Warhead: Annular blast fragmentation (conventional) weighing 20.8 pounds (9.36 kg) The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a family of short-range air-to-air missiles carried on a wide range of modern tactical ...

In the Tonkin Gulf in 1965, aviation ordnancemen of VF-194 load an AIM‑9 Sidewinder onto an F-8 aboard the Ticonderoga. Why did this RF-8G rocket skyward in a vertical climb? Because—with the ...