AS-1/Komet/Kennel/Salish.

This is coolbert:

Here is something that during that era of the Cold War the Soviets were VERY GOOD at doing?

Taking a basic and proven weapon system, making to same alterations, reverse engineering and modifications sometimes severe in nature, creating in the process a "product" NEW and UNIQUE, another weapon system of formidable capability.

I have particularly in mind the Soviet cruise missile that goes by a variety of names, AS-1, Komet, Salish, Kennel!

"The Raduga KS-1 Komet ( NATO reporting name: Kennel) . . . a short range air-to-surface missile (primarily used for anti-shipping missions) developed by the Soviet Union . . . using aerodynamics derived from the MiG-15 'Fagot' fighter aircraft"

The airframe and aerodynamics AND appearance of a MiG-15, not possessing a pilot compartment or under-carriage [landing gear], the AS-1 stubby but potent, using a foreign designed and reverse engineered turbo-jet engine for power.

"As the Kometa emerged, it looked very much like a half-scale unpiloted MiG-15 fighter. Initially . . . to be powered by an RD-20 turbojet, a copy of the German BMW-003, but it wasn't powerful enough, and so a RD-500K, a copy of the British Rolls Royce Derwent V turbojet designed for expendable operation, was used instead."

Available in two versions, air-launched [ALCM/Kennel] and ground-launched [GLCM/Salish]. The AS-1 having a large warhead, conventional or nuclear, an on-board radar for terminal guidance, able to receive radio command signals while en route to target, designed as an anti-ship missile able to counter the surface fleet of the U.S. Navy.

[That Salish to be used in lieu of coastal artillery.]

Interesting enough, there were three piloted versions of the AS-1. Used for test purposes and referred to as "Analogs". Seems to have lacked the landing gear, but this was not the case. I had originally thought that the "Analogs" would have the test pilot bail out and parachute to safety at the end of mission - - but this is not so!!

[in the style of Hannah Reitsch and her test piloting of a V-1 "buzz bomb"!]

"Three piloted versions known as 'Analogs' were built for testing, with first flight in January 1951. The Analog looked something like a 'toy' jet fighter, with a cockpit and canopy crammed into limited space, and bicycle retractable landing gear with wingtip outriggers."

Furthermore it has been reputed but denied for a long time that the MiG-15 was itself a "knock-off" so to speak, of the German Ta-183 [Focke-Wulf]. This is highly disputed but not to be thought of as a totally unreasonable conclusion. There is a resemblance between the Ta-183 [wind tunnel version] and MiG-15 that is unmistakable?

You judge!

coolbert.