16 September – On this day

The MIG-31, designated by NATO the ‘Foxhound’ was the Russian replacement for the MIG-25 ‘Foxbat’ and the Russian answer to the American F-15. The MIG-31 entered service on 6 May 1981 and was one of the fastest fighter jets in the world able to reach about Mach 2.85. A total of 519 of these fighters were built with production ending in 1984. The MIG-31 is expected to remain in service until 2030.

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Featured image: “Russian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 Pichugin-1” by Dmitriy Pichugin

Schematics: “MiG-31” by Kaboldy – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons