AIM-9 Sidewinder Missile

The AIM-9 Sidewinder is an American short-range, infrared-homing air-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy at what is now the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, California, and entering service in 1956, one of the first successful heat-seeking guided missiles and among the most widely produced air-to-air missiles in the world. Named for the sidewinder rattlesnake, whose heat-sensing pit organs partly inspired its infrared-seeking guidance concept, the missile homes in on the infrared heat signature of a target aircraft's engine exhaust, allowing a fighter to launch it and maneuver away rather than needing to guide the missile continuously onto the target as some radar-guided designs of the era required. First combat use came during a 1958 clash between Taiwanese and Chinese aircraft over the Taiwan Strait, and repeatedly upgraded versions of the missile have remained in frontline service with dozens of air forces worldwide for well over half a century, making it one of the longest continuously produced and used guided weapons in history.