K-9 (missile)

The K-9 (NATO reporting name AA-4 'Awl') was a short-range air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. It was designed by MKB Raduga, 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 'Foxbat'. When the Ye-152A was shown at Tushino in 1961, a prototype of the K-9 missile was displayed with it.^[1]

K-9
K-9 prototype missile
Type	short-range air-to-air missile
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Production history
Manufacturer	Raduga
Specifications
Mass	245 kg (540 lb)
Length	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Diameter	250 mm (9.8 in)
Wingspan	1.6 m (5 ft 3 in)
Warhead	27 kg (60 lb)
Engine	two-stage solid-fuel rocket engine
Operational range	9 km (5.6 mi)
Maximum speed	5,040 km/h (3,130 mph)
Guidance system	SARH
Launch platform	Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152A

Neither the 'Flipper' nor the 'Awl' ever entered production.^[2]

Notes

1. Gordon, pp. 13–15
2. Gordon, p. 15

References

• Gordon, Yefim (2004). Soviet/Russian Aircraft Weapons Since World War Two. Hinckley, England: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-188-1.