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Remember these F/A-18 missile pictures?

Triumph

Triumph

Lifer
Look out!
Skimming the deck

I'm sure alot of you have probably seen these two pictures before. Short answer: they aren't Photoshopped. Today I met an engineer at the Naval Surface Warface Center, where his team worked on this problem. Apparently the newer warheads for the Sidewinder missiles were getting heavier and heavier, creating an imbalance of forces on the attachment point of the missile. This imbalance would only show up during the extreme deceleration of landing, causing the missile to break off from its latch and continue rocketing down the deck of the ship! So the engineers at NSWC used computer modeling to simulate the g-loads on the latch during deceleration, and ultimately design a stronger part.

Before someone asks, "Why would it ignite, wouldn't it just fall onto the deck?" Well, I don't know much about rockets yet, but there are different ways of igniting a missile's propellant. It could be that the ignition device in the Sidewinder only needs a mechanical pull to start the process. I'll have to do some searching on that topic. But the pictures are in fact real, not photoshopped, and it was because of warheads that were too heavy for the mounting point.
 
Originally posted by: Triumph
Look out!
Skimming the deck

I'm sure alot of you have probably seen these two pictures before. Short answer: they aren't Photoshopped. Today I met an engineer at the Naval Surface Warface Center, where his team worked on this problem. Apparently the newer warheads for the Sidewinder missiles were getting heavier and heavier, creating an imbalance of forces on the attachment point of the missile. This imbalance would only show up during the extreme deceleration of landing, causing the missile to break off from its latch and continue rocketing down the deck of the ship! So the engineers at NSWC used computer modeling to simulate the g-loads on the latch during deceleration, and ultimately design a stronger part.

Before someone asks, "Why would it ignite, wouldn't it just fall onto the deck?" Well, I don't know much about rockets yet, but there are different ways of igniting a missile's propellant. It could be that the ignition device in the Sidewinder only needs a mechanical pull to start the process. I'll have to do some searching on that topic. But the pictures are in fact real, not photoshopped, and it was because of warheads that were too heavy for the mounting point.
Click to expand...

Which Naval Surface Warfare Center? The one in DC? There's a lot of them.
 
Originally posted by: AvesPKS
Originally posted by: Triumph
Look out!
Skimming the deck

I'm sure alot of you have probably seen these two pictures before. Short answer: they aren't Photoshopped. Today I met an engineer at the Naval Surface Warface Center, where his team worked on this problem. Apparently the newer warheads for the Sidewinder missiles were getting heavier and heavier, creating an imbalance of forces on the attachment point of the missile. This imbalance would only show up during the extreme deceleration of landing, causing the missile to break off from its latch and continue rocketing down the deck of the ship! So the engineers at NSWC used computer modeling to simulate the g-loads on the latch during deceleration, and ultimately design a stronger part.

Before someone asks, "Why would it ignite, wouldn't it just fall onto the deck?" Well, I don't know much about rockets yet, but there are different ways of igniting a missile's propellant. It could be that the ignition device in the Sidewinder only needs a mechanical pull to start the process. I'll have to do some searching on that topic. But the pictures are in fact real, not photoshopped, and it was because of warheads that were too heavy for the mounting point.
Click to expand...

Which Naval Surface Warfare Center? The one in DC? There's a lot of them.
Click to expand...

Can't tell you. Top secret. Big time stuff.














Ok it's the Indian Head division.

 
Aww, sweet! I interned one summer on Pax River...My Dad also used to be stationed there when he was in the Navy. My Mom worked at Indian Head for like a year, and my grandfather worked at Indian Head for over 20 years (I can't remember exactly what he did, but it was something to do with CAD and missiles). So, do you live down there in Charles County, or are you just in the area? I'm from down there, by the way.
 
I work for the Army at Ft. Belvoir right across the river. We're working on a program that uses a rocket, so the Navy is helping us out with their experience in that field. They do some awesome stuff at NSWC. Lots of blowing sh!t up!
 
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