K-13 (AA-2 Atoll)

The Vympel K-13, called AA-2 Atoll by NATO, is a short-range infrared homing air-to-air missile family developed in the Soviet Union. It is a reverse engineered copy of the American AIM-9 Sidewinder, which is why the two look alike. The path began in September 1958 when a Sidewinder fired by Taiwanese F-86 Sabres lodged unexploded in a Chinese MiG-17, and China later passed the captured missile to the Soviets. The K-13, also called R-3, entered limited service in 1960, followed by the improved K-13A (R-3S) in 1962, which was the first version made in quantity, and a radar guided K-13R in 1967. It was exported widely, license built in Romania as the A-91, and copied in China as the PL-2. It saw use in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Yom Kippur War and the Iran-Iraq War, and a few smaller nations still operate it.