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How Does The Sidewinder Missile Work? (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-16 18:59:25
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Fun fact: From the moment I started working on this video the US Military has fired 4 or so AIM-9X's over the continental US. Thanks to everyone who supports here and lets me do things like buy surplus missile parts! HAHA! 

I have plans to build a neat demonstration with them.  I've attached some screen grabs from when I bought them!

Thank you so much for your continued support.  I'm truly grateful, and I AIM to make it worth it for you. (See what I did there?)

Sincerely,

Destin

Files

How Does The Sidewinder Missile Work? - Smarter Every Day 282

A huge thanks to everyone who supports on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Click here if you're interested in subscribing: http://bit.ly/Subscribe2SED ⇊ Click below for more links! ⇊ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GET SMARTER SECTION The Navy has a long history of Weapons Development at China Lake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Weapons_Station_China_Lake Sidewinder Wikipedia Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder Continuous Rod Warhead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous-rod_warhead ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tweet Ideas to me at: http://twitter.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SmarterEveryDay Smarter Every Day on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day On Instagram http://www.instagram.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day SubReddit http://www.reddit.com/r/smartereveryday Ambiance, audio and musicy things by: Gordon McGladdery https://www.ashellinthepit.com/ http://ashellinthepit.bandcamp.com/ If you feel like this video was worth your time and added value to your life, please SHARE THE VIDEO! If you REALLY liked it, feel free to pitch a few dollars Smarter Every Day by becoming a Patron. http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Warm Regards, Destin

Comments

KTMan77

Very cool. Looking forward to see how you demo them.

Mr.Z

Real excited for this one, thank you Destin and company!

Matthew J Palka

I SEE what you did there! Ohhhhhhhhh so the whole fin pivots instead of the rollerons purpose. That is fascinating. Thanks! Siked to see you child-like mess around with the rolleron!

Steve Jones

Haven't watched the video yet.. but I'm hoping the next video will involve a sidewinder shooting at a supersonic baseball... :-)

Spicy110

I hope its ok to share this here, I have a video on the rolleron from the sidewinder including spinning it up with an airline. https://youtu.be/y1kUzjdkxG8

Reuben Rosenberg

Very cool! Thank you for a very informative, shorter, amazing video. Very impressed that you were able to find and purchase the rolleron and fin! Can't wait to see what you do with them!

Workbench

Oh this is going to be awesome!

Luc 813

I love your videos about how things in the military work because my dad was in the military and it helps my see some of the stuff that he might have been around or involved in. Also it would be cool to see a video all about these missiles work. Ps glad to be a supporter.

Dan

Awesome! I'm sure there's a list out there with your name on it now.

John Robeson

Would it take down a balloon?

Michal Paal

Hey nice video. btw there is a nice way of seeing them in action using a simulation "game" called DCS - Digital Combat Simulator, which simulates lots of aircraft and weapon systems pretty accurately. Regarding AIM-9X here is video from Growling Sidewinder on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHPD26Kckc

Steve Kurt

Rollerons have fascinated me too, so I'm not surprised that you discussed them. I am surprised that you picked up a Sidewinder fin, though! Looking forward to seeing where that leads you! Also... what were you doing at China Lake? It's not exactly one of the standard tourist attractions in SoCal.

Steve Kurt

I followed your link, and discovered that I've already watched it! Nice work!

JohnTheRipper

5 Sidewinders total - one couldn't aquire target on the object over Lake Huron, so a second was fired.

Paul Tomblin

I assume the movable object the rollerons are on are servo tabs?

Joe Schneider

I saw somewhere that each missed costs $400K. While I am sure a lot of that is to recoup R&D, the electronics and manufacturing can’t cost more than a couple thousand. I’m wondering the feasibility of you creating a working rocket from surplus parts. You had fun shooting stuff with baseballs. This could up the “fun factor” by several orders of magnitude.

Buzz Covington

China Lake is my hometown! Very good chance that some of my friend’s parents worked on those, as most people’s parents worked in the weapons labs on base. Did you make it to the Sidewinder golf course on base? They have a sidewinder plugged into the wall in the cafe there with an active seeker. You can walk back and forth in front of it with a cigar or lighter, and the seeker will follow you back and forth. Thanks for a great video, and my baseball arrived today!

Erin

y'know, it probably wouldn't be too hard to machine a cylinder that those fins would attach to that would also fit over the muzzle of the supersonic baseball cannon

Rtkwe

The hinge is neat and critical to their function. When the missile spins clockwise the rolleron will stick out in to the CW side providing a restorative force if I'm getting the gyroscopic precession right.

Leverett H

"Rollerons are cool!" Kinda like laminar flow, am I right?!😃

Eric Rener

The ATF would like to know your location. 😂😂😂

Jeffrey

Best fidget spinner! 😜

Chris Humphrey

Are we going to prison now, since we helped provide the missile parts? Lol

Søren Skov Eriksen

Those rollerons are just straight up mind blowing! Awesome video Destin!

Aldeeenii

How fast can they really spin? How much do they weigh? Would be cool to learn more about quantifying the resulting angular momentum both during "normal" jet flight (mach 1.5?) and peak post-launch speed (mach3?) Heck, how would their behavior vary from sub mach to mach speeds? Hard for me to conceptualize a spinning wheel like that traveling over mach 1

william young

If the missile starts to roll the rolleron would cause the fin to lag behind the missiles roll, which would then catch the airstream and induce a roll rate in the opposite direction. So it could be completely passive stabilization. I would imagine the fina opposite of each other are allowed to pivot in one direction and the other 2 in the other direction so the mechanism doesn't cause pitch or yaw.

Ralph Price

Dear lord, Destin has missile parts now. I'm nervous :D

Scott Sutton

I hate to say it, but for that entire video all I could think of was "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)" of that silly meme from a bit ago..... so I had to watch again and nerd out about how cool the Sidewinder is!

Dan Herman

Hey Destin! I happened to have recently watched videos about the land speed record, and references to a Sidewinder. Stan Barrett used a 12k horsepower Sidewinder for extra kick to his 48k rocket engine, the Budweiser Rocket. I wonder if you'd help make a contribution to someone trying to break tthe record. That would be fun to watch!

Daniel Ryan

I helped you buy dang MISSILE PARTS??? God, now I really wanna see what you do next....

Mike O'Dell

I am gobsmacked by the rolleron stabilization system. That is sooo efffing KUUL!! I hope somebody got a raise for coming up with that! Completely passive (other than the energy from the rocket engine) and damn near nothing to break! The active nozzle on the Xray goes back to the V2, but it would be amazing to track down the guys who did the rollerons and interview them. The USAF museum folks at Wright-Patterson probably have some historical data (if there is any) and they do have real live historians that might be able to excavate their collection. That is such an elegant solution to a really gnarly problem.

Andrew Phillips

Can't wait to explain to my wife that I had a small part in buying missile parts. And it's my favorite thing I've bought all year. Maaaaaaaaaybe I'll leave that out of our next budget discussion.

jack

Hey destin! I am commenting here cause i don’t know where else to! I still haven’t received my stickers and I joined around novemeber so I’m a little concerned that they aren’t coming. I know for certian that my address works because I got the baseball. Please let me know asap because i want to get this for my dads birthday which is March 25th. Thanks for all your content man, I really love it!!!