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The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a modern American short-range air-to-air missile. Its first prototypes appeared in the early 1950s, and it entered the US armed forces in 1955/1956, remaining there today. The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a missile with a range of up to 35 kilometers, capable of carrying a warhead weighing 9.4 kg with a total curb weight of 91 kilograms.
The AIM-9 Sidewinder proved to be the first effective and combatable air-to-air missile in the history of the US military. Raytheon was primarily responsible for its development, but also Philco and General Electric. Many variants of this missile were created in the course of serial production. One of the most important was the AIM-9L, which was put into service in 1977. It could track the enemy plane no matter what direction it was launched towards it (from the side, from below, etc.). It also had much better guidance systems than the previous versions. The latest version is the AIM-9X, which was first tested in 1999. AIM-9X can be used in all weather conditions, day and night, it can also be launched without prior "lighting" the target. It is characterized by a very high degree of maneuverability and high resistance to jamming. In the US armed forces, AIM-9 missiles of various versions were or are carried by such aircraft and helicopters as, for example: F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F-16 C / D Fighting Falcon or AH-64 Apache. The users of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles were or are also many other countries, for example: Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Kuwait, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Missiles of this type were used in combat, among others during the Vietnam War (1964 / 1965-1975), the Falklands War in 1982 and during the Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991).