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From: tohall@helios.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave Hall (Sverdrup))
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: a10 in combat
Message-ID: <1991Feb13.222209.6649@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 13 Feb 91 22:22:09 GMT
References: <1991Feb9.025209.29262@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb11.043245.27178@cbnews.att.com>
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From: tohall@helios.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave Hall (Sverdrup))
In article <1991Feb11.043245.27178@cbnews.att.com>, tkogoma%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk) writes...


>However, a friend of mine had been speculating about mounting an
>all-aspect Sidewinder to fire *backwards* from the A-10.
>I realize that this is probably infeasable, but it sure sounds like
>fun...

As a matter of fact, you need to change the laws of physics governing
the mechanics of flight. When the missile came off, it would have to
reduce its forward velocity to zero, then accelerate in the opposite
direction. All tactical missiles rely on the lift generated by their
wings/fins for stabilization. Backwards firing would result in a total
wing stall as the airframe approached zero forward velocity and an
uncontrollable roll maneuver.