Photo series #16
FOX-2, FOX-2!
Yes, today the photo series is going to be about one of the most successful and also one of the oldest air-to-air missiles, this is the Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder.
Developed by the US Navy during the 1950s, the Sidewinder entered service in 1956 and is still in operation today after numerous variants and upgrades, the latest one being the X variant, most of them use infrared homing for guidance.
The AIM-9X can be used as both air-to-air and surface-to-air missile being multi-mission capable, it can be equipped in fighters such as the F-15, F-16, F-22, in attackers and strike fighters like the A-10 and F-35, in helicopters such as the AH-1Z Viper and in U.S. Army’s ground-based multi-mission launcher.
During it’s combat debut in 1958 at the Taiwan Straits, ROCAF (Republic Of China Air Force) F-86 Sabres engaged PLAAF (People’s Liberation Army Air Force) Mig-17s, a AIM-9B failed to detonate and was lodged in the airframe of the Mig, both the plane and the missile landed safely but this allowed Soviet engineers to capture and reverse-engineer the Sidewinder which later led to the manufacturing of the Vympel K-13/R-3S missile, NATO reporting name AA-2 Atoll, the K-13 entered service with Soviet Air Forces in 1961. An interesting fact about all of this is that in 1972, the Finnish Air Force started using the AIM-9P Sidewinders in their Saab 35 Draken fighters but they already operated the Atoll in their Mig-21s, the missiles were so similar that they made tests using Atolls in the Drakens and Sidewinders in the Migs.
That’s it for this photo series, as always, if you have any suggestions or want to send any pictures for future photo series, don’t be shy, send them to me and i’ll upload them!
Have a great day!!!!
