The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a modern American short-range air-to-air missile. Its first prototypes appeared in the early 1950s, and it entered the US armed forces in 1955/1956, remaining there today. The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a missile with a range of up to 35 kilometers, capable of carrying a warhead weighing 9.4 kg with a total curb weight of 91 kilograms.
The AIM-9 Sidewinder proved to be the first effective and combatable air-to-air missile in the history of the US military. Raytheon was primarily responsible for its development, but also Philco and General Electric. Many variants of this missile were created in the course of serial production. One of the most important was the AIM-9L, which was put into service in 1977. It could track the enemy plane no matter what direction it was launched towards it (from the side, from below, etc.). It also had much better guidance systems than the previous versions. The latest version is the AIM-9X, which was first tested in 1999. AIM-9X can be used in all weather conditions, day and night, it can also be launched without prior "lighting" the target. It is characterized by a very high degree of maneuverability and high resistance to jamming. In the US armed forces, AIM-9 missiles of various versions were or are carried by such aircraft and helicopters as, for example: F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F-16 C / D Fighting Falcon or AH-64 Apache. The users of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles were or are also many other countries, for example: Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Kuwait, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Missiles of this type were used in combat, among others during the Vietnam War (1964 / 1965-1975), the Falklands War in 1982 and during the Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991).
The AIM-120 AMRAAM is a modern American air-to-air missile. Its first prototypes appeared in the mid-1980s, and the missile entered service in 1991 and is still in service. The AIM-120 AMRAAM is a solid fuel-powered missile with a range - in the C-5 version - of up to 120 kilometers, capable of carrying a warhead weighing from 18 to 23 kg, with a total curb weight of 152 kg.
Work on the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile began around 1975 and was aimed at creating a completely new missile capable of fighting enemy aircraft at medium range. Hughes and Raytheon were responsible for the development and production of the final version. It uses active radar guidance, with possible corrections from the INS system. The missile can officially reach a speed of 4 Ma. Until now, several development versions of the missile have appeared, such as: AIM-120B (the basic production version at the moment), AIM-120C (shortened version intended for F-22 Raptor fighters), AIM-120C-7 (a missile with extended range, intended to replace the AIM-54 missiles). The AIM-120 AMRAAM missile is currently used by many foreign operators, including: Saudi Arabia, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Thailand, Great Britain and Hungary.
The AGM-84 H / K SLAM-ER is a modern American air-to-ground or air-to-water missile. Its first prototypes appeared in the late 1990s, and mass production began in 2000 and is still ongoing. The AGM-84 H / K is a missile with a range of up to 270 kilometers with a total curb weight of 675 kilograms.
The AGM-84 H / K SLAM-ER missile was developed by the Boeing Company as a far-reaching development of the AGM-84 E SLAM missile. The new missile is dedicated to attack surface and land targets at short and medium distances. In the course of guidance, it uses the GPS navigation system, and after launching it, its target can be changed. It is also very accurate. Missiles of this type are used by many American aircraft, including: F / A-18 C / D Hornet, F / A-18 E / F Super Hornet, F-15 E Strike Eagle, P-3C Orion and P- 8 Poseidon. The AGM-84 H / K SLAM-ER missiles are also used by the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.