Thank you for posting this! (It looks like large numbers of retired Sidewinder rocket motors may soon become available for sounding rocket use...) The IRIS-T is an historic missile, because it was developed to be a "drop-in replacement" for the venerable AIM-9 Sidewinder. (The Wikipedia article about the IRIS-T (see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRIS-T ) contains some interesting scale-related material:
It includes a video that shows--and well--the cylindrical infrared seeker moving (scanning) inside the transparent..."lidome?" (the optical equivalent of a radome, transparent to infrared--and also visible--light) nose cap. This would make an interesting Sun-seeker scale model, using a photocell, a solar cell, a photodiode, or a phototransistor as the optical sensor. Also:
A surface-launched, radar-guided IRIS-T variant, with a sub-caliber ogive/cylinder/transition forward section (see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRIS-T...IRIS-T_SL-2.jpg ), is also being developed. It comes in two versions, the IRIS-T SLS (short-range) and the IRIS-T SLM (medium-range). The IRIS-T can also be used as an air-to-surface missile (the Royal Norwegian Air Force has tested this capability), simply by using different software, and:
A navalized, fiber-optic-guided IRIS-T variant (with shorter-chord wings, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDAS_(...le:BGT_IDAS.jpg ) for launch from German Navy submarines' torpedo tubes, called IDAS (Interactive Defence and Attack System for Submarines [the Wikipedia IDAS article can't be accessed via a posted link due to its URL's format]), is also under development. Four IDAS missiles will fit in each torpedo tube, stored in a magazine. With an official range of approximately 20 kilometers, IDAS will enable the launching submarines to engage enemy aircraft while submerged.