The K-9 (
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...
AA-4 'Awl') was a short-range
air-to-air missile
The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back)
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...
developed by the
Soviet Union in the late 1950s. It was designed by
MKB Raduga
MKB Raduga (russian: МКБ Радуга, meaning Raduga Design Bureau (russian: машиностроительное конструкторское бюро «Радуга»), where ''raduga'' literally means "rainbow") is a Russian aerospac ...
, a division of aircraft maker
Mikoyan-Gurevich. 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 (NATO reporting name 'Flipper'), an experimental high speed twin-engine aircraft, predecessor to the
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-25; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the ...
'Foxbat'. When the Ye-152A was shown at
Tushino in
1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 ...
, 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
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