military picture

Missile, Air-to-Air, Sidewinder, AIM 9E, originally uploaded by cliff1066.

This is a Sidewinder air-to-air missile, also designated AIM-9E. The blue stripe indicates it was a training model. The Sidewinder has been one of the most successful short-range air-to-air missiles and was the first heat-seeking guided missile to become operational. Many models have been produced since the mid-1950s. A variety of aircraft have carried Sidewinders and variants have been adopted by about 40 countries. They have been used extensively in combat, including the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars