Telling the story of the A9 Side Wonder is more than difficult is impossible. Coming up. Welcome to Millennium 7 Star, the channel that helps you make sense of military history and military technology. Please subscribe and hit the bell to learn something that is very, very difficult to find elsewhere on YouTube. Telling the story of the A9 Side Wonder is more than difficult is impossible. It went through so many changes, versions, twists and turns that make in a complete story with no errors or missions as well, practically impossible. So, we'll try to make a short story with an eye toward technology as usual, but we won't have the time to get into too much detail. So if you are interested in some of the technologies or any other aspect that we are going to cover, please let me know in the comments below because we can always have a monographic video afterward. The A9 traces its origin to the US Naval Weapons Center at China Lake in the Mojave Desert. The NWC in the early 50s started, practically with no means, practically in a shed in the desert, a program to develop a missile to equip the fighters to intercept the Soviet bombers. They choose the infrared as the type of guidance. The fledgling missile was after renamed after the Side Winder, which is a desert rattlesnake that senses its prey by chasing its heat emission. The result of the program was a cruciform compact cannot weapon. It used a solid propellant rocket motor, a fragmentation warhead and an uncool infrared sensor. The CK was really outstanding for the time using a Cassegrain mechanical rotating optical assembly. The first operational version, the 9B, used a fragmentation warhead, triggered by a passive infrared proximity fuse. The rocket motor was a vehicle Mark 17. It delivered 8,200 pounds per second impulse and the engine burn was about 2.2 seconds. So very short for modern standards. However, everybody forgets an even more impressive stock of genius. This, everything that flies needs to be stabilized in a roll. And this is even more true for a rotational asymmetrical missile because the CK is actually rotating, so it is imparting a momentum to the airframe in a way which is not dissimilar to what a propeller does to a propeller airplane. This is normally a job for the autopilot. The autopilot used the aerodynamic surfaces to avoid any uncontrolled rolling in the air. However, with the analog electronics of the time, the simple the autopilot is the battery phase. So, someone who I believe was a true genius came up with the idea of actually embedding some aerodynamically spun wheels in the trading edge of the rear empanage. These wheels, what spun, they act as gyroscopes. They exert a force every time the orientation there's pin access in the space changes. This force that they exert rotates a part of the rear empanage which is called the roller one and it rotates in a way to contrast any roll. Either clockwise or counterclockwise. If you look closely, there are also two winglets to divert the air flow onto the wheel and improve the capture section. This was a truly brilliant innovation. I was unable to locate the name of the first person who came up with this idea, but if anybody among you knows, please let me know because it is a name that needs to be celebrated. So, the first operational version was the 9B used by the Navy since 1954. The 9B was also licensed to West Germany to be built locally. The 9B is built in Germany received a lot of improvement which include solid state electronics, new cooled sensor, improved optical domes. It's still for some strange reason where it's still called 9B. Meanwhile in the United States, Navy was not satisfied by version B so they went on developing version D. It had a better and faster spinning optical assembly, nitrogen cooling, improved field of view, faster target tracking rate, a better fuse, a continuous rod work head. So the D came the G, similar to the D but with our rosettes can pattern. After the G came the H with solid state electronics, more powerful actuators to improve maneuverability. In the meanwhile, the Air Force pursued their own line of improvement because basically while they are the Air Force and the others are the Navy. The 9E was an improvement of the 9B. It had a more aerodynamic dome made of magnesium fluoride, a faster and more compact seeker, a new double delta geometry of the canards, and finally an electric peltier cooling system rather than the liquid nitrogen of the Navy. After the D came the J with a mix of solid states and tubes technology. It also had a longer lasting gas generator to improve the canard actuators. There was also J1 version entirely solid state electronics. In the mid 70s the all aspect engagement became a priority to merge as an important requirement and the result was the 9L. It was based on a 9H but it had a new I-REDU-19 monide infrared sensor. The new detector was sensitive in the 4 micron band with a filter rejecting lower frequencies. Also for good measures new canards were introduced and active laser fuse was added and a new double layer road warhead was adopted. After the 9M came the 9L which was basically a 9L with a new low smoke engine and some improved resistance to countermeasures. While all of this was happening a new cheaper export variant was developed by the USR force. It was the 9P. It started as a copy of the 9J then it went through a series of improvement until the P5 version in the late 80s which was practically a 9L with a reduced kinematic performance. In the second half of the 90s focal plane arrays became available and they basically called for a radical redesign of the weapon. There was a 9R version which was abandoned. There was the Azram International Program which failed or at least the United States bailed out. But finally the Air Force and the Navy cooperated on the X version which is basically the current version. The 9X is a very modern and effective weapon. It features a focal plane array with a 90 degrees off-bore side capability, a data link for lock-on after launch operations and critically a new three-dimensional thrust vectoring control which is a game changer in terms of kinematic performances. The Block 1 variant entered in service in 20103. The current variant is the Block 2 which has an extended range of better kinematic capabilities and also introduced the Over the Shoulder Launch profile. A Block 3 variant has been developed now or is entering service now depending at the time where you are watching this video. Ok, this is where we are now but I'm sure we haven't seen the end of it. In the meanwhile please find on the side the list of technologies that I have mentioned in this video without explaining them and if you are interested in any of them please let me know in the comments or yes I will be happy to do some monographic videos to cover them. So for the moment being please if you like this video like it if you dislike this video well ok dislike it but if you get until now, in the end you pretty much you have to subscribe to this channel. Thank you very much for watching, see you next time, goodbye.