The Kaliningrad K-8 (R-8) (

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-3 '

Anab Anab (, ''Anav'') is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as one of the cities in the Judaean Mountains from which Joshua expelled the Anakim. In the Hebrew Bible Anab is mentioned in Joshua 11:21 -- :"And ...

') was a medium-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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

for

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...

use.Gordon, Yefim. ''Soviet/Russian Aircraft Weapons''. Midland. 2004. The missile was developed by OKB-339/NII-339 (currently Phazotron NIIR). The infrared seeker was developed by TsKB-589 GKOT (currently TsKB Geofizika), who also developed the seeker for 9M31 missile of

9K31 Strela-1 The 9K31 ''Strela-1'' (russian: 9К31 «Стрела-1»; en, arrow) is a highly mobile, short-range, low altitude infra-red guided surface-to-air missile system. Originally developed by the Soviet Union under the GRAU designation 9K31, it is c ...

History

The K-8's development began in 1955, known as R-8 in service. Like most Soviet air-to-air missiles, it was made with a choice of

semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range Air-to-air missile, air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is ...

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

seeker heads. The original missile was compatible with the Uragan-5B

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

used on the

Sukhoi Su-11 The Sukhoi Su-11 (NATO reporting name: Fishpot-C) was an interceptor aircraft used by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Design and development The Su-11 was an upgraded version of the Sukhoi Su-9 ('Fishpot') interceptor, which had been developed ...

and several developmental aircraft from Mikoyan-Gurevich. It was upgraded to R-8M (better known as R-98) standard in 1961, giving the SARH weapon the capability for head-on intercepts. In 1963 it was further upgraded to the R-8M1, making it compatible with the RP-11 Oriol-D radar of the

Sukhoi Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...

and Yakovlev Yak-28P. Subsequent development led in 1965 to R-8M2, more commonly called R-98, with longer range and improved seekers, compatible with the upgraded RP-11 Oryol-M ("Eagle") radar. The final variant, introduced from 1973, was the R-98M1 (NATO 'Advanced Anab') with better countermeasures resistance and longer range, matched to the Taifun-M radar of the Su-15TM and Yak-28PM interceptors. The R-98M1 remained in service through the 1980s, being withdrawn with the last Su-15 'Flagon' interceptors. A variant using the seeker heads of the K-13, giving better dogfight capability, was developed in 1960 as the K-88, but it did not enter service. An inert training version was also developed, designated UR-8M. The R-98 brought down

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alask ...

on September 1, 1983.

Operators

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air De ...

Specifications (R-98MT / R-98MR)

* Length: (R-98MT) 4 m (13 ft 1 in); (R-98MR) 4.27 m (14 ft) * Wingspan: 1300 mm (4 ft 3 in) * Diameter: 280 mm (11 in) * Launch weight: (R-98MT) 272 kg (600 lb); (R-98MR) 292 kg (642 lb) * Speed: Mach 2 * Range: 23 km (14.4 mi) * Guidance: (R-98MT)

infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

; (R-98MR)

* Warhead: 40 kg (88 lb) blast fragmentation

References

;Citations ;Bibliography *

External links

*
R-8
on the site of aviation encyclopaedia «Sky corner» ( airwar.ru) *
R-98
on the site of aviation encyclopaedia «Sky corner» ( airwar.ru) {{DEFAULTSORT:K008 Air-to-air missiles of the Soviet Union Cold War air-to-air missiles of the Soviet Union Phazotron products Military equipment introduced in the 1960s