A-Model 07220 Tikhonravov I-302P Soviet WW2 rocket interceptor prototype

The Tikhonravov I-302P was a Soviet experimental rocket fighter from the World War II period with a metal structure in a low wing configuration. The drive was to be provided by the RD-2M engine, it was also assumed that the maximum speed would reach approx. 900 km / h. The armament was to consist of four 20mm SzWAK cannons. The machine never entered mass production.

Work on the I-302P aircraft began in 1940, although the first attempts to create a rocket-powered machine took place in the USSR in the 1930s. It was planned to create a machine with a relatively short range, designed to defend the most important strategic objects of the Soviet Union, but with the greatest possible acceleration, climb and maximum speed. The work was carried out under the direction of Mikhail Tikhonrawov at the Science and Research Rocket Institute, but until the outbreak of the Soviet-German war in June 1941, only initial design assumptions were created. Interestingly, the works were not discontinued after that date, but continued until March 1944.