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).
OKB-134 Toropov[]
Vympel started out after World War II as OKB-134, with Ivan I. Toropov leading the team. The first product they designed was the K-7 missile.[1] 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 Andrey Lyapin.[2] Somewhere between 1966 and 1968 the OKB got renamed to Vympel. In 1977 Matus Bisnovat of OKB-4 Molniya died, and all missile related work was passed to Vympel. G. Khokhlov got to lead the team from until 1981, when Genadiy A. Sokolovski succeeded him.[3]
GosMKB Vympel[]
In 1992 the GosMKB Vympel got started on the basis of the OKB[4] and in 1994 Sokolovski became the director of development at the company.
In May 2004 the Tactical Missiles Corporation was formed and Vympel became a part of it, as the design and development facility.
Notable projects[]
Air-to-air missiles[]
- K-13/R-13 (AA-2 "Atoll")
- R-4 (AA-5 "Ash")
- R-23/R-24 (AA-7 "Apex")
- R-27 (AA-10 "Alamo")
- R-33 (AA-9 "Amos")
- R-37 (AA-13 "Arrow")
- R-40 (AA-6 'Acrid')
- R-60 (AA-8 "Aphid")
- R-73 (AA-11 "Archer")
- R-77 (AA-12 "Adder")
Air-to-surface missiles[]
- Terra-3 laser
Surface-to-air missiles[]
- 3M9 SA missile (SA-6 "Gainful") for Kub missile system.
- ABM-1 Galosh
References[]
The original article can be found at Vympel NPO and the edit history here.