkhonk8009]

@@TerryTerius lmfao funny enough i got personal experience. Our group in our robotics shop class litterally suffered the same shit. We had a simple goal of just having our robot do the most tasks in the play field. But our team was massive, and everyone wanted to do the same thing. As a result no one changed the base lego robot, and had to face off with one of the most limited robots in our school competition. Meanwhile, a group from another school just had 2 people in it, and ended up winning and had the most versatile robot.

[@kiuk_kiks]

All you need is a very intelligent creative mind. Not computers.

[@Krahazik]

@@kiuk_kiks Yup. The Computer or the slide rule and paper are just tools to enable the creative mind to work.

[@DOI_ARTS]

Dont forget calculators

[@mortified776]

I read the guiding maxim for the design of the Sidewinder was something like: The electrical complexity of a refrigerator and the mechnical complexity of a sliderule.

[@GraemePayne1967Marine]

"... and the mechanical complexity of a sliderule ...". And they actually used sliderules while doing the work!

[@charlessmith6412]

@@GraemePayne1967Marine I used my slide rule (Post Versalog) professionally for a number of years. If you know what you're doing, they are quite useful.

[@muninrob]

@@charlessmith6412 My grandfather could work out a delta-V on his slide rule faster than I can punch the formula into a calculator.

[@charlessmith6412]

@@muninrob Before graduating in 1970 (BSEE), I was fairly proficient with a slide rule. But now I barely know how to use one. I blame my own laziness and reliance on calculators.

[@jimarcher5255]

When I was in the Army in the sixties, we had the Sergeant Missile System. The crews referred to it as the “Civil Servant” missile. It wouldn’t work and you couldn’t fire it.

[@Groovy_Bruce]

That’s funny

[@steveperreira5850]

That is the military that I know. I worked on F106 delta darts that had the inferior missile system referred to in this document. The saving grace is it also had an 8 foot long, 10 inch diameter nuclear Armed ballistic rocket to lob at enemy aircraft. Like horseshoes, all it had to do is get close enough to score points.

[@xBINARYGODx]

Ah yes, the shitting on government institutions and those who work there (except the military, OF COURSE) is long lived - and not less stupid today than it was "in the sixties".

[@charlessmith6412]

@@xBINARYGODx As someone who worked as a civilian employee under DON for 45 years, I appreciate your comment. All of the people that I knew were hardworking, well educated, and conscientious. And I did know of some people who were fired for various reasons. For what its worth, I respect and admire the US military.

[@dnate697]

@@xBINARYGODx I served from 1977 until 1985. Onbase civil employees were great. I have friends who still work for the Government and in DC. Our last visit there was great! I'm sure some suck but the ones I met did their Job and did it with a smile. Hell, even the Coffee and Burger none Gov workers were cool! Go to Paris if you want to meet employees who suck!

[@mikes.4136]

As a young chemical engineer, my father worked on refining the propellant for both the Sidewinder and the Sparrow in the 1960s. He was a civilian employee of the United States Navy, and was working for NAVSTIC (Naval Scientific and Technical Intelligence Center).

[@jakstat9880]

What incredible work! I'm very envious of your father and we could only hope to be spending time participating in something so revolutionary. Was he educated at a big uni?

[@rimmerblues1586]

"Generates it's own power" - i never really thought about it, i would've guessed it just having some sort of battery, and those fin stabilisers - very neat!

[@David-yo5ws]

Yeah, loved that fin stabilisation. Gyroscopic effect done so cheaply. Guess they should have had a 'failsafe' sytem installed, to auto-detonate after launch after so many seconds, then the 'capture by stuck in plane' episode would never have happened and given them a longer time with an edge on the 'enemy'. But, what were the odds? As it was, the 'enemy' would have eventually collected enough debris pieces to come up with their own design. Just not so swiftly.

[@adamhale6672]

They’re not quite so simple anymore. I’ve spoken with some engineers working on the X series and the inertial sensing equipment used now is quite complex and expensive. The lack of simplicity caused some problems with implementation onto the F22. The missile swings out after arming and prior to deployment on the F22, but this caused a lot of error in the internal measurement unit which was designed for straight launch. It actually took several design changes and a whole new variant for the AIM 9x to be able to be fired off of the moving launch system. Prior to the updates, only an older and simpler version could be used.

[@IMBlakeley]

@@David-yo5ws Sure I read / saw somewhere that the soviets stole one from an airbase and drove out with it in a car before posting it back to the motherland. A quick google search and here you go en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Ramminger

[@EEEEEEE354]

@@adamhale6672 this is also one of the big reasons they opted out if carrying the 9x internally on the F-35.

[@Anvilshock]

Pretty sure he said "generated its own power", not "generated it's own power".

[@BusterBuizel]

The anti-radiation variant is called the SideARM or “Sidewinder Anti-Radiation Missile.” Thus, this is one of the only examples where a dad joke became an official military designation

[@Justanotherconsumer]

I speculate that the XP-55 Ascender is also an... ascended dad joke. (It was called the “ass ender” because of the pusher design.)

[@BusterBuizel]

@@Justanotherconsumer Wait until you hear about the Type 57 Su Gon

[@bigblue6917]

The dad joke has hit the big time. Actually I did read a couple of weeks ago that, though the dad joke has a certain groan factor to it, it has been shown that it helps children understand how words work

[@sloppydog4831]

Hahaha. I didn't know the ARM standed for something. Very good.

[@dvdraymond]

Don't know if this is in the same category, but another classic is on MRE heaters, where you're instructed to lean it against a "rock or something". When they were coming up with the instructions and were wondering what to put in the diagram someone said "I don't know, let's make it a rock or something". So they wrote down "rock or something" and it stuck :)

[@christheswiss390]

Many years ago, a Swiss high-technology and precision mechanics company was the only 3rd-party in the world that was licensed to build the sidewinder seeker heads for the OEM, and it built hundreds of them. They were a fabulous piece of precision engineering, especially the motorized sun shield inside the glas dome that would search for and block the sun, so the seeker head IR sensor could focus on detecting the infrared signature of the engine of the aircraft it was designed to destroy.

[@qwer.ty.]

How does it work when the sun, the enemy aircraft and the sidewinder are all aligned on the same straight?

[@6bev]

In the corner of the China Lake museum is a seeker with Cryllic on it. The NOTS team got a Soviet copy of the Sidewinder, reversed engineered that, and improved on their own design based on the Soviet's improvements.

[@airthrowDBT]

Is it public what the improvements were? That is fascinating.

[@kavavnaughmp]

@@airthrowDBT it is now. They are moving the museum off the base and have half of if completed. I was there in the summer. It's in Ridgecrest, CA. It's a small museum, but there's lots of need stuff in it.

[@GIJoe-wu6bo]

Yep. Grew up there. 100% correct. There's lots more about it of course.

[@bobtrask2217]

I was stationed there over 40 years ago. Saw things I could never tell anyone. To this day I see "new" weapons that are the product of our efforts

[@bobtrask2217]

As you walk down the 2nd floor hallway of our hanger where the offices were I saw wonderful historical photos. Most people just walked past but I stopped and read them all. there is no way to describe the awe I felt of how incredible it all was. We were building the future.

[@familyplans3788]

one thing that bugs me about Top Gun is that when they were locking onto other aircraft with a sidewinder they made a ' beep beep beep ' noise , in fact the real noise a sidewinder made when locking on was a growl that got louder

[@kasuraga]

i love the sidewinder growl lmao. i used to play ace combat 4 a lot as a kid and loved using them

[@rafetizer]

The newest version drones out a really loud, stereotypically gay, "Yoooooohoooooo!"

[@phantomaviator1318]

@@rafetizer I heard this in Slim Pickens then a seductive "Yoooooooo-hooooo~"

[@iamnotpaulavery]

@@phantomaviator1318 LOL!! 👍

[@terrydouglas5008]

@@soulsphere9242 no, the growl is when it detects a heat source and the stronger the source louder the growl. I spent 20 years of my life maintaining the Weapons Control System of F4 aircraft. That's radar, Missile firing, weapons release, gun sight. It's a 11 month tech school. I have ran hundreds of Sparrow, Falcon and Sidewinder tests. Falcon firing system had about 40 relays for each station that had to energize in a specific order. And had 2 test sets MITS and MATS. I have used a flashlight to test a sidewinder.

[@mykeprior3436]

The growl of the sidewinder is simply Iconic.

[@alexmathis8505]

"I don't got tone!!!!!!"

[@weirdguy564]

Interesting fact from the development of the sidewinder. Originally, the missile had a gauge, a simple amp meter that showed how good of a signal the missile was getting. It was the test pilot of the program that suggested they rig it to a sound instead, so the pilot didn't have to look inside the cockpit to see if the missile was locked on or not. That pilot was Wally Schirra, better known for being a Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Astronaut.

[@Joshua_N-A]

AIM-9: service to the 2050's B-52: welcome to the club!

[@Someguy0013]

All I can think of when I saw that was a B-52 dogfighting and using AIM-9's

[@Joshua_N-A]

@@Someguy0013 AIM-9s on the wings and in the belly. Try dodge them all.

[@g_e_o_m9369]

@@Joshua_N-A Laughs in Old Dog. Get in Muck, we're bombing Russian Space lasers.

[@jacobblair6181]

@@Joshua_N-A lmao that would be insane

[@Joshua_N-A]

@@jacobblair6181 the sound of beeping alarm will give them PTSD.

[@gixxerblade]

My step dad (rip) worked on this program and many others at China Lake. He had several patents on some of the items on the sidewinder. He also came up with the ASROC and a submarine launching system for the Harpoon. As a kid growing up with him as my dad, I never knew any of this till he passed away in 1994.

[@Hyun989]

are u guys rich ? ahhah

[@JaegerWrenching]

My dad dedicated his life to this missile. Unfortunately he's no longer with us, but I know he really enjoyed "blowing shit up" as he would say lol! because he worked in the warhead department lol. Good old Ridgecrest and China Lake... This is a great video with the actual facts about the creators of the missile with footage to back it up. Teamwork and being the best is what these guys did!! Excellent video!

[@andrewmiller3834]

I grew up in Ridgecrest! Well, till I was seven, then we moved to southern Utah. It's great to read your story! Have a great day!

[@aaronandannelogan]

A childhood friend of mine worked for NavAir China Lake as an engineer for a few years. She eventually left the job because she couldn't stand the geographic isolation. But it sounded like she did get her share of "blowing shit up" while there.

[@RAM-BAWN]

I was a Physicist in the Sensors and Platforms branch (code 3941) in the 80's and early 90's at China Lake. I still love "blowing shit up"!

[@docesam]

Too bad he didn't know about islam.

[@nathanadams1482]

Back in the late '80s, Hill AFB wanted a dummy Sidewinder to use as practice on the F-16, as the actual Sidewinders have a limited flight hour window use. The company I worked for managed to get the contract to make the first ones for the AF. Over the course of the program, my name appeared on many of the ECOs that we had to generate to improve the dummy. Fun project - learned tons back then.

[@K113-A]

What a great engineering the Sidewinder is, simply because its so simple! And the hardest thing in engineering is to make something simple

[@mudi_is_bad3016]

I get a nostalgic feeling by looking at these photos and videos from 60s an 80s. I don't know why ... I was born in 1999...

[@blinimationstudios1717]

Probably the cultural setting and the pure strength of aesthetics of the photos

[@mudi_is_bad3016]

@@blinimationstudios1717 yes

[@PetraDarklander]

I'll always remember doing '20 flight' maintenance on the AIM-9. I used to remember all the bolt torque specs and the psi for the argon cans, but that was 20 years ago.

[@HeavyBirdPilot]

This is one of the best Docuseries going, thanks for all you put in matey, it's appreciated!

[@spacecowboy2483]

Fascinating story. A good David vs Goliath tale never gets old! Awesome video a usual Paul!

[@Troy-McClure81]

My great grandfather worked on this project held the patent for the timer and others for the military during the war,went back to work for Baldwin Piano after war ended.I heard all kinds of stories growing up.He flew himself everywhere till his 80s,great video.

[@michaelvelik8779]

Seems that the secret to its success was the engineers following the KISS principle relentlessly.

[@19580822]

Sadly, that principle seems lost on modern engineers, who seem bound and determined to make everything as complex as possible. I was a Marine Corps aircraft mechanic and loved working on the A-4 Skyhawk, Ed Heinemann's real-life demonstration of the KISS principle.

[@cybervigilante]

The F-35 follows the opposite principle. A trillion bucks for a plane that can barely fly - sometimes.

[@michaelvelik8779]

@@cybervigilante it certainly does seem that way. Part of it is the multi-service aspect with the A B C variants that were supposed to save on development and support costs. I suspect the other aspect is a certain amount of scope creep and possibly specifications that work against each other.

[@alexmathis8505]

I mean it was still incredibly advanced, especially some of the gyro-based systems it used - they just chose the right path and compared to the other programs, seemed incredibly basic but also logical. Like why wouldn't you just "do it this way" automatically?

[@Nurhaal]

@@cybervigilante This is where people don't understand what the hell they're talking about. The F-35 is literally the KISS version of the JSF competition. Look at the X-32 for comparison. Boeing didn't care how complex the X-32 was, just so long as they could offer it cheaper than the competition. The F-35 looks the way it does because it specifically chose a conservative, simpler design. Also the F-35 has a high MCR than the F-16 right now, so uh... barely fly is a bit off the mark.

[@Princess_Sophiekins]

That was a fascinating story, I honestly learned a lot. Never spent much time thinking/learning about missiles, but now I'm diving down that rabbit hole, big time. (Also, this video came up as a random suggestion. I enjoyed it, subbed to Droid and went looking for more to learn. The algorithm scares the hell out of me some times...)

[@wolfenwingsable]

I was a weapons loader on F16s in the Air Force. This is definitely a great weapon, especially with the X's out now.

[@fernandocastillo1972]

IYAAYAS

[@kellyjackson7889]

'Bout damn time someone celebrated the AIM-9!

[@friendk422]

Always a good day when there’s some new content from this channel

[@jvcyt298]

Recently, I've been watching the KZbin channel, "Not A Pound For Air To Ground". He goes into detail about how difficult it was to actually get a hit with a Falcon missile from early in the Cold War, right into the Vietnam War. It's really quite fascinating.

[@HamHamEggsandHam]

The problem with the Falcon, so they said, was that it just didn't want to hurt anybody.

[@richardavery2894]

These videos have the best production and are insanely interesting. My only gripe is that they aren't long enough and we need more of them lol... Great content guys!!! 🤘🏻🙃🙂🤘🏻

[@TheHangarHobbit]

You missed the best story about the Sidewinder, when the Soviets wanted to update their Sidewinder copy? Instead of building their own they paid a Swede colonel to steal one off the base in the trunk of his car, take it apart and then mail it to Moscow...which he had to do twice as the first time he didn't put enough postage on the package LMAO.

[@kiuk_kiks]

I remember this story. I wonder which KZbin video it was from.

[@corneliuscrewe677]

@@TheInfidel_SlavaUA I forget the precise details, but they also obtained the plans for the Space Shuttle by downloading them from a very early version of the internet.

[@justalonesoul5825]

@@TheInfidel_SlavaUA Incompetence - from the people guarding those equipements? From the Intelligence Service? Sounds correct.

[@steveperreira5850]

It says everything you need to know about the Soviets and a sad story about Traitors, to be found everywhere, but especially prevalent amongst back stabbing Euro-weenies. It is a sad story about how a brilliant nation of people, the Russians, have contributed so little to the last hundred years of civilization largely on account of communist atheist socialist pig ideology. What more can be said?

[@cambridgemart2075]

His trunk must have been huge, it's not exactly small!

[@TJ-vh2ps]

Great video! I’d love to see a follow up video that delves more into the details of how the sidewinder works.

[@stevehodgkins8801]

There are a few vids on here. It is called 'expanding rod' Fascinating how it works.

[@2_dimes]

I worked for John M owner of Chappell Ind. He innovated the fin and nozzle assembly as well as contributing to the design of the guidance system 7:38 for the sidewinder. At 7:48 John was a major contributar to the design. I think he said they made the nozzle for $3.75. In his later years we only made one component. He also made the Chappell land to air system. He said that he never got a contract. He did make several working prototypes to demonstrate the system. Amazing guy to work for, he finally retired at 82.

[@skyraider1656]

I was in aviation ordinance school in the Navy in 1964 and learned how the Sidewinder worked. We were amazed how sensitive the sensor in the nose was. You could activate the missles guidance system by holding a flashlight in front of it.

[@CJ-nt4cs]

Back in the 90's my dad had a fabrication company that produced commercial and aerospace components. We were the sole supplier of thousands of parts called a lockwire that held the tail fin assembly to the rocket body on the Hydra 70's. We later become a supplier of a much larger version of lockwire used to hold the Sidewinders together.

[@edwinfigueroa1743]

Never boring, always entertaining and love the shirts!!!

[@russellconn]

Can I just say thank god at least one of my favourite KZbin channels hasn't taken Manscaped's money. Also great vid as slways

[@badgerattoadhall]

Someone sounds very protective of his bush.

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

Laughs in LTT. I remember when I first saw a "segway" to their sponsor, MaNsCaPeD, Anthony's face was like "Oh c'mon! Really? Couldn't it please be literally anything else?" - I'll never forget that :D

[@WilliamWeber-su8bw]

An amazingly simple and effective weapon. In the late 60's I worked on developing the Chapparal, which was a ground based system which utilized the sidewinder for defense against low flying ground attack aircraft.

[@greenoak1]

My Dad worked at China Lake beginning in 52’. We used to read the Rocketeer all the time. When I grew up I got a job there in 1980 as a draftsman. I’ve walked in front of an AIM-9M seeker head with a flashlight, and I’ve heard the growl up close!

[@warriorson7979]

I'm glad Varys got another passion after GOT ended...😌

[@JohnDoe-pv2iu]

Like the Air Force officer said, it just works. Great video! Yall Take Care and be safe, John

[@nadtz]

The things that came out of China lake and in some form are still in use to this day are pretty amazing. Even the ones that aren't were amazing.

[@hainekohanefuwa5308]

My stepdad worked on the AIM-9, and it always makes me smile to see people talking about it.

[@ghostblue9598]

Wow that's amazing that the soviets were able to get their hands on a sidewinder missile by one getting stuck in a plane and not detonating

[@doggo6517]

Imagine having to fly an enemy missle back to base. I'd need my brown pants on for the landing.

[@spot1401]

@@doggo6517 or ditch the plane in a lake with a missile reading "made in china lake"

[@rsmetz88]

@@doggo6517 I wanna know who had to remove it 🤣

[@danielm6049]

When I was growing up my dad and I built several model rockets one of which was a sidewinder. I always wondered what the rounded bits on the tail fins were since they were just painted balsa wood and decals, now I know.

[@tedhammond3631]

They are called "rollerons" and are there to prevent the missile body from rolling. This aids the guidance section in steering the missile as it thus doesn't have to correct for roll errors.

[@kewalramanichirag]

The host is damn chill, He really seems comfortable telling us about the matter. Fine podium material.

[@EspHack]

70 years and only around 250 kills? we have had some truly peaceful times indeed

[@beayn]

Its likely the majority of those are the two gulf wars too.

[@letsburn00]

The time since WW2 has been a period of astonishing peace for the developed world. Proxy wars have been massive, but much less high end military than you'd think.

[@GeorgeSemel]

It's called the long peace. There have been lots of low-level conflicts but not the kind of thing the Second World War was. I good chunk of the 250 aircraft belonging to the Israeli Airforce. But it almost 40 years since any Airforce actually challenged them in air-to-air combat. Most of the shootings these days are targeted strikes with helicopters and drones.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

Amazingly that is the case. And global violence fell even further when the Soviet Union collapsed. That's not to make excuses for the US when it started a dumb war in Iraq (the second one), or when Russia invaded Ukraine, etc. But the costs of war are very high, and the benefits of peace are way higher.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

Oh and it occurred to me that the emergence of such an effective weapon might have itself changed warfare in a way that made combat less advantageous. No one flies huge air armadas of bombers over enemy territory any more. Perhaps that's due to the Sidewinder.

[@TheGreatSteve]

This video has only been up one minute, and I'm already watching it.

[@dcreisranch]

Omg really?!?! No way dude!

[@jamesmorton7881]

I was an intern at NWC in the mid 70s. The AIM_9G had mini vacuuming tubes, AIM_9H was all solid state with Fairchild 709 OP_AMPS. The electronics modules were “cordwood” style. And potted in Hysol resin.

[@barteepage4109]

"I want to make..." "I need you to make..." I feel like these two thoughts pretty much sum up the strengths of the sidewinder vs the falcon.

[@carinhall4508]

"Fox 2! Fox 2!"

[@gringadoor5385]

I love how you wear the same material as what's on my grandad's sofa ;)

[@Defender78]

The Sidewinder was also the basis for the AGM - 122 sidearm, Which homed in to on radar transmitters, I wonder if any of those have ever been used in combat

[@nathanielpea5819]

It's very comfy listening to someone pronounce their "the" as "ve". Without going into specifics I suspect that the presenter is from within 50 miles of my family home.

[@michaeljames4904]

Watching this posted the same night that Jerusalem Day has seen the city’s Iron Dome interceptor system take down *hundreds* of simultaneous rocket attacks: _a good time to learn about the granddaddy of them all._

[@jimharris5616]

It never ceases to amaze me as to the inaccuracies of reports generated by self styled "experts." I was there during a major portion of the early development of air launched missiles.

[@markgarin6355]

I love in TOP GUN where they mention in Vietnam that statistics changed regarding fighter results related to using guns. When the F4 Phantom didn't have guns, only missles.

[@elitely6748]

Thanks for the content. I knew this weapon but never knew how it came about. Lets get you 1mill subs

[@fuzzblightyear145]

likewise. Just assumed it was some huge research division working on, not the military version of a few guys in a shed.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

971k. He's very close. Any time now ...

[@chasewimpy]

Doin gods work Droid. Bless you and your bald head.

[@MattC-jg1yb]

Just realized he is bald damn

[@slavenrasic2173]

@Nicholas Felock God is work? What?

[@TheHateSpeechChannel]

And his shirts

[@chasewimpy]

I'm bald too. Its an all for one, one for all kinda thing

[@gregbrockway4452]

How it all started... Caveman thinks “I really want to punch that dude way over there”...and picks up a rock.

[@pbxn-3rdx-85percent]

Caveman's Ballistics Handbook Chapter 1: Choosing the rock to throw Chapter 2: Throwing techniques Chapter 3: The Follow through LOL

[@nooblangpoo]

@@pbxn-3rdx-85percent He's protected by castle walls! Make rock go higher! He's protected by metal armor! Make rock sharper! He's too far! Make rock go faster! etc.

[@LTMarhman]

I worked at China Lake for a few years. There's a great museum on base that is open to the public.

[@6ftS]

brilliant video. absolutely amazing to learn about the things i am too lazy to research. thank you for the tons of work you have put into this video... not many people understand how much actual work goes into a video like this. 100% appreciated from here. what an incredible piece of technology that reset the playing field, only to be trumped by highly sophisticated electronics in the era of digitized automated flight control systems of the next generation modern warfare battle tech.

[@stephenwest9757]

At 5.13 there is a picture of some equipment and it just has a very surprised look bit like a Minion face. Very interesting and informative videos as always, thanks.

[@brianfoster7064]

As A Navy Veteran AO this was a great video on the AIM-9.

[@mikebartram8424]

In the 90’s, I trained on the Chapparal mobile missile platform. The newest seeker head had been designed to ignore flares and every other heat source but the one the lock was on. Out of 100 test missiles, 98 direct hits and the other two were indirect hits. Giving it a 100% kill ratio. The exact specs are likely still classified, specifically the seeker head capabilities. And at that time, the fastest fighter our likely enemies had was the MiG 31. The Chapparal could hit it, while the stinger struggled due to the small size.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

I don't know why a MiG-31 would fly low enough to enter a Chapp's weapon envelope

[@mikebartram8424]

@@fonesrphunny7242 chaps range was 13 miles. Stinger was 8.

[@NeverlostatBSgaming]

My grandfather worked on the electric power systems for it ranging from the alternator to pseudo battery in it

[@badlandskid]

“And hopefully your enemy was still on that ballistic path after you fired it” * “and hopefully your enemy crossed that ballistic path at the same moment the projectile/s did...” Fixed it

[@From_A_Diverging_Timeline]

He said it more elegantly.

[@lowrider94ss]

Slow clap 👏 nothing gets past you captain obvious

[@From_A_Diverging_Timeline]

@@lowrider94ss lol 😆 I was gonna comment * stands up and claps * before I settled on my comment. Edit, I guess he should be the one making videos with millions of views.

[@bagofchicken]

Those rollerons are brilliant!

[@jfan4reva]

Having only seen sidewinders in plastic models, I always wondered what those funny little round notched things were on the rear fins. Thanks for the video.

[@ianrodger21]

Sea Harrier and AIM 9L Sidewinder, excellent pairing!

[@DaweSMF]

amazing and the smile on the engineers face when he is shown talking about his rocket :-D you cant deny body language, same like kid with Lego- look what we did!

[@nunyabidniz2868]

"Back in my day, you actually had to the *aim* the AIM 0.5X Sidewinder, or it'd go sideways and start homing on YOU!.." "You had it so easy! In my day, we had to throw them out the side of the plane & hope it didn't lock onto our own exhaust!.." Yeah, Monty Python coulda had *field* day w/ this bit of history! 😁

[@sixstringedthing]

"Back in my day, we didn't 'ave 'ardpoints and guidance gadgets. Carried a bundle of rockets in cockpit like a big bunch of danger toothpicks. We 'ad to open canopy, light fuse, and lob it up the bastard by 'and".

[@climberbob1]

back in your day, didn't you have to lock on BEFORE launch?

[@tonyharrisson6823]

Perfect Engineering Principles. Simple and cost effective.

[@victoriaburkhardt9974]

Thank you for this. Well done.

[@williamwenrich3288]

I was a Missile Guidance and Control technician stationed in Thailand in 1969-70.

[@kokuta1941]

The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is, it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't, and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the missile is, and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the missile must also know where it was. The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be, and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.

[@jamielancaster01]

Excellent video thank you

[@edmundscycles1]

I never knew buster blood vessel knew so much history . Awesome 👌..

[@tritium1998]

9:06 Wow, just wow. So their best narrative is that the missile somehow penetrated a plane midair to get stuck in it, the plane flew back to land safely, and the missile remained intact enough alone to be replicated.

[@Itsmellsfishy]

Yeah they don’t tell the real story about how putin caught on between his teeth flying recon over Vietnam.

[@Bogeyatyour6YT]

That and the one Sidewinder they stole in West Germany under the nose of one of the best guarded borders at the time, not only copying the Sidewinder but improving upon it.

[@Retsam03]

I work at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. The Sidewinder is alive and well! :-)

[@unman3882]

The missile knows where it is at all times

[@keagan0000]

4:18, the ole switcheroo

[@DaylightDigital]

I maintain that the rolleron is one of the coolest mechanical devices I've ever seen

[@Frater_I.O.]

I grew up in Ridgecrest, California; China Lake main gates are in Ridgecrest, not Inyokern. My father was an electrical engineer who retired from China Lake.

[@EtzEchad]

The Sidewinder and Sparrow we useful in totally different realms. They really weren't competitors.

[@tanmayshroti.8800]

its ironic to see i saw the thumbnail of the vedio yesterday and ignored and after the ballon incedent i am seeing it 😂

[@eggyrepublic]

The reason the missile is so deadly is because the missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is - whichever is greater - it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviation to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't, and arriving at a position that it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and if follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation. The variation being the difference between where the missile is and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the missile must also know where it was. The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows: Because a variation has modified some of the information that the missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it know where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice versa. And by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.

[@MisterBroad]

The Aim-9 was seeking so well, it could even find the hosts eyebrows!

[@joebob227]

The Sidewinder is like the common mousetrap; once you have the perfect design and it's cost effective, don't mess with perfection.

[@jkgou1]

Thank you very much for this great invention we may kick their ass with AIM-9x.From Taiwan.

[@biringen]

I have worked with the AIM-9N and 9L in the Royal Norwegian Airforce both were used on the F5A/B jet

[@aabb-zz9uw]

One thing not known widely is that the British had better missile technology than the Germans during WW2. The US also had the first active homing guided weapons albeit unpowered. The difference was a more conservative approach towards technology.

[@btravassos1226]

Thanks Lord Varys, very informative

[@thomasd3862]

Old trick from a Navy guy. If you had a live missile shoot against a drone, you would get the tone and fire the missile. You were supposed to say "Fox 2," the term for a heater shot, then a second or so later, when the missile came off the rail, you were to say "Op Away." That would alert the drone operator to shut down the drone engine. The missile goes stupid and they recover the drone. Instead the tactic was to fire the missile and not say "Op Away" until the missile bulls-eyed the drone, destroying it. Don't ask how I know. Great missile.

[@tomk3732]

Note that Soviets copy of Sidewinder was called AA-2. So what was AA-1? Well it was K-5 (Soviet name) and was made starting in 1951. It was similar to Falcon but independently developed. So if not for Sidewinder tech in Soviet Union was at the same level as in the US at the same time. Sidewinder was just so good that neither any friend nor enemy had anything better.

[@Damocles54]

So useful that one of the jet powered* land speed record teams used the rocket motor bits to add a bit of ooomph to the power train. *might have been a hybrid rocket motor rather than a jet. But the sidewinder was mounted right above whichever the primary happened to be

[@MrPanama9red]

I've loaded many of these on the F-4. Damn nasty.