This Unexploded Sidewinder Missile Got Stuck in a MiG-17 and Mailed to the Soviets

The American Sidewinder missile was unlike any other at the time. The Soviet Union and China envied the weapon’s capabilities, as it allowed a U.S.-armed Taiwan to successfully take down MiG fighter aircraft by the end of 1958

However, their jealousy did not last long after one of the American-made missiles failed to detonate when it met a Chinese plane. Safely lodged intact and sticking out of the fuselage, the Sidewinder would soon be delivered to the Soviets. By reverse-engineering the weapon, the USSR would make it accessible to the Warsaw Pact, enraging the Americans.

Not content with their initial intellectual theft, the Soviets would later launch a daring espionage mission to avoid inventing upgrades to the missile themselves...

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