Missile AIM-9 Sidewinder

The AIM-9 Sidewinder began in 1946 as an in-house project at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, California. It received official funding in 1951. The first live firing took place on 3 September 1952, and the first drone intercept on 11 September 1953. Production was authorized in 1955. The missile entered US Navy service in 1956 and US Air Force service in 1964.

The missile has a solid-fuel rocket motor, cruciform nose canards and tail fins. Rollerons on the tail fins provide gyroscopic roll stabilization. Guidance uses proportional navigation, holding a constant bearing to the target. Early models such as the AIM-9B used uncooled lead sulphide detectors and could track only engine exhaust from the rear. Later models added nitrogen, thermoelectric and argon cooling. The AIM-9L entered full production in 1977. It introduced an indium antimonide detector and all-aspect capability, including head-on engagements. The AIM-9M added infrared counter-countermeasures, improved background rejection and a reduced-smoke motor. The AIM-9C used semi-active radar homing tied to the F-8 Crusader's fire control system, and its remaining stocks were converted into the AGM-122 Sidearm anti-radiation missile.

The AIM-9X entered service in November 2003. It has an imaging infrared focal plane array seeker with a claimed 90-degree off-boresight capability, helmet-mounted cueing, two-axis thrust vectoring and internal seeker cooling. Block II adds a datalink and lock-on-after-launch capability. Warheads have included blast-fragmentation and Mk 48 continuous-rod types. Current models carry the WDU-17/B annular blast-fragmentation warhead, triggered by a passive infrared or active laser proximity fuze. Derivatives include the MIM-72 Chaparral surface-to-air system. The missile has also been fired from NASAMS and the US Army Multi-Mission Launcher, and it has demonstrated air-to-ground use. The Soviet K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) was reverse-engineered from an AIM-9B recovered in 1958.

On 24 September 1958, Taiwanese F-86F Sabres used AIM-9Bs to shoot down Chinese MiGs. These were the first successful air-to-air missile kills. In Vietnam, 452 Sidewinders were fired with an 18 percent kill probability. The AIM-9E achieved an 8 percent hit rate, while the Navy's AIM-9G reached 46 percent during Operation Linebacker in 1972. In 1981, US Navy F-14s destroyed two Libyan Su-22s with AIM-9Ls over the Gulf of Sidra. During the 1982 Falklands War, Sea Harriers launched 24 AIM-9Ls, of which 21 hit, destroying 19 Argentine aircraft. All 10 Sidewinder kills of the 1991 Gulf War were made with the AIM-9M. On 24 February 1994, USAF F-16s used Sidewinders to shoot down Republika Srpska aircraft over Bosnia. In June 2017, an AIM-9X failed to track a Syrian Su-22, which was then destroyed with an AMRAAM. On 4 February 2023, an F-22 used an AIM-9X to shoot down a Chinese balloon off South Carolina. On 2 November 2023, the Israeli Air Force said one of its F-35Is had downed a cruise missile with an AIM-9X.

Ukraine adapted AIM-9Ms for ground launch under the FrankenSAM program and fitted them to Magura naval drones. Ukrainian intelligence claimed these drones shot down two Russian Su-30s over the Black Sea on 3 May 2025. In early March 2026, during the war with Iran, a Kuwaiti F/A-18C armed with AIM-9M and AIM-9X missiles shot down three USAF F-15Es in a friendly-fire incident. In July 2026, Romanian F-16s used AIM-9Xs against three Russian drones.

More than 110,000 have been produced for the United States and 27 other nations. Sweden and West Germany built the missile under license. The Sidewinder is credited with an estimated 270 aircraft kills. Operators include Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Ukraine. Former operators include the United Kingdom, France, Spain and South Africa. Bulgaria has AIM-9X on order.