New role for Vietnam's K-5MS missile

The K-5MS air-to-air missile is a weapon equipped for the MiG-21 interceptor fighter, which served in small numbers in the Vietnam People's Air Force.

The K-5 missile (NATO designation AA-1 Alkali) is the first guided air-to-air weapon built by the former Soviet Union, using solid fuel with a semi-active radar guidance system via radio waves.

K-5MS (RS-2US) short-range air-to-air missile.

The K-5MS air-to-air missile is 2.5 m long; 200 mm body diameter; 0.65 m wingspan; 82.7 kg launch weight carrying a 13 kg fragmentation warhead with PB-2U radio fuse.

K-5MS has a speed of 800 m/s; firing range of 2 - 6 km when launched at an altitude of 5 - 20 km, but in reality only reaches about 2.5 - 3.5 km due to the condition of the launching aircraft as well as the target.

During the war, Vietnam received both K-5MS missiles and K-13 (R-3R) but they were not very effective in combat because the guidance system was too primitive and the MiG-21's radar had very limited capabilities. That's why K-5MS was completely overshadowed by the large shadow of K-13 missiles.

K-5MS and K-13 missiles on MiG-21MF interceptor fighter with serial number 5121.

After being decommissioned, the remaining K-5MS missiles were researched and improved by the Military Technical Institute - Air Defense - Air Force into flying targets called BB-3R, BB-13M and M5, effectively serving combat readiness training.

The BB-3R flying target is considered very suitable for live-fire training for air defense missiles in service such as Pechora-2TM, Strela-10 or even S-300PMU-1, helping to save a significant budget compared to purchasing from abroad.

This is a very creative way of doing things, demonstrating the great capacity of the Vietnamese military staff and engineers, creating the premise for us to move forward to design and produce more modern and advanced flying targets like today's VT800.

According to Baodatviet