When it comes to air-to-air combat, no missile on earth is as iconic as the AIM-9 Sidewinder. It has seen service in many forms and adaptations for over six decades and its continued development is as much a history lesson in jet-age air combat as anything else. Now, Raytheon and the Pentagon are quietly working at developing the next major capability leap for the Sidewinder that will take full advantage of many other developments that have been incorporated into the missile in recent years. As a result, the AIM-9X may finally morph into a missile that is made up of components that are all, or nearly all, different than those found on its predecessor, the AIM-9M. But the AIM-9X may change again and more dramatically in the not so distant future. Even though the AIM-9X Block III was officially canceled in the 2016 Fiscal Year budget, which came out in 2015, each subsequent budget request has asked for money to continue to develop similar features. Most notably, this includes an entirely new motor that would make use of decades in rocket technology advances.
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