Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, mostly known for their
air-to-air missile
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...
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 for "" (), which translates to "Experimental Design Bureau." It could also mean or "Special Design Bureau" in english. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and ...
(experimental design bureau).
History
Vympel started out after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
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 (, 23 October 1905, Nikopol – 8 November 1977) was a Soviet aircraft and missile designer. Bisnovat attended the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), graduating in 1931. In 1938, he headed a research team in Central Aero-Hy ...
of OKB-4 Molniya 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
JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV) (, КТРВ) is a major Russian holding company for the manufacturers of military weapons (especially missiles), headquartered in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast.
History
Tactical Missiles Corporation was found ...
was formed and Vympel became a part of it, as the design and development facility.
Terra-3
Terra-3 (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 defence concepts, but these ...