The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Sidewinders for Anti-Aircraft Defense
by James Dunnigan
March 1, 2006
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
February 10, 2006: The U.S. has
successfully tested an AIM9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile finding and
hitting a target after being launched straight up from the ground. The
9X version of the Sidewinder has a much more sensitive heat seeker, as
well as a wider arc the seeker can sense, making it capable of
operating like this. The purpose of the test is to supply American
submarines with an ability to take down aircraft, particularly
helicopters, that are hunting them. U.S. nuclear attack subs have
sensors that can detect a helicopter up there, but lack a weapon to
respond with. Anti-submarine helicopters carry sensors (usually
sonobuoys) that can get a more precise fix on a sub, and torpedoes,
with which to destroy the sub below. The sub cannot outrun the
helicopter. Actually, attempting to do that would just make more noise
for the sonobuoys to pick up. Diving deeper won't work against the more
modern torpedoes carried by helicopters. Thus the need for a weapon
that can bring down the helicopter, before the sub takes a fatal
torpedo hit. The anti-aircraft weapon would probably be in the form of
a capsule released from a torpedo tube that, as it reached the surface,
would release the Sidewinder missile.
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