Gimlet (rocket) the seeming success, however, the Gimlet was already becoming obsolete; guided missiles were now considered to be the wave of the future. Production of Gimlet was cancelled in early 1957, after production of 15,000 rockets; that October, the T-Gimlet version was cancelled as well. Although the missile age meant that Gimlet did not enter operational service, the production processes developed for the rocket would be modified and used in the production of the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile. Gimlet (rocket) The Gimlet was an unguided air-to-air and air-to-surface rocket developed by the United States Navy during the early 1950s. Although it
Shaped charge developed for piercing thick steel armor be adapted to the task of accelerating shock waves. The resulting device, looking a little like a wind tunnel, is called a Voitenko compressor. The Voitenko compressor initially separates a test gas from a shaped charge with a malleable steel plate. When the shaped charge detonates, most of its energy is focused on the steel plate, driving it forward and pushing the test gas ahead of it. Ames translated this idea into a self-destroying shock tube. A 66-pound shaped charge accelerated the gas in a 3-cm glass-walled tube 2 meters in length. The velocity