Russian MIG shoots down Georgian UAV

[dave7101]

Solid propellant will fracture with age, leading to unstable/uneven combustion, and ultimately, explosions rather than controlled burn. They very definitely have a shelf life. Further IR guided weapons suffer from coolant aging, and become less effective over time, also a shelf life constraint. Finally, some have internal powerpacks (batterys)* that will also degrade... shelf life again.

*the old CIA supplied stingers still unaccounted for in Afganistan are no longer a threat for this reason, although there has been talk of various nefarious folks trying to come up with jury rigged power alternatives to revive them for use.

[WJflyer]

Solid propellant will fracture with age, leading to unstable/uneven combustion, and ultimately, explosions rather than controlled burn. They very definitely have a shelf life. Further IR guided weapons suffer from coolant aging, and become less effective over time, also a shelf life constraint. Finally, some have internal powerpacks (batterys)* that will also degrade... shelf life again.

*the old CIA supplied stingers still unaccounted for in Afganistan are no longer a threat for this reason, although there has been talk of various nefarious folks trying to come up with jury rigged power alternatives to revive them for use.

The problem is that nearby Pakistan does manufacturer a copy of the Stinger missile... as such, the threat of MANPADS in Afghanistan is very real from both Stinger missiles, on top of the threat from Soviet bloc and Chinese MANPAD's that get smuggled into Afghanistan.

[mcrit]

endless: The actual effect depends on how old the stuff is. The older it is the less energy it produces as it burns. Dave hit the nail on the head when he talked about cracks. That sort of thing can cause a surge in the burn rate (surge to the point where it blows up as opposed to burns). I had a few instances of this when I used to pack my own model rocket motors. It made for a memorable, but short, flight.

[Topspin]

Needless to say it is a cool video, not something most get to see in their lifetimes.

[Four1oh]

I'm no genius, apparently, but if I designed these missles, I'd make sure it was easy to replace the batteries and propellent... pfft, wtf do I know?

[hazatude]

My missle fires sometimes a little early. Do I have a propellant problem?

[Guido]

bark... woof woof! GRRR!!!

[rigpiggy]

I'm no genius, apparently

apparently, unless your a rocket scientist