Editor’s Note: FighterSweep Fans, this has been a long time coming. Raptor pilots have long lamented the lack of the U.S. Air Force’s most capable short-range air-to-air missile, the AIM-9X Sidewinder. On 1 March, the 90th Fighter Squadron “Dicemen” became the first Raptor squadron in the CAF (Combat Air Forces) to receive the AIM-9X. So the world’s most feared combat aircraft just became even more lethal!

On Mar. 1, 2016 the 90th Fighter Squadron (FS) belonging to the 3rd Wing stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska officially became the first combat-operational Raptor unit to equip an F-22 with the AIM-9X Sidewinder.

According to Chief Master Sgt. Chuck Jenkins, 3rd Wing Weapons Manager, the AIM-9X will increase the already outstanding Raptor’s combat capabilities. “This has been in the inventory for the Air Force and Navy for some years; it’s nothing new to the military, but to put it on the Ferrari of aircraft – the F-22, the most advanced aircraft we have – it gives the pilots more maneuverability, larger range, and it’s a much faster missile” he said.

A close up view showing an AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range, heat-seeking air intercept missile attached to the port side inboard wing pylon of a US Air Force (USAF) F-15C Eagle aircraft assigned to Detachment 1, 28th Test Squadron, Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada (NV), during an evaluation flight conducted over the Gulf of Mexico by the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 2, located at Eglin AFB, Florida (FL).
A close up view showing an AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range, heat-seeking air intercept missile attached to the port side inboard wing pylon of a US Air Force (USAF) F-15C Eagle aircraft. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force)

A claim confirmed by Lt. Col David Skalicky, commander of the 90th FS, who highlighted that, like the F-22 is a generation beyond the fighters that came before it, the AIM-9X is a generation beyond the previous variants of the Sidewinder missile: “Every aspect about this missile, it’s a huge capability increase in all facets, we can employ it in more scenarios, at greater range, and reach edges of the envelope we would have had a more difficult time reaching with the AIM-9M.”

The late arrival of the AIM-9X (already integrated in most of US combat planes since 2003) to the F-22 very well may signal a new era in Air Force airpower, since as told by Skalicky “this missile makes the most lethal combat aircraft the world has ever seen even more capable. It’s a giant enhancement to the already formidable F-22 arsenal.”

The original article in its entirety can be viewed right here.

(Featured photo courtesy of YouTube)