During the Cold War, there was stiff competition between the United States and the Soviet Union as far as superpower rivalry was concerned trying to outdo each other in military and technological superiority.
Among the most deleterious inventions of the Soviet Union was the MiG-25 “Foxbat,” that interceptor that first caused shock waves in the Western spy world.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau designed the MiG-25 in the late 1950s as a response to the U.S. U-2 spy plane.
Possibly the fastest interceptor ever constructed, the Foxbat reached Mach 2.83. Its stainless steel body and Tumansky R-15B-300 turbojet engines give this fighter the ability to fly at high altitudes that most land-based supersonic reconnaissance aircraft simply can’t match, like the American SR-71 Blackbird.
Despite its fantastic specifications, there existed several important limitations for the MiG-25.
Stainless steel construction put too heavy a weight on it, and it consumed too much fuel for this purpose: its radii of action were not enough to be an effective interceptor.
Its airframes were too massive and, except at a high altitude where it would be hard to detect by its radar, it would be difficult not to detect with radar, and maneuverability was set to be very poor.
When it first arrived, the MiG-25 struck Western intelligence agencies like a bombshell. The “Foxbat Scare” this created helped design and develop the F-15 Eagle because of the U.S.A.
was in a need to combat the perceived threat. In 1976 however, the reputation of the MiG-25 took a nosedive as Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected to Japan bringing his Foxbat with him.
American analysts quickly discovered the weaknesses of this aircraft, realizing Western technology could overtake the MiG-25.
The MiG-25 was used in the Iran-Iraq War, in the Soviet-Afghan War, among many others. It never, however, even approached the expectations of its designers. Specifically, it consumed a lot of fuel and exhibited insufficient average values during combat.
For example, the MiG-31 “Foxhound,” which replaced the MiG-25, corrected several of the latter’s mistakes. It used modern avionics-a radar that was the world’s first true phased-array radar for a fighter and a computer system that was all digital-and had data links that enabled it to communicate both with other MiG-31s, thus creating a virtual area defense network, and with less advanced fighters.
This capability of the MiG-31 enabled it to have a bigger carrying capacity for high-density fuel.
Also, with aerial refueling, its operational range was enhanced. It is equipped with highly developed radar and infrared search and track.
The MiG-25 and MiG-31 are, in effect, the epitome of the Soviet age. Though they are time-dependent prototypes, they will always be remembered as monumental achievements of Soviet genius and military tactics.
The period of development and introduction into service reveals a more important aspect-the bitter struggle that existed in those days between the Soviet Union and the United States of America.