The K-9 (

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

AA-4 'Awl') was a short-range

air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

developed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the late 1950s. It was designed by

MKB Raduga MKB Raduga (, meaning Raduga Design Bureau (), where ''raduga'' literally means "rainbow") is a Russian aerospace company, concerned with the production of various missile-systems and related technologies. It is headquartered in Dubna, Moscow ...

, a division of aircraft maker

Mikoyan-Gurevich Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Мик ...

. The K-9 was also known as the K-155, and would apparently have had the service designation R-38. It was intended to arm the

Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152A Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Мик ...

(NATO reporting name 'Flipper'), an experimental high speed twin-engine aircraft, predecessor to the

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a Supersonic aircraft, supersonic Interceptor aircraft, interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the Flight airspeed record, fastest military aircraft to enter service ...

'Foxbat'. When the Ye-152A was shown at Tushino in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, a prototype of the K-9 missile was displayed with it. Neither the 'Flipper' nor the 'Awl' ever entered production.Gordon, p. 15

Notes

References

* Air-to-air missiles of the Soviet Union Cold War air-to-air missiles of the Soviet Union MKB Raduga products {{USSR-stub