SOV - R-3S / AA-2 Atoll-A


     
Název:
Name:
R-3S R-3S
Originální název:
Original Name:
Р-3С
Kategorie:
Category:
protiletadlová řízená střela krátkého dosahu short-range air-to-air missile
Výrobce:
Producer:
Zavod 43 (Завод №43), Moskva, /
Zavod 485 (Завод №485), Kyjev, /
licenční výrobci / licence producers
Období výroby:
Production Period:
DD.MM.1962-DD.MM.19XX (?)
Vyrobeno kusů:
Number of Produced:
~ 90 000
Prototyp vyroben:
Prototype Built:
DD.MM.1964 (?)
Technické údaje:
Technical Data:
 
Hmotnost střely:
Missile Weight:
75,3 kg 166.0 lb
Hmotnost hlavice:
Warhead Weight:
11,3 kg 24.9 lb
Celková délka:
Overall Length:
2838 mm 9 ft 3 ¾ in ft
Průměr těla:
Diameter:
127 mm 5in ft
Rozpětí křídel:
Wingspan:
528 mm 1 ft 8 ¾ in ft
Způsob navedení:
Guidance System:
infračervené navádění heat-seeking
Pohon:
Propulsion:
 
Typ:
Type:
PRD-80
- raketový motor na tuhé pohonné hmoty
- hmotnost motoru: 21,8 kg
- hmotnost paliva NMF-2K: 20,5 kg
PRD-80
- solid fuel rocket engine
- engine weight: 48.1 lb
- NMF-2K solid fuel weight: 45.2 lb
Výkony:
Performance:
 
Rychlost:
Speed:
1980 km/h 1230 mph
Dosah:
Range:
7,6 km 4.7 mi
Uživatelské státy:
User States:
















































Poznámka:
Note:
kódové označení NATO: AA-2 Atoll-A


rychlost letu cíle: 900 - 2200 km/h
výška letu cíle: 100 - 20 000 m
NATO reporting name: AA-2 Atoll-A


target speed: 559.2 - 1367 mph
target altitude: 328 - 65617 ft
Zdroje:
Sources:

URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#325282 Version : 0
R-3S
Legend for marking the missiles:
R-xx - Soviet Air Force designation
K-xx - designation of the design bureau
Issue xxx - factory designation



Short-range anti-aircraft cruise missile with infrared guidance system, a de facto crappy copy of the US AIM-9B Sidewinder.

On 24 September 1958, a single Taiwanese RF-84F Thunderflash from the 6th Tactical Fighter Group, piloted by Lieutenant Yan Shi-Ju, took off to conduct a photo reconnaissance flight over the Wen Zhou Wan area located in the territory of the People's Republic of China. He was accompanied by eighteen F-86F fighters belonging to the 11th Tactical Fighter Group. Four of the Sabres were supported by AIM-9B Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles (two missiles per aircraft). Over the Chinese mainland, six F-86F fighter cover first arrived at around 10.34. After a few minutes, the Taiwanese fighters received information from the ground guidance station about the presence of Chinese J-5 fighters flying within 37 kilometers of the Taiwanese formation. The Sabres set off in pursuit until they were soon on their tail, after which the formation leader, Lieutenant Colonel Li Shu-Yuan, and his number 3, Lieutenant Qian Yi-Qiang, each fired one Sidewinder. The two planes of the apparently unsuspecting Chinese pilots were instantly transformed into burning objects falling to the ground. It was only after two hits from Lieutenant Fu Chun-Xian that the rest of the Shenyang formation realized what was happening, turned around and went to fight the Sabres. In addition, another formation of Chinese fighters appeared on the scene and decided to attack the Taiwanese aircraft from a different direction. The RF-84F reconnaissance RF-84F got over the target area at about 10.43 a.m., made one pass over it, and then immediately headed for home base. In the meantime, a fierce aerial battle had broken out, at the end of which the Taiwanese fighters claimed 9 kills certain and 2 probable. 24 September 1958 thus became the first day that anti-aircraft cruise missiles were used in combat.

This date is significant for another reason. Although one of the Sidewinder fighters directly hit a Chinese J-5, its warhead did not explode, and the Chinese pilot landed it at his base. In addition, several other Sidewinder missed their targets and landed harmlessly on Chinese territory. The Soviets could not miss such an opportunity, and therefore, based on the decision of the Council of Ministers, a group of 31 Soviet experts (from 17 different organizations), led by Ivan I. On 28 November 1958, the Council of Ministers issued Directive 1313-631, ordering the American missile to be copied and production to begin at Plant 134. The backlog of Soviet missiles then under development and ready for production was so considerable that it proved more efficient to produce a direct copy of the American missile.

Work on the Soviet clone was assigned to the OKB-4 design bureau headed by M. R. Bisnovat. At that time, however, the development of its own anti-aircraft missile R-8 had enough on its plate, so the task fell to Plant 134 in Moscow-Tushina. The design work here was carried out under the direction of I. I. Toropov and B. V. Zhuravlyov. As late as the end of 1958, Taiwanese AIM-9B components arrived here from the PRC in various states of damage. These components arrived from China encased in plastic to prevent damage. The first task was therefore to sort out these parts (in the order of 2,000 pieces). This task fell to the bone carvers from Yakutia.

The compactness and sophistication of the American missile contrasted strongly with existing Soviet missiles. The Soviets faced considerable problems in copying it. Soviet industry at the time could not produce a similar fuel mixture to that used in the Sidewinder, so an inferior Soviet substitute had to be used. However, the biggest problems in the "development" of the Soviet missile were caused by the uncooled PbS (lead sulphide) guidance head. Teams from the NII-10 and NII-569 institutes were tasked with its design. Both institutes were developing their own "version" of the warhead with the expectation that the better one would be used. The winner of this "competition" was the team led by D. M. Chorol from NII-569, the Soviet analogue of the American device became the TGS-13 warhead (the competing IGS-59 failed). Party pressure on the development work must have been considerable, because as early as March 1959, two tests were conducted of the missile drop from the SM-9/3T (a modified MiG-19S) now known by its factory designation, the Izdelya 300. This was followed by the firing of 12 missiles in "ballistic mode". This was due to the failure of the self-destruct mechanism in a series of three launches and five unsatisfactory test launches against ground targets. Therefore, design work on improving the missile continued during the summer. At the same time, however, attempts were made to halt development. According to opponents, the AIM-9B had "low" combat value in its first combat deployment over China. The Soviets eventually concluded that the alleged "low" combat effectiveness of the Sidewinder was due to the "lack of experience" of Taiwanese pilots, and so development of a copy continued.

Where Soviet technology ended, espionage had to take over. And so, thanks to Colonel Stig Wennerström, information about the American missile fell into Soviet hands. Wennerström was not only the Swedish air attaché in Washington in the late 1950s, involved in the negotiations leading to the licensing of the AIM-9B (under the designation Rb.24) in Sweden, but also a Soviet spy.

The first firing of the missile with a working guidance system took place on 21 October 1959, the launch was made from a SM-12 aircraft at a target descending to the ground on a parachute. Because the MiG-19 was considered a range type at this time, the new missile was to be used by a version of the MiG-21 under development, armed only with anti-aircraft missiles. However, as its prototype Je-7 was not yet available, the decision was made to use variants of the SM-12 prototypes in the trials. The SM-12/3T and SM-12/4T were fired against a MiG-15M remotely piloted target with two instrumented missiles and one K-13 "live" missile. The firing took place at altitudes of 11.8 to 13 kilometers at ranges of 1.7 to 2.6 kilometers from the target. State trials began on 12 December. A prototype SM-12/3T and SM-12/4T were added as a missile carrier, along with the Je-6T/2. A total of five MiG-15M target aircraft were shot down during the trials (two of the "kills" were achieved using Je-6T/2).

Based on the successful tests, the Council of Ministers decided on 2 February 1960 to start serial production of the K-13 (Izdelye 310, military designation R-3 (?)) at Plant 43 in Moscow and Plant 485 in Kiev. The new missiles first appeared in the arsenal of the fighter MiG-21F-13. The new MiG, along with the K-13 missiles, made its public appearance on 9 July 1961 at the Moscow-Tushino Aviation Day. The K-13 missile received the designation AA-2 Atoll in NATO code. Based on the decision of the Council of Ministers number 513-214 of 30 May 1961, the production documentation of the K-13 missile was handed over to the Chinese comrades, which was then modified in the PRC and led to the production of the missile under the designation PL-2.
During the tests, the possibility of increasing the missile's range became apparent. The modified missile with a modified gas generator received the designation K-13A (factory designation Izdělije 310A). On 2 March 1962, it was officially introduced into the arsenal of MiG-21F-13 and MiG-21PF fighters under the designation R-3S.

The R-3S anti-aircraft cruise missile is composed of five basic building subsets. Up front is the 451-K infrared guidance system, which can intercept targets at ranges from 15 meters to 7.6 kilometers. The second section of the missile housed the gas generator, turbo-generator and servo motors to control the missile's rudders. The missile's design continued with an 11.3-kg warhead section, which, upon explosion, broke into hundreds of small fragments with an effective range of 10 to 11 meters. The fourth part contained an I-107 impact fuze and a 454-K non-contact optical proximity fuze weighing 3.1 kg with a detection range of 9 meters. The last subgroup consisted of a PRD-80 engine weighing 21.8 kg, with solid propellant designated NMF-2K (weight 20.5 kg).

The R-3S was designed to destroy aerial targets from the rear hemisphere. The interception of a target by the warhead was announced to the pilot by an audible signal in the headphones and a light signal in the cockpit. A radar (or radio range finder, e.g., on the MiGu-21F-13) provided the data needed to determine the area of possible missile launch. The range of the R-3S at high altitudes was 1.2 to 7 kilometers, and at low altitudes 0.7 to 2 kilometers. Another limitation was the magnitude of the multiplier at the time of launch, which was 2 g (1.6 g at altitudes above 12,000 metres). After firing, the rocket motor operated from 1.7 to 3.2 seconds. The missile stabilization system started working 0.5 to 0.7 seconds after leaving the aircraft, the maximum time of its operation was 21 seconds (for K-13 the time was 11 seconds). Missile guidance to the target was based on proportional navigation. If the missile missed the target by more than 9 meters, the self-destruct device was activated (25 to 26 seconds after the missile was fired). The Soviets were consistent in their copying, and so the Soviet R-3S could be hooked up to the launchers used on American aircraft.

The R-3S made its combat debut over the Indian subcontinent in September 1965, during the Kashmir War. The pilot of the lead MiG, W/Cdr Wollen (then commander of 28 Squadron) fired two missiles - to no avail.
The R-3S missiles went on to be combat deployed in the Vietnam War, beginning in 1966. During that year, Vietnamese fighters claimed 16 aircraft downed with them (out of a total of 57 reported kills achieved by fighter aircraft). To achieve this number of kills, 46 R-3S missiles were fired.
Significant consumption of R-3S missiles occurred over the Middle East. They were first deployed there by the Egyptian and Syrian air forces during the Six Day War and later primarily during the Wear and Tear War.
In December 1971, the "Atolls" were again deployed by the Indian Air Force, this time to fight in the Bangladesh War. Indian MiG-21PF and especially FL fired at least 14 of these missiles against Pakistani machines during the two wars. The result, however, was only a single F-104A Starfighter shot down, and the apparent damage to three Pakistani aircraft (including two Starfighters) in 1971. (The Pakistanis, on the other hand, scored six certain kills with their AIM-9B in December 1971).
In the 1980s, the Iraqi Air Force used its R-3S during the Iraq-Iran War. Despite the fact that Iraqi fighters fired around 200 of these missiles between 1980 and 1983, the number of kills achieved was quite negligible.

The combat effectiveness of the R-3S missiles corresponded to the time when their "original" AIM-9B Sidewinder was introduced into service, the second half of the 1950s. Apart from the absolutely ideal conditions for achieving a kill, luck was also needed - the Soviet clone had poor reliability, so kills often did not occur even in a "ditched position".

As was Soviet custom, licensed production of selected weapons was given to vassal states. In the case of the R-3S, these were Romania (where they were produced under the designation A-91) and Czechoslovakia. An interstate agreement between the USSR and Czechoslovakia for the licensed production of the "B-4130 product" was concluded on 29 August 1960. Following this, a group of six Soviet specialists arrived in Czechoslovakia on 5 July 1961 to assess the ability of Czechoslovak enterprises and development sites to provide licensed production of the R-3S missile. The production documentation from Soviet to Czechoslovak conditions was prepared by Konstrukta Trenčín. The final supplier was Adamovské strojírny n.p. in Adamov. The first tests with the licensed R-3S took place over the Kazakh steppe and ended disastrously - none of the missiles hit the target. After the deficiencies were corrected, repeated tests have already been conducted without problems. In 1961, an annual production of 4,000 missiles was envisaged (with serial production well established), requiring an estimated 4,100 to 4,300 workers. According to the plans, the Czechoslovak Air Force was to acquire 3,440 licensed R-3S missiles between 1965 and 1970 (price per unit CZK 171 000, in 1965 prices).

Sources
1) Gordon, J.: Soviet/Russian Aircraft Weapons Since World War II, Midland Publishing, Hincley, 2005
2) Gordon, J., Dexter, K., Komissarov, D.: Mikoyan MiG-21, Midland Publishing, Hincley, 2008
3) Markovskiy, V. Y., Perov, K.: Sovetskiye aviacionnye rakety "vozduch-vozduch", Eksprint, Moscow, 2005
4) Shirokorad, A. B.: Encyklopedija otechestvennogo raketnogo oruzhiya 1817-2002, Charvest, 2003
5) Nillson, M.: Tools of Hegemony: Military Technology and Swedish-American Security Relations 1945-1962, Santérus Academic Press, Stockholm, 2007
6) Režňák, L.: Ocelový hřebec MiG-19 a československé letectvo 1958 - 1972, Svět křídel, Cheb, 2008
7) https://www.lietadla.com/vyzbroj/aa-2.htm
8) www.military.cz
9) https://aviaros.narod.ru/r-3.htm
11) https://www.airwar.ru/weapon/avv/r3.html
12) en.wikipedia.org
13) www.acig.org
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#297620 Version : 0
R3S head "from the front"
Photographed with own hand
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#256153 Version : 0
The R-3S anti-aircraft homing missile can also be used on L-39CM, and L-39ZAM aircraft. The R-3S missiles are mounted on the APU-13M1 launcher on both L-39CM, or on the outer wing hangers L-39ZAM.


Source: author's archive
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#397806 Version : 0

Diskuse

In the Czechoslovak Air Force the missile was used on Mig-21F, PF, PFM, R (all max. 2 pcs), MF (max. 2 pcs), Mig-23MF, ML (both 2-4 pcs).


The missile was mounted on hangers using APU-13 adapters.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#33836 Version : 0
On our Mig-23 VE version MF it was the main armament when it came to our air force. Our comrades in arms from the USSR told us that we could not put R-60 missiles on these aircraft. It wasn't until 1982 with the arrival of the Mig 23 ML that our guys found out that it could be done. (More or less found out when retraining for the ML in Russia where their instructors screwed up) Maybe it was late 81. The main thing is that for the first 3 years in our country the Mf had given armament 2x R-23, 2x R-13.
B.G
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#46550 Version : 0
Sergeant radim chopping block maybe from me you'll be nervous but even in these posts I have to correct you.
ad1) R-3S could Mig 21 R worn only 2x and because of that the two exterior pylons were the so-called wet so in the aviation jargon is on the pylons of additional fuel tanks and, therefore, on these two podvěsy you can only put the baka. The Mig 23 can take off the launch zařízaní APU-23 from the wings , place them install the BD-3-60-23-TO these mountings posléza hang APU-13MTE and on them R-3S or R-13M so the Mig 23 as MF so ML can these missiles carry in number of 4 pieces..
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#42214 Version : 0
big tiger:
Don't worry, I won't be nervous Smile. Especially since you corrected my inattention well. I respect your practical experience gained in the profession. Unfortunately, I get all my information from the handouts I can get, or second hand from those who are/were in that environment. Often one has to rely on conflicting information.


But to the point:
I knew about the "erce" but for reasons also unknown to me, I lumped it together with the fighter "emefk." That's a gross error on my part, which I thank you for correcting.


Regarding the Mig-23MF/ML, though, a query to make my point. I am aware that the APU-23 could be dropped and replaced with a combination of BD-3-60-23-K + APU-13MTE. It is also reliably documented photographically. I've seen the armament diagram for the "twenty-three" fighter versions, which listed R-3S/R-13s in one piece just under the wings (that's what I was counting on with the above data). But the R-60s were listed under the fuselage, and I've never seen data that R-3S/R-13s were mounted there. I also didn't see the use of 4 R-3S/R-13s in any of the schematics for our MF/ML.


But of course I'm not saying it's not technically possible. After all, the original Mig-23 (I think maybe the S version now), which did not have the appropriate radar for the R-23's PLRS, was armed only with the R-3S/R-13, so it certainly carried 4 missiles.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#42242 Version : 0

Citace - big tiger :

Sgt. Radim Spall may be nervous about me but I have to correct you in these posts.
ad1) The R-3S could only carry the Mig 21 R twice and that is because the two outer hangers were so called wet so in aviation jargon these are the pylons of the auxiliary fuel tanks and therefore you can only put tanks on these two suspensions.



The reality is that Erks flew mostly with bands, but occasionally we mounted normal external hangers, but it is a fact that they could only carry two R-3S, or RS-2US, or for example 4 bombs.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/SOV-R-3S-AA-2-Atoll-A-t81197#149315 Version : 0
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