The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a family of short-range air-to-air missiles carried on a wide range of modern tactical aircraft in the U.S. military and uses in infrared seeker to home in on the heat ...

The missile relies on a dual-mode radar seeker for precision targeting. It can operate semi-actively or actively using radar ...

But no expansion at all will be possible in Japan without additional supplies of the missiles' seekers, which guide them in the final stages of flight, the officials and industry sources said.