The AIM-9 Sidewinder (for Air Intercept Missile) is a short-range air-to-air [[missile]] which entered service with the [[united_states_navy|US Navy]] in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the [[united_states_air_force|US Air Force]] in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has proved to be an enduring international success, and its latest variants remain standard equipment in most western-aligned air forces. The [[Soviet]] K-13, a reverse-engineered copy of the AIM-9, was also widely adopted by a number of nations.

The Sidewinder is the most widely used air-to-air missile in the West, with more than 110,000 missiles produced for the U.S. and 27 other nations, of which perhaps one percent have been used in combat. It has been built under license by some other nations including [[Sweden]], and can even equip on [[helicopter|helicopters]], such as the Bell AH-1Z Viper. The AIM-9 is one of the oldest, lowest cost, and most successful air-to-air missiles, with an estimated 270 [[aircraft]] kills in its history of use. When firing a Sidewinder, NATO pilots use the brevity code FOX-2.

h4. External links

* "Wikipedia: AIM-9 Sidewinder":[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder]
aim-9 sidewinder