"new style" Sidewinder

[bjphoenix]

Spotted these hanging from an F15 at a recent airshow. Later I saw a couple on another display and the personnel nearby told me they were the "new style" Sidewinder. (I didn't know there was a "new" vs. "old".) These steer from the rear end, the old style Sidewinder steers from the front end.

[Viperfixr]

It's called an AIM-9X, and it's really an all-new missile--nothing much related to the to previous Sidewinders other then being a heak seeker. When combined with a Helmet Mounted Cueing System, it allows off-boresite firing--meaning: you just have to look at something to fire on it, darn near regardless the launcher's orientation relative to the target (don't have to be behind the target like in "Top Gun"). Note the thrust vectoring in the exhaust. It's been around a few years now...

[[POW]Eagle159]

Any picture of the full bird?!?

[Eric1]

Second Request full Picture!

[bjphoenix]

Here is a shot of the whole thing, and a shot of the rear end with my daughter posing.

[[POW]Eagle159]

The F-15 is my favorite plane too! I even built a plastic model id it to hang up. The airshow I go to there is never any ordinates on the planes...I would love to see a fully loaded F-15, F-14 (with the phoenix missiles), F-105,and maybe a F-4 too.

It must be really cool to see the plane WITH the missile...or even just the missile!

[KenRico]

Picked up a Screaming Eagle #2117 from Estes , but haven't built til I figure out a different paint scheme .

Like the McDonnell scheme from the 70s Air Shows , bicentennial like but with weapons - unlike the NASA scheme and the rare Thunderbird scheme.

Need to figure out scale on the Estes to shop for some equivalent sized plastic model decals & see whats available.

Nice pics of the SideWinder ! Heard it was all new except for the diameter size and the hard mount points .

[gagreen]

When combined with a Helmet Mounted Cueing System, it allows off-boresite firing

o the headaches of that system...

The F-15 is my favorite plane too! I even built a plastic model id it to hang up. The airshow I go to there is never any ordinates on the planes...I would love to see a fully loaded F-15, F-14 (with the phoenix missiles), F-105,and maybe a F-4 too.

It must be really cool to see the plane WITH the missile...or even just the missile!

Thats odd, every airshow i worked while i was in the air force we always had a loaded static, albeit dummy rounds but they usually have the right exterior. I guess it would also depend on the location of show from the closest base that could supply a laden static, I was always in fighter wings that was our bread and butter.