Vympel NPO is a Russian research and production company based near
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, mostly known for their
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 ...
s. Other projects include SAM and ABM defenses. It was started in the Soviet era as an
OKB
OKB is a transliteration of the Russian initials of "" – , meaning 'experiment and design bureau'. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of advanced technology, usually for military applications. ...
(experimental design bureau).
History
Vympel started out after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
as OKB-134, with leading the team. The first product they designed was the K-7 missile. Their first missile built in serial production was the K-13 (R-13) in 1958. Toropov moved to Tushino Aviation Facility in 1961 and was replaced by . Somewhere between 1966 and 1968 the OKB got renamed to Vympel. In 1977
Matus Bisnovat
Matus Ruvimovich Bisnovat (russian: Матус Рувимович Бисноват, 23 October 1905, Nikopol – 8 November 1977) was a Soviet aircraft and missile designer. Bisnovat attended the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), graduating in 1 ...
of
OKB-4 Molniya
Vympel NPO is a Russian research and production company based near Moscow, mostly known for their air-to-air missiles. Other projects include SAM and ABM defenses. It was started in the Soviet era as an OKB
(experimental design bureau).
Hist ...
died, and all missile related work was passed to Vympel. G. Khokhlov led the team until 1981, when Genadiy A. Sokolovski succeeded him.
In 1992 the GosMKB Vympel got started on the basis of the OKBPalms & Company Document - Russia's 200 largest industries available for merger - acquisition /ref> and in 1994 Sokolovski became the director of development at the company.
In May 2004 the
Tactical Missiles Corporation
, type = Joint-stock company
, location =
, industry = Defense industry Aerospace industrySpace industry
, founded =
, founder =
, hq_location_city = Korolyov, Moscow Oblast
, hq_location_country = Russia
, area_served = worldwide
, key_peop ...
was formed and Vympel became a part of it, as the design and development facility.
Terra-3
Terra-3 (Russian language, Russian: терра–3) was a Soviet laser testing centre, located on the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile (ABM) testing range in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. It was originally built to test missile defense con ...