This Is The Missile Shooting Down Everything Over North America
AIM-9X Sidewinder
Ever since the United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, the country has been caught up in a frenzy. Now, there has been a slew of additional shootdowns of “objects” violating NORAD airspace. The Pentagon is being mum on what these objects are. We might not know what these particular objects are, but we do know what is blowing them out of the sky.
The F-22 is getting its first taste of aerial combat in its long development history, and the jet is using a classic weapon to get the job done. Every object taken out of the skies over North America in recent days has been destroyed by an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.
An Old Favorite
The AIM-9X Sidewinder has been in use by the United States since 1956. The missiles are designed and produced by Raytheon Company and have been attached to many of the United States’ most iconic fighter aircraft. Obviously, the missile has undergone serious revisions and redesigns in the intervening years, but it is still part of America’s most advanced current generation fighters’ arsenals.
The current generation of Sidewinder missiles are Block II and Block III variants which began their design phases in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
