
Fox Two: The Story of the Aim-9 Sidewinder (2014) - tragiclos
http://www.donhollway.com/foxtwo/
======
jeffreyrogers
There is a great book about the development of the Sidewinder[0]. Even if
you're not that interested in military technology it's interesting from an
engineering management perspective.

[0]: [https://www.amazon.com/Sidewinder-Creative-Missile-
Developme...](https://www.amazon.com/Sidewinder-Creative-Missile-Development-
China/dp/1591149819)

~~~
ethbro
Read it on the basis of recommendation here (along with Skunk Works), would
highly second.

The fascinating thing about successful, lean, scrappy defense projects is
_there are almost no incentives for them to be such_. Consequently, if they
are, it's because wilful and powerful decisions were made by engineering /
management team.

Decisions we could probably all stand to learn from (and do our best to
repeat!).

~~~
larrywright
Skunk Works is a fascinating book. They overcame some difficult challenges
building the SR-71. There are some interesting parallels to software
development in the way they ran skunkworks. Insisting that the engineers that
designed things had to be physically close to the people building them.

~~~
ethbro
One question I always ask of my interviewers is "How often do your developers
sit with end users?"

If they look flummoxed and confused as to why that should _ever_ happen, I
politely start looking for the exit.

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jetrink
I had to lookup the 'rolleron' because I couldn't picture how it worked from
the description. Here is a video demonstrating the mechanism from a guy who
got his hands on Sidewinder tailfin.

[https://youtu.be/cfzj3rRIVU4?t=5](https://youtu.be/cfzj3rRIVU4?t=5)

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bmmayer1
> Future astronaut Wally Schirra, then a hotshot Korea veteran with a MiG-15
> kill to his credit, remembered his first visit to the lab. The China Lake
> eggheads had a “dome-shaped device, made of glass….a man-made eyeball,” he
> recalled. “I was a cigarette smoker in those days, and I had one in my hand.
> As I crossed the room, I noticed that the eyeball was tracking me.”

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dmckeon

        “It is easy to build something complicated;
        it’s hard to build it so that it’s simple.”
        Father of the Sidewinder:
        Dr. William B. McLean
    

Good thought for modern software.

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superkuh
>The crowning touch, however, was wiring the seeker to aim not where the
target was, but where it would be.

The missile knows where it is,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LjN3UclYzU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LjN3UclYzU)
, a great song about missile guidance systems and knowing where you are by how
much you aren't (there).

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tyingq
Make your own sidewinder floor lamp:
[https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23256/diy...](https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23256/diy-
missile-lamp/)

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czzr
This is a great read. If I understand correctly they basically built an analog
computer into the front of the missile.

~~~
maciejw
Yeah. Articles like this one is why I started following HN religiously. I
would understand "analog computer" as some form of a proportional controller -
like PID, but with ID terms set to 0:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller)
The sensor must be able to somehow measure how fast the target is moving
relatively to the center of the sensor area. The proportional controller then
sets the fins in a slightly exaggerated fashion.

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esaym
I'm trying to print this article out to give to an older relative... man table
based layout.. brutal.

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noir-york
Great read!

