R-77 Air-to-Air Missile

The R-77, with the NATO reporting name AA-12 Adder and the export designation RVV-AE, is a Soviet-designed active radar homing air-to-air missile for beyond-visual-range combat, often described as the Russian counterpart to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM. Work began in 1982 at the Molnija design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, and after the Soviet collapse the missiles were produced at the Artem plant in Kyiv. Development was severely protracted, and for many years only the RVV-AE export version was built; the basic R-77 has a range of 80 kilometres, a laser proximity fuze and an expanding-rod warhead. The improved R-77-1 entered Russian service in 2015 and the R-77M in 2025. It is carried by upgraded Su-27, MiG-29 and MiG-31 aircraft, and China and India have been significant export customers.