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).
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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]
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.
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