The Sidewinder family has two autonomous acquisition modes (wide field-of-view and narrow field-of view/boresight).

The missile seeker can also be steered by external command (as a feature to cut down target acquisition time). The seeker can be pointed by the pilot using a thumb switch on the stick, the seeker can be slaved to look where the radar is looking, or slaved to the JHMCS/HMS, or slaved to a target being tracked by EODAS (F-35).