This quite exceptional development programme started at
what is now called the US Naval Weapons Center, China
Lake, California in the late 1940s. The first prototype
flew in 1953 and the first generation of Sidewinder,
the AIM-9B, entered service with the US Navy and US Air
Force in 1956. Designed by the US Navy staff at China
Lake, the Sidewinder family is now in its third
generation, with the latest version AIM-9R now in
development.
The US Navy and Air Force came together and moved to a
joint development programme for the third generation of
Sidewinder missiles in 1970, making the major
performance change from earlier tail-aspect engagement
only systems in the first and second generation
Sidewinders, to an all-aspect capability with AIM-9L
Sidewinder. In addition, the AIM-9L was designed with
stringent reliability requirements, superior to any
other air-to-air missile system with a long storage
life and several hundred hours of aircraft carried
flight without defect. The Chaparral system was
developed further by the US Army to an equivalent
standard with MIM-72-C/E/F/G and H versions. Production
of AIM-9L started in the US in 1976 and under licence
in Europe and Japan in the early 1980s. Further
development continued and the AIM-9M version entered
production in the US in 1982 with principally an IR
countermeasures capability to detect and reject decoy
flares, but also with a new reduced smoke motor. AIM-9M
flare rejection circuits were upgraded following
operational experience in the 1991 Gulf War. AIM-9S is
almost the same as AIM-9M, but with a slightly larger
warhead. AIM-9R was being developed to improve further
on AIM-9M and was expected in service in the early
1990s, fitted with a visual band CCD seeker, but this
programme was halted in 1992. Further development of
Sidewinder is being pursued by the US, with several
programmes funded since 1989 examining various options
for what has become known as AIM-9X or Sidewinder 2000.
DESCRIPTION:
The AIM-9 Sidewinder missile has four swept front
control fins and four clipped delta wings at the tail
with the distinctive rollerons at the trailing edge
tips. The AIM-9L and 9M versions are 2.87 m long, have
a body diameter of 127 mm and a wingspan of 0.64 m.
Both missiles weigh 87 kg. The IR seeker has an
all-aspect engagement capability and the 9.5 kg blast
fragmentation warhead has an active laser fuze. Several
modes can be used depending upon the avionics fit in
the carrying aircraft; primarily there is the simple
boresight mode, an uncaged scan mode and a mode with
the missile seeker slaved to the aircraft radar or to a
helmet-mounted sight. The AIM-9M version is known as
AIM-9S in USAF service, and is believed to have a
larger 11.4 kg warhead which has also been fitted as a
replacement to some AIM-9M missiles. The AIM-9P
versions are 3.07 m long, have a body diameter of 127
mm, a wingspan of 0.64 m and weigh 82 kg. These
missiles, in the 9P-3 and 9P-4 later models, have an
all-aspect engagement capability; in addition, 9P-4 has
an active laser fuze similar to that first introduced
on AIM-9L.
AIM-9R was basically the same as AIM-9M but with a
visual band CCD seeker and microcomputer tracker. This
seeker has improved acquisition range and IRCM
circuits, as well as having the cryogenic cooler used
in all other Sidewinder versions removed. The one
limitation with the visual seeker however, is that it
cannot be used at night. An improved seeker with dual
mode, thought to be visual and IR, is believed to be in
design for later Sidewinder (AIM-9X or Sidewinder 2000)
versions as well as reduced size wings and fins to give
a smaller radar cross-section and less aerodynamic
drag. AIM-9X might well be fitted to early versions of
the ATF, and hence internal carriage would be made
easier by smaller or folding wings and fin assemblies.
SPECIFICATIONS:
AIM-9L/9M/9S
Length: 2.87 m
Body diameter: 127 mm
Wingspan: 0.64 m
Launch weight: 87 kg
Warhead: 9.5 kg HE blast fragmentation
Fuze: Active laser
Guidance: IR
Propulsion: Solid propellant
Range: 8 km
AIM-9P
Length: 3.07 m
Body diameter: 127 mm
Wingspan: 0.64 m
Launch weight: 82 kg
Warhead: 12 kg HE blast fragmentation
Fuze: RF or active
Guidance: IR
Propulsion: Solid propellant
Range: 8 km
