AIM-9 Sidewinder 1970. These were followed from the mid-seventies by the AIM-9L/P which was a substantial improvement on the early versions, particularly with an improved SR-116 reduced-smoke rocket motor. The third generation of the missile (AIM-9L/M) are all-aspect missile which share little in common with the earlier missiles. The name "Sidewinder" was selected in 1950 and is the common name of "Crotalus cerastes", a venomous rattlesnake, which uses infrared sensory organs to hunt warm-blooded prey. Originally called the Sidewinder 1, the first live firing was on 3 September 1952. The missile intercepted a drone for the first time on the 11 September
AIM-9 Sidewinder Ordnance Test Station (NOTS), Inyokern, California, now the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California as an in-house research project conceived by William B. McLean. McLean initially called his effort "Local Fuze Project 602" using laboratory funding, volunteer help and fuze funding to develop what it called a heat-homing rocket. It did not receive official funding until 1951 when the effort was mature enough to show to Admiral William "Deak" Parsons, the Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd). It subsequently received designation as a program in 1952. The Sidewinder introduced several new technologies that made it simpler and