Vympel NPO is a Russian research and production company based near Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, mostly known for their air-to-air missile

Air-to-air missile

An air-to-air missile is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fuelled but sometimes liquid fuelled...

s. Other projects include SAM

Surface-to-air missile

A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...

 and ABM

Anti-ballistic missile

An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...

 defenses. It was started in the Soviet era as an OKB

OKB

OKB is a transliteration of the Russian acronym for "Опытное конструкторское бюро" - Opytnoe Konstructorskoe Byuro, meaning Experimental Design Bureau...

 (experimental design bureau).

OKB-134 Toropov

Vympel started out after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as OKB-134, with Ivan I. Toropov leading the team. The first product they designed was the K-7 missile. Their first missile built in serial production was the K-13

Vympel K-13

The K-13 is an short-range, infrared homing air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union. It is similar in appearance and function to the American AIM-9 Sidewinder from which it was reverse-engineered...

 (R-13) in 1958. Toropov moved to Tushino Aviation Facility in 1961 and was replaced by Andrey Lyapin. Somewhere between 1966 and 1968 the OKB got renamed to Vympel. In 1977 Matus Bisnovat

Matus Bisnovat

Matus Ruvimovich Bisnovat , Soviet aircraft and missile designer.Bisnovat attended the Moscow Aviation Institute , graduating in 1931. In 1938, he headed a research team in Central Aero-Hydrodynamics Institute TsAGI, Zhukovsky, where several high-speed experimental airplanes were developed, the...

 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.

GosMKB Vympel

In 1992 the GosMKB Vympel got started on the basis of the OKB and in 1994 Sokolovski became the director of development at the company.

In May 2004 the Tactical Missiles Corporation

Tactical Missiles Corporation

275px|rightOJSC Tactical Missiles [ Weapons ] Corporation or KTRV for short is a major Russian weapon manufacturer. Headquarters in Korolev, Moscow Oblast....

 was formed and Vympel became a part of it, as the design and development facility.

Air-to-air missiles

• K-13/R-13 (AA-2 "Atoll")
  Vympel K-13
  The K-13 is an short-range, infrared homing air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union. It is similar in appearance and function to the American AIM-9 Sidewinder from which it was reverse-engineered...
  
  
• R-4 (AA-5 "Ash")
  Bisnovat R-4
  The Bisnovat R-4 was an early Soviet long-range air-to-air missile. It was used primarily as the sole weapon of the Tupolev Tu-128 interceptor, matching its RP-S Smerch radar .-History:Development of the R-4 began in 1959,...
  
  
• R-23/R-24 (AA-7 "Apex")
  Vympel R-23
  The Vympel R-23 is a medium-range air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union for fighter aircraft. An updated version with greater range, the R-24, replaced it in service...
  
  
• R-27 (AA-10 "Alamo")
• R-33 (AA-9 "Amos")
  Vympel R-33
  The Vympel R-33 is a long-range air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union. It is the primary armament of the MiG-31 interceptor, intended to attack large high-speed targets such as the SR-71 Blackbird, the B-1 Lancer bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress....
  
  
• R-37 (AA-13 "Arrow")
  Vympel R-37
  The Vympel R-37 is a Russian air-to-air missile with an extremely long range. It has also had the names K-37, Izdeliye 610 and R-VD , and the NATO codename 'Andi'.It was designed to shoot down AWACS and other C4ISTAR aircraft whilst keeping the launch platform out of range of any fighters...
  
  
• R-40 (AA-6 'Acrid')
  Bisnovat R-40
  The Bisnovat R-40 was a long-range air-to-air missile developed in the 1960s by the Soviet Union specifically for the MiG-25 interceptor, but can also be carried by the later MiG-31...
  
  
• R-60 (AA-8 "Aphid")
  Molniya R-60
  The Molniya R-60 is a lightweight air-to-air missile designed for use by Soviet fighter aircraft. It has been widely exported, and remains in service with the CIS and many other nations....
  
  
• R-73 (AA-11 "Archer")
  Vympel R-73
  The Vympel R-73 developed by Vympel machine-building design bureau, is the most modern Russian short-range air-to-air missile.-Development:...
  
  
• R-77 (AA-12 "Adder")
  Vympel R-77
  The Russian R-77 Missile is a medium range, air-to-air, active radar-guided missile system. It is the Russian counterpart to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, thus gaining a nickname: Amraamski....
  
  

Surface-to-air missiles

• 3M9 SA missile (SA-6 "Gainful") for Kub missile system.