No one plane has ever had such a strong fascination, fear, and mystery feeling to the MiG-25 aircraft, or the Foxbat as known by the West. During the Cold War, analysts, even though they were looking at a technological wonder, were quite wrong about its design and capabilities.
It was something that the U.S. officials called an aircraft from another planet, a dream that could do things like easily defeat any American. Not only that, but just by looking at it, the F-15 program started to develop at a faster pace. However, the Soviets had actually made a plane that had very tailored sorts of properties and considerable tradeoffs under that intimidating outline.
The MiG-25 was not the one to be the master of dogfights or to leisurely patrol the sky over friendly lands. This aircraft was made to stop the exact threat that provoked its design: the introduction of supersonic American bombers going faster than Mach 2 in the late 1950s and early 1960s, among them, the B-58 Hustler and the XB-70 Valkyrie experimental. Those bombers were faster than any Soviet interceptor of that period, so the engineers turned their attention to building a super-fast, super-high-altitude plane that could take off, intercept a nuclear bomber, and make a safe return. The other abilities, such as agility, endurance, and adaptability, remained at the back of the line.
Nickel-steel was the major material used for the Foxbat’s airframe, which was more or less built for flight at over Mach 2.8 and hence had to be chosen for its resistance to such a flight. The choice, however, made the aircraft bulky, and its steering was limited.
The twin Tumansky R-15B-300 turbojet engines, which were installed on the aircraft, delivered tremendous power that the pilot was able to reach up to Mach 2.83 on long trips and even Mach 3 in case of emergencies – though by doing so, the engines were almost at the point of being destroyed. The plane was consuming so much fuel that its combat radius was very much limited, and the high-speed maneuvers quickly put the engines in distress.
The MiG-25 was setting records, going to heights over 123,000 feet and speeds close to the unbelievable. It was, however, limited to about 4.5 Gs, and this made it open to attack by quicker and more agile opponents. The RP-25 “Smerch-A” radar was of a high standard for its time, yet it still found the task of tracking slow-flying aircraft difficult, a challenge that became more obvious as the enemy changed their tactics to flying lower to avoid radar detection.
The operational history of the MiG-25 was not all positive. However, on the other hand, it showed the possibility of the plane functioning at its best extreme altitudes and high velocities, thus making aircraft almost impossible to intercept. In such wars as the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War, the Iraqi Foxbats had their moments, one of them was the shoot-down of a U.S. Navy F/A-18, but despite that, they were far from being a match for advanced fighters like the F-15.
The myth surrounding the aircraft was over in September 1976, when Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko flew his MiG-25 into Japan, defying authorities. In an effort to foil detection, Belenko flew low and with almost empty tanks, thus giving one of the biggest intelligence windfalls of the Cold War.
Looking at the aircraft made one think of a reality that was far from what they imagined. No way it was a super-fighter made of titanium; rather, it was a heavy one that used electronics that were from the vacuum tube era, and the engines could not keep up with the high speeds for long without endangering the aircraft.
Its radar was already old-fashioned, and the missiles could not compete with the U.S. SR-71 Blackbird, which was regularly outclimbing and outrunning the Foxbats. Belenko agreed that the Soviet pilots were told to keep away from going over Mach 2.5 when flying normally, while at the same time, they were sure of an easy escape if the SR-71 wanted to get away.
Nevertheless, the MiG-25 was not a plane to be forgotten. Its very existence was an answer to a threat that eventually turned out to be not significant in the U.S. plan of action. The lessons taught by the Foxbat directly affected the creation of its success, the theMiG-31 Foxhound, which not only solved all of the shortcomings but also upgraded avionics, firepower, and general operational flexibility.