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MiG25

Why the Soviets never created the SR-71 and the MiG-25 Foxbat never outpaced the Blackbird in terms of speed

by Till Daisd January 9, 2024

The J58 turbine’s blades could withstand temperatures much higher than those of the Soviets, thanks to their technology. Consequently, the SR-71 Blackbird outperformed the MiG-25 Foxbat in terms of speed.

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity as the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. From 80,000 feet, the SR-71 could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour, cruising at Mach 3+ (three times the speed of sound) or over 2,000 mph. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

Why didn’t the Soviets come up with their own “SR-71” and build a counterpart warplane to the Blackbird?

‘The Soviets built the MiG-25,’ says Iain McClatchie, an aviation expert, on Quora.

Here’s why the MiG-25 Foxbat was never as fast as the SR-71 (and why Soviets never developed their own Blackbird)

‘Notice how huge those air intakes are? Compare that against a Mach 2 airplane:

‘Dynamic pressure is what holds the aircraft up and causes drag. It scales with air density linearly and with velocity SQUARED.

‘Air mass flow rate through the engines is what is needed for thrust. It scales with air density linearly and with velocity LINEARLY.

‘Since the wing works with dynamic pressure, dynamic pressure can’t vary more than a factor of 5 or so during the flight. So, if you want to go fast, you have to go high, where the air is less dense. For mass flow to keep up with drag, you’ll need big fat intakes. These aren’t going to work well at lower speeds.

‘The moment we saw the MiG-25, we knew it was designed to go fast like an SR-71/A-12, whose intakes are each nearly the size of the fuselage.

The story of the SR-71 Blackbird that slid on JP7 fuel residue while taxing into Kadena Hangar

‘The other problem that a high and fast jet faces is hidden. The engine intake slows the air to subsonic flow before it goes into the compressor. The air’s kinetic energy turns into heat… the temperature rise goes as the SQUARE of velocity. The engine then has to compress that air (heating it more) and then add lots of heat before expanding it through the turbine. The turbine has to survive air heating in all three ways.’

McClatchie continues;

‘The J58 engine in the SR-71 was the first engine to use directionally solidified turbine blades, which were able to resist creep at higher temperatures than any blades before them. This is a critical technology. Without high-temperature turbine blades, you cannot make a jet engine fast.

‘In fact, the SR-71 and MiG-25 are both thermally rather than power-limited. Both have the reserve power to climb (rapidly) at full speed. Their speed is limited by the temperature of their turbines and not by power.

‘(These days, most turbine engines have hollow turbine blades, with “cooler” air from the compressor blown through them and out tiny holes in their leading edges. The air forms a film over the blade, insulating it from the heat of the surrounding gas. Neither the SR-71 nor the MiG-25 had these blades. Neither had the ceramic coatings we use today. These changes would have enabled an operating speed increase, but probably not more than Mach 3.6 or so).

‘As it turns out, the Soviets did not have the technology to make blades that could tolerate as high temperatures as the J58 turbine. As a result, the MiG-25 flew slower than the SR-71 (Mach 2.83 rather than Mach 3.4), and its engine did not last the 400 hours between overhauls that the J58 managed.’

McClatchie concludes;

‘That speed limit, btw, is a very abrupt speed limit. NASA squeezed a tiny performance increase out of the SR-71 by reducing engine life from 400 to 50 hours. A MiG-25 was tracked at Mach 3.2 over the Sinai in March 1971. That speed excursion would have only lasted minutes and the engines were scrapped after the flight.’

Check out Habubrats and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Top SR-71 Blackbird photo: Stuart Freer

Photo by NASA, U.S. Navy, Alex Beltyukov and Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikipedia

January 9, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

Spy aircraft that Israeli F-4 Phantom fighters were unable to bring down

by Till Daisd May 31, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The most concerning MiG-25 reconnaissance trip had place on October 10, 1971, when two Foxbats flew at Mach 2.5 and extremely high altitudes parallel to the Israeli and Sinai Mediterranean coastlines, 17 miles offshore. There was no success in trying to stop the intruders

It is obvious why the Israeli Air Force (IAF) fought so hard to acquire the F-4 and relied on it so heavily in the late 1960s. The large jet outperformed everything they had used up until that point in terms of range, payload, and bombing accuracy. In fact, the Phantom swiftly established itself as the IAF’s main pillar after its 1969 acquisition. By October 1973, the IAF had credited the Phantom with 11 kills.

The Phantom, however, would never be able to capture some enemies. The Soviet Union started conducting high-altitude surveillance flights over Israel in 1970 using the Yak-26 Mandrake aircraft. This aircraft proved to be out of reach. Beginning in March 1971, Soviet pilots flew MiG-25R (X-500) photo-recce missions out of Egypt at speeds up to Mach 3.2 and altitudes of 73,000 feet (22,250 meters). In October 1971, it’s possible that the first “Foxbat-B” flights took place, maybe into the Sinai and parallel to the Canal.

The most concerning reconnaissance flight took place on October 10 when two of the jets flew parallel to the Israeli and Sinai Mediterranean coastline, 17 miles (27 km) offshore, at Mach 2.5 and extreme altitude, according to Bill Norton’s book Air War On The Edge: A History of the Israel Air Force and its aircraft since 1947. The intercept was unsuccessfully stopped. At the time of the second MiG-25 intrusion (all flights with pairs of jets) over the Sinai on Nov. 6, the Israelis had a strategy for dealing with it, despite initially only being able to respond with their own reconnaissance overflights and booming Cairo.

The spy planes that the Israeli F-4 Phantom fighters were never able to shoot down

In order to increase performance, they had removed all unnecessary gear from numerous Phantoms, and their sole weapons were AIM-7 Sparrows. It was believed that by sitting alert, the planes could be launched with enough time to do a zoom climb from Mach 1.4 to 44,000ft (13,410m) and launch their missiles with a high nose-up attitude and leading the target. The proximity fuse of the missiles and the fire control computer of the Phantom, however, were not designed for such combat conditions, and the warheads detonated too late.

Because of this failure and US experimentation in response to the ‘Foxbat’ threat, Israel received the more sophisticated AIM-7F in 1974. On March 10 and May 16 of the same year, 1972, there were two further flights over the Sinai. These flights were highly concerning for the West, not because of any potential intelligence they could have gathered, but rather because of what they revealed about the MiG-25’s capabilities. As President Sadat ordered the Soviets out of his nation in July, Israel’s frustration with having its facilities photographed without repercussions came to an end.

The Soviets once more sent “Foxbat-Bs” to Egypt at the end of October 1973 to keep an eye on the locations and movements of the Israeli army. They were withdrawn after almost two years and appeared to be limited to flying to the west of the Canal. There are rumors that the EAF temporarily used a MiG-25R in 1974 and conducted one bold flight over Israel before the Soviets insisted that the aircraft be immediately returned. Then a “Foxbat” detachment showed up in Syria. Although flights over the occupied Golan Heights were likely made, particularly during the difficult time after the 1973 war, there have been no confirmed reports of efforts to penetrate Israeli airspace.

Also, the Americans flew U-2 over Israel in the 1960s and maybe later to monitor the Dimona nuclear plant and gather other intelligence. This aircraft was also uncatchable by IAF Phantoms and Mirages.

It has also been asserted that on October 13, 1973, during a sensitive time, IAF F-4s attempted to intercept and destroy a USAF SR-71 flying a reconnaissance mission over Israel or the Canal region (there were possibly two Blackbird intrusions). If this is the case, the SR-71 was unaware of the attempt to intercept, and the Israelis stood the risk of losing the information that was quickly relayed to them. The Blackbird easily climbed and sped away from the Israeli jets in any case. An SR-71 intercept attempt by the Egyptians was unsuccessful. Given that the USSR was flying MiG-25s above the canal, it’s possible that the goal was to deter all such sorties.

Only the F-15’s introduction to the IAF in 1976 put an end to intrusive overflights by both American and Soviet aircraft. On July 29, 1981, a Syrian MiG-25 was reportedly shot down over northern Israel by an F-4 escorted by F-15s.

Photo by U.S. Air Force, Oren Rozen, Itayba on he.wikipedia.org and Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikipedia

May 31, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The Fedotov’s MiG-25 set the absolute altitude record on Aug. 31, 1977

by Till Daisd April 1, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Fedotov set a record while flying a modified MiG-25 above Podmoskovnoe, Russia, at a height of 123,523 feet (37,650 meters)

Alexandr Vasilievich Fedotov, a test pilot, and official “Hero of the Soviet Union,” set an FAI World Record for altitude on August 31, 1977, when he flew his MiG-25 to a height of 123,523 feet (37,650 meters).

The record is still standing, according to the website of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI-World Air Sports Federation).

Fedotov was born on June 23, 1932, in Stalingrad, then part of the USSR. He was a highly respected Soviet test pilot and a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute.

A test pilot since 1958 he helped test-fly the legendary MiG series of planes, including the MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-29, and MiG-31. Having flown at three times the speed of sound, Mach 3, he was the first Soviet test pilot to do it. He established 15 aviation world records while working as a test pilot, including the one on August 31, 1977.

To accomplish that record, Fedotov piloted an experimental MiG-25 fighter. The plane was a MiG-25RB that had been upgraded with a strong R15BF2-300 engine. Using this aircraft he reached the record height of 123,523 feet above Podmoskovnoe, Russia.

According to FAI, he set “a world record in Class C of Powered Aeroplanes – for planes that take off under their own power.”

Fedotov, who had already been named a Soviet Union Hero in 1966, later rose to the rank of Major-General of Aviation and USSR Honoured Coach.

Fedotov MiG-25RB altitude record — Alexandr Vasilievich Fedotov

Fedotov perished in a flying accident on Apr. 4, 1984, when the MiG-31 he was testing entered a tailspin from which it did not recover. Near Moscow, in his hometown of Zhukovsky, he was laid to rest.

A supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (NATO reporting name: Foxbat) was one of the fastest military aircraft to reach service. It was created, developed, and manufactured by the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau in the Soviet Union. It was one of the few combat aircraft to be built primarily out of stainless steel.

Before retiring, Mikhail Gurevich designed the MiG-25, his final aircraft design.

Photo by Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikimedia Commons and testpilot.ru

April 1, 2023 0 comment

History

Interesting facts about the MiG-25

by Till Daisd May 17, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The MiG-25 is a supersonic interceptor aircraft that was first designed in the USSR. The Mig-25 designation stands for Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau, 25 being the approximate speed of sound at sea level. Unlike most modern fighters, it has twin engines and a T-shaped tailfin with large wing fences to prevent them from entering airflow near the wingtips.

The MiG-25 was originally created as an air defense fighter by the Soviet Union during the 1960s as they felt that they needed an aircraft capable of replacing their existing fleet of aging MiG-19 fighters, which were used by other countries such as China (J6), Cuba (F-86F) and North Korea (MiG 15). However, due to its high cost, this didn’t happen initially so instead they decided upon producing variants specifically designed for reconnaissance missions instead.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, or MIG for short, was a Russian aircraft design firm that created the MiG-25. The bureau was founded in 1939; its lead designer was Artem Mikoyan (1903–1970) and his nephew Mikhail Gurevich (1908–2002). They were both born in Tbilisi, Georgia but moved to Moscow after graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1930.

The MIG-25 was first conceived as a high-speed interceptor by the Soviet government in response to reports of American spy planes flying over Russia during the Cold War era. It entered service with the Russian Air Force in 1964 and retired by 2003 due to a lack of maintenance funding after being superseded by newer fighters like MiG-31s and Sukhoi Su-27s.

The MiG-25 first flew in 1964 and entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1970. The MiG-25 was used by a number of nations, including Syria and Egypt, who still operate it today. It is also still in service with Russia, although it has been replaced by newer aircraft for most non-Soviet air forces.

The MiG-25 was the fastest plane on planet Earth for several years, until it was surpassed by the SR-71 Blackbird in 1976. The Blackbird had a top speed of Mach 3.3 (3 times the speed of sound), whereas the MiG’s maximum speed was Mach 3.2.

The SR-71 used two large afterburners to achieve its incredible acceleration and climb rate, but these engines were designed with efficiency in mind rather than power. To maximize their effectiveness at high altitudes, they burned through fuel so fast that they could only be used for a few minutes at a time before being shut down and allowed to cool off between missions—a process that would take hours depending on how badly damaged they’d been during combat operations!

In contrast, the MiG used four turbojets instead of just two; this made it possible for each engine to contribute more thrust than its American counterpart could produce on its own (which meant less waiting around between flights).

The MiG-25 was used in several important conflicts:

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. In this conflict, the Indian Air Force flew the MiG-25 and used it to destroy 10 Pakistani F-6 aircraft. The IAF also used its MiG-25s to attack a Pakistan Navy warship and other naval vessels.
The Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt in 1967 saw Israeli fighters shoot down four Egyptian MiGs (three with air-to-air missiles, one by cannon fire). A fifth was heavily damaged but managed to return safely despite significant damage from an explosion on board; its pilot was awarded a medal for his actions during the battle.

The MiG-25 was the first operational aircraft to have a variable-sweep wing. In addition, it’s able to reach supersonic speeds while carrying an external fuel load. It remains in service with Russia today and is still considered an “air superiority” fighter jet by its users.

The MiG-25 has several variants but was never exported to any NATO nations. In addition to the MiG-25R and MiG-25RB, there are several variants of the MiG-25 that were produced for different purposes:

The MiG-25P was a reconnaissance aircraft designed to perform photo reconnaissance missions at low altitudes. It had an advanced camera system that could photograph targets up to 100 km away and at a resolution of 2 meters.
The MiG-25PD was a modified version of the original -P model that had upgraded engines and avionics systems, but it still lacked certain features such as ECM equipment.
The MiG-25R is a long-range interceptor designed to engage enemy aircraft while flying at high speeds and altitudes (usually above 50,000 ft). It could reach speeds up to Mach 3 due to its unique turbojet engine design which generates both thrusts and lift simultaneously; this allowed it to fly faster than any other airplane ever built before or since!

The MiG-25 was designed to be as easy to fly as possible, with a very simple cockpit and control layout. The plane is basically controlled by two sticks: one for the throttle and one for steering. Most pilots are trained on the MiG-25 in a simulator before they ever get in an actual aircraft because it’s so easy to learn how to fly.

This makes sense when you consider that this warplane was designed primarily as an emergency interceptor—an aircraft that needs no training whatsoever because it has no place in peacetime airspace. Successors to the MiG-25 are still being designed and produced today. This includes not only interceptors but also strike fighters.

The MiG-25’s success in the export market did not go unnoticed by the Soviet Air Force (VVS), which began looking for a replacement for the MiG-25. The result was the Mikoyan Project 1.44/1.42, a heavy air superiority fighter that would eventually become known as the MiG-31 “Foxhound”.

The Foxhound is much larger than its predecessor—its wingspan is more than twice as long—and it can carry up to 12 tonnes of ordnance in addition to its internal cannons and missiles. While it does not have the same speed or agility as its older brother, it does have better range and carries more weapons internally: six short-range R-33 air-to-air missiles and two medium-range R-37 missiles instead of four short-range missiles and one medium-range missile.

MiG-31s continue to serve with Russia’s VVS today alongside Su-27s; both are based on aircraft designs from 1977!

The MiG-25 has participated in dogfights against F-15s and F-16s (and won).

In 1978, the MiG-25 flew into Israeli airspace and engaged several F-15s. Soviet air forces had been flying reconnaissance missions over Israel since the end of the Yom Kippur War, and they often came across American fighters. This time, one MiG pilot scored a kill against an F-15. The American pilot, Mark Skliar, didn’t even realize what hit him: he was blown out of his plane in midair by a missile from another MiG that hadn’t yet been detected by radar.

The MiG-25 was designed in response to a requirement for an interceptor designed expressly to shoot down American bombers at high altitudes.

The design team at Mikoyan-Gurevich had been working on their first supersonic fighter since 1955. The company already had a great deal of experience designing high-performance aircraft; they’d previously designed swept winged fighters such as the MiG 21, which set all sorts of speed records when it entered service with both Poland and Egypt during the 1960s (and remains in limited production today).

As you can see, there is a lot of information about the MiG-25. It’s one of the longest-serving aircraft in the world and has seen action in many different corners of the globe. And even though it is over fifty years old, it is still used today by elite air forces and maintained for parts by specialty firms to this day. However, the MiG-25 has seen so many variants that it would take an incredible amount of time to cover them all, so instead, I’ll leave you with a sampling of non-SR versions and then let you do some more research on your own.

May 17, 2022 0 comment

History

Viktor Belenko, the pilot who stole the top secret Soviet MiG-25 fighter jet

by Till Daisd October 24, 2021

written by Till Daisd

The Lockheed SR-71A strategic reconnaissance aircraft could only be intercepted by the MiG-25 until the MiG-31 entered service, making it of particular importance to the Soviet air defense

Lt. Viktor Belenko, a PVO unit pilot stationed at Chuguyevka Air Base north of Vladivostok (other sources indicate Sakharovka Air Base), disappeared after a sortie on September 6, 1976. If he had crashed into the Sea of Japan, his supervisors would not have been too displeased; nevertheless, the news that Belenko had landed at Hakodate International airport came as a huge shock.

It is unclear whether Belenko contacted American military intelligence on his own or was hired by them, as explained by Yefim Gordon in his book Mig-25 “Foxbat” Mig-31 “Foxhound”: Russia’s Defensive Front Line (there is even a theory that “V Belenko” was just a cover name for a trained agent tasked with stealing the newest Soviet military hardware, similar to Clint Eastwood in Firefox). Belenko was expected in Japan and had made preparations for the travel, according to the investigators, who concluded that the defection was not an impetuous move by a disgruntled officer. The moment he had a full fuel load, he made a beeline for Japan while carrying the secret technical manuals. (It was specifically prohibited to bring the manuals on a sortie.)

Nobody at the base had any suspicions about a possible defection. The mission profile called for low-level flying, during which the plane would be invisible to radar on the ground. Fighters weren’t sent up to attempt to find the crash site until Belenko failed to return at the scheduled time, at which point the C began calling him on the radio. Belenko was already entering Japanese airspace, with Air Self-Defence Force planes waiting to escort him, when border guards received word that an aircraft had crossed the state line and was heading for Japan.

If RSBN SHORAN beacons had not been accessible, the MiG-25P’s navigation equipment would not be able to direct the aircraft correctly during extended low-level flight (and of course, they were not). The radio compass might be useful, but once more the pilot would need to be aware of the marking beacon frequency at Hakodate, which nobody at Chuguyevka knew. Belenko overran his landing due to poor judgment because was so nervous, so much so that he damaged the landing gear and rendered the aircraft unflyable. Belenko spoke to the media and asked for political asylum in the United States. Japanese engineers assisted with some of the work while a sizable group of experts from the U.S. arrived to inspect the aircraft.

The defection of Viktor Belenko, the pilot who stole the super secret Soviet's MiG-25 fighter jet — Former Soviet Pilot Viktor Belenko’s Military Identity Document, CIA Museum

The Soviet Union put Japan under pressure by requesting the immediate delivery of the stolen “Foxbat.” The MiG-25 was returned in a disassembled and crated state since there were no legitimate legal justifications not to. In order to hide the “surgery” they and the American intelligence specialists had performed on the MiG, the Japanese deliberately did it.

Japanese officials resorted to delay tactics and bureaucratic snags when the Soviet delegation, commanded by General Dvornikov, landed in Japan. The Soviet officials insisted that the containers be opened for inspection to make sure nothing was missing when they were trucked to the port to be loaded onto a Soviet freighter. The Japanese gave them a short window of time on purpose in the hopes that the “Russians” wouldn’t have enough time to verify everything and repack the crates, but they were in for a surprise.

The Soviet experts were quick to find out just how much the West actually knew. It was discovered that the Americans had operated the engines, measured the aircraft’s infrared signature, and thoroughly analyzed the systems, avionics, including the radar, and structural elements before returning the MiG-25 to the USSR. The Americans had damaged some of the equipment since they didn’t know how to use it, so they had to make hurried repairs (foreign fuses and resistors were discovered in the radar set).

The incident sparked a flurry of MiG-25-related news in the international press. Aviation journalists mocked the design as “crude” and “engineering archaeology,” but they also acknowledged that the steel airframe was easy to build and repair without requiring highly skilled repair people and performed well at high temperatures. The radar’s components were judged outdated, but it impressed the West with its two wavebands, which almost removed jamming and were a feature that no U.S. radar had at the time. In fact, according to the U.S., “the MiG-25 is the sole aircraft terrifying the entire world.” According to U.S. Defense Secretary Schlesinger, the new Soviet interceptor is a powerful enough weapon to significantly alter Western weaponry and strategies.

It is impossible to adequately describe the shock that the Soviet leadership, the Ministry of Defense, and several other ministries felt. The most classified aircraft in the USSR has been stolen by the West! Worse, Belenko’s remarks that were reported in the international press revealed that Western intelligence services had early knowledge of the newest two-seater, the MiG-25MP (Izdelye83). The potential enemy now had the ability to quickly create countermeasures and effectively neutralize the MiG-25.

As a result, the Soviet government, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Aircraft Industry were compelled to take decisive action that was ultimately proven to be the right decision. The Soviet system’s tight and distinct lines of authority motivated the design bureaux and the defense industry to work hard, and barely two and a half years after the scandalous defection, a much-improved MiG-25PD reached production.

Until the MiG-31 entered service, the MiG-25 was the only aircraft capable of intercepting Lockheed SR-71A strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was prowling over the Barents Sea and, more specifically, the Baltic. This made the MiG-25 exceptionally crucial to the Soviet Union’s air defense (although in his autobiography Belenko claims that SR-71s flew off the coast of Russia, “taunting and toying with MiG-25s sent up to intercept them, scooting up to altitudes the Soviet planes could not reach, and circling leisurely above them, or dashing off at speeds the Russians could not match”).

Early in the 1980s, when Poland was experiencing upheaval, the West worried about a potential Soviet invasion. The Americans reportedly found the information provided by observation satellites on the Soviet forces stationed at the western frontiers to be insufficient, and the SR-71s started their missions over the Baltic Sea. The majority of the fighting against these snoopers was done by MiG-25PDs and ‘PDSs stationed nearby.

In addition to the long-term benefit already highlighted, Belenko’s elopement facilitated the transfer of new weapons. In 1979, the first MiG-25 export aircraft were delivered. Algeria, Bulgaria, India, Iraq, Libya, and Syria all purchased the export versions of the interceptor and reconnaissance/strike aircraft, which were slightly downgraded. It was an unusual strategy for breaking into international markets because the plane had to be stolen to start exports!

Photo by Dmitriy Pichugin and Leonid Faerberg (transport-photo.com) via Wikipedia and CIA

October 24, 2021 0 comment