THE RUSSIAN RECONNAISSANCE MAESTRO AND THE COLD WAR HERO


The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that was one of the first to enter service. It was designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich studio and is one of the few combat aircraft made entirely of stainless steel. It was to be Mikhail Gurevich's final plane before his retirement.  


Mig-25 Foxbat

During the Cold War, the Soviet Air Defence Forces, PVO (not to be confused with the Soviet Air Force, VVS), were tasked with strategic air defence of the USSR. This included not just dealing with unintentional border transgressions, but also guarding the USSR's enormous airspace against US observation planes and strategic bombers carrying free-fall nuclear bombs. The performance of these planes has continually improved. The Lockheed U-2's very high altitude overflights of Soviet territory in the late 1950s demonstrated the necessity for a higher altitude interceptor aircraft than was available at the time.


The Mach 2 Convair B-58 Hustler succeeded the subsonic Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers, while the Mach 3 North American B-70 Valkyrie was on its way at the time. The PVO defence system needed to be upgraded significantly, and at the beginning of 1958, a request was made for manned interceptors capable of reaching 3,000 km/h (1,600 kn) at heights of up to 27 km (89,000 ft). Both Mikoyan and Sukhoi responded.  

India 


The MiG-25, codenamed 'Garuda' after the enormous legendary bird of God Vishnu from Hindu scriptures, was maintained a closely guarded secret in India. It saw substantial service during the Kargil War and Operation Parakram, flying airborne reconnaissance missions over Pakistan. 

In May 1997, an Indian Air Force Mikoyan MiG-25RB reconnaissance aircraft caused a stir when the pilot flew faster than Mach 3 over Pakistani territory during a surveillance mission inside Pakistan airspace. The MiG-25 breached the sound barrier while flying at a height of roughly 20,000 m (66,000 ft), otherwise the mission would have remained secret, at least to the general public. 



The Pakistani government claimed that the breaching of the sound barrier was a deliberate attempt to demonstrate that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) possessed no aircraft capable of approaching the MiG-25's cruising height (up to 23,000 metres (74,000 ft).  India disputed the occurrence, but Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Gohar Ayub Khan, felt the Foxbat photographed strategic sites near the capital, Islamabad.  

It was retired in 2006 due to a lack of replacement parts and India's acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite images.

A MiG-25 aircraft flew across India to observe the solar eclipse on October 24, 1995, taking photographs of the eclipse from an altitude of 25,000 metres (82,000 ft). This set a Guinness world record. 

Aircraft Specifications 

General characteristics
  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 23.82 m (78 ft 2 in)
  • Wingspan: 14.01 m (46 ft 0 in)
  • Height: 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
  • Wing area: 61.4 m2 (661 sq ft)
  • Airfoil: TsAGI SR-12S[106]
  • Empty weight: 20,000 kg (44,092 lb)
  • Gross weight: 36,720 kg (80,954 lb)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Tumansky R-15B-300 afterburning turbojet engines, 73.5 kN (16,500 lbf) thrust each dry, 100.1 kN (22,500 lbf) with afterburner 

Performance
  • Maximum speed: 3,000 km/h (1,900 mph, 1,600 kn) / Mach 2.83 at high altitude
  • 1,300 km/h (810 mph; 700 kn) IAS at sea level
  • Range: 1,860 km (1,160 mi, 1,000 nmi) at Mach 0.9
  • 1,630 km (1,013 mi) at Mach 2.35
  • Ferry range: 2,575 km (1,600 mi, 1,390 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 20,700 m (67,900 ft) with four missiles
  • 24,000 m (78,740 ft) with two)
  • g limits: +4.5 g safety overload to avoid aileron reversal (wingtips used to flex 70 cm from original position causing flatspins), around 11 g structural limit[111]
  • Rate of climb: 208 m/s (40,900 ft/min)
  • Time to altitude: 20,000 m (65,617 ft) in 8 minutes 54 seconds
  • Wing loading: 598 kg/m2 (122 lb/sq ft)
  • Thrust/weight: 0.41 at gross weight 
Armament
    Missiles:
  • 4 × R-40R/T air-to-air missiles with 8 g launch overload
  • 4 × R-40RD/TD air-to-air missiles with 8 g launch overload and improved range (MiG-25PD)
  • 4 × R-60/R-60M dogfight air-to-air missiles (MiG-25PD)
  • 4 × R-60/R-60M dogfight air-to-air missiles + 2 x R-40RD/TD air-to-air missiles (MiG-25PD) 
Avionics
  • Smerch-A2 vacuum tube radar for early and late MiG-25P, with a radar scanning distance of up to 120 km (40 / 80 / 120 km) (50–70 km tracking fighter-sized targets, up to 105 km tracking bomber-sized targets at high altitude). Starting at 500 meters, the system is operational. The Smerch-A1 was used in the initial instances of the MiG-25, while the final model following Belenko's defection was the Smerch-A3 with enhanced dependability. 
  • Pulse-doppler RP-25M (Saphir-25) radar based on semiconductor electronics, evolved from the RP-23ML of the MiG-23ML for the MiG-25PD, with a detection range of up to 110–120 km (depending on how good the tuning of the radar).
  • A RV-UM or a RV-4 radar altimeter
  • SPO-10M Sirena-3 RWR (SPO-15L Beryoza for MiG-25PDSG)
  • 2 x BVP-50-60 chaff/flare dispensers with KDS-155 cassettes and 30 CM rounds each (PPR-50 chaff and/or PPI-50 flares) (MiG-25PDSG / MiG-25PDSL)
  • Lazour datalink (BAN-75 for the MiG-25PD)
  • SRZO-2M Transmitter and SRZM-2 Receiver (IFF set)
  • Vozdukh-1 GCI
  • TP-26Sh IRST (MiG-25PD), 25 km of lock-on range at low altitude against afterburning targets, 50 km+ at high altitude (depending on the size of the heat source). Can slave infrared missiles for sneak attacks.
  • ARK-10 ADF
  • RV-UM low-range radio altimeter
  • R-832M + Prizma radios
  • SAU-155P1 automatic control system
  • KM-1 ejection seat (replaced by the KM-1M in later MiG-25P production examples)
Location: Delhi, India

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