russia

1975 – First flight of the MIG-31

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.

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

September 16, 2015 0

Review – MIG vs America, Cold War in the Skies

An interesting albeit somewhat older documentary that examines fighter design arms race between the US and USSR from the creation of the Russia MIG 15, one of the most prolific fighters ever, manufactured in 4 countries and used by at least 18 to the MIG 29 and tracks the US developments from the US F-86 Sabre which was used by 26 different airforces to the F-18 Hornet.

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August 19, 2015 0