How Does a Sidewinder Missile Work?
The Sidewinder missile is the first truly successful air-to-air missile, and as such it has been widely produced, with more than 110,000 produced so far for over 28 countries, as well as widely imitated. The Sidewinder originates in the United States, and is named after the sidewinder snake, as the trajectory of early versions was reminiscent of the zig-zagging of this species. Similar to snakes, it is also heat-seeking, and can be quite deadly, with more than 270 verified kills since its development in 1956. The Sidewinder is a supersonic missile, with a speed of Mach 2.5. A typical design, the AIM-9L, has a length of 2.85 m (9.4 ft), a 1-18 km range, depending on weather conditions, and carries a 9.4 kg blast-fragmenting payload. Unit cost is approximately $84,000 US Dollars (USD) as of 2007. It is manufactured by one of three companies: Raytheon Corporation, Ford Aerospace, or Loral Corp. When the Sidewinder was first under development in the early 1950s, the goal was to produce a r
