Originally Posted by
Sailvi767
I can tell you that is incorrect the search head would be destroyed. That’s not the way missile warheads function. They are designed to throw out a expanding cone of fragments almost like a big net. They blow straight out from the missile not forward, I would expect the guidance section to survive.
I would not however expect to find the guidance section with the wreckage unless it got embedded with the aircraft.
The continuous rod warhead is pretty common in anti-aircraft missiles; effectively a charge expands a structure of end welded rods at right angles to the flight path, generating a circle of steel of large diameter. If it intercepts the aircraft before it flies apart it acts like a saw blade. Here's a drawing. With a shaped charge it seems possible for the guide head to survive as the end is probably designed to direct the explosive force to fling the rod(s) out.
