MiG-25 FOXBAT

The Foxbat is a high-performance, high-altitude interceptor. This fast but unmaneuverable interceptor has also been deployed as a high altitude reconnaissance platform. Given the NATO reporting name 'Foxbat', the MiG-25 was designed to intercept the US B-70 bomber that was to have been capable of Mach 3. The B-70 was never built, however, so the Soviets were left with a long-range interceptor capable of astonishing speed and a phenomenal rate of climb. A MiG-25 can take off and climb to an altitude of 35,000 meters (114,000 ft) in a little over four minutes.

It would appear that at the time of the MiG-15 requirement, the intelligence, planning, and technological forecasting elements of the Soviet hierarchy had more to consider than the B-36. The B-47 and B-52 were sufficiently well under way to create a fairly accurate estimate of future U.S. strategic capabilities. Among those capabilities the B-36 was only the most proximate. Likewise, the hypotheses about reactive designs of the TU-128P and MiG-25 are viable in this context, but the point remains that multiple considerations about the “threat” may have entered the decision.

A comparison applied to altitude serves to confirm the MiG-15/B-36 interaction and further confuse the relationship between the MiG-25 and the XB-70. The illustration serves to introduce a most important aspect of possible qualitative interaction. The Soviets, in the first decade after the war, attained a capability to contest the high altitude regime. However, the change of U.S. tactics which emphasized low-level penetration rendered their capability largely obsolete.

To contest the low-level regime required a competence in electronics which found them at an extreme disadvantage. Thereafter, the predominant Soviet operational objectives, speed and high altitude, became largely irrelevant. The tactic of low-level penetration radically altered the basis of qualitative interaction. For twenty years the Soviets have had the “requirement” to cope with the low-level threat. From what is known about Soviet avionics, the requisite Doppler radars and moving target indicator circuitry had not emerged to enable a Soviet interceptor to look down on a penetrating bomber against the clutter of radar returns from the ground.

The first flight of the interceptor prototype, Ye-155-P1, took place on 09 September 1964. While the Ye-155 was always envisioned for interception missions, Mikoyan-Gurevich did not lose sight of possible use as an untouchable "fast reconnaissance" platform.

The first prototype, the Ye-155-R1 reconnaissance variant, made its first flight on 06 March 1964 by A. Fedotov, Mikoyan's test pilot. On that time the aircraft did not carry any surveillance or other relevant equipment (instead of the real equipment mockups of the same size and weight were substituted), basically this version was intended to establish the flight performance, including stability and controllability, of the new aircraft and in-flight evaluation of the power plant and avionics. The flight tests were concluded by late 1965.

This very year the aircraft scored its first world record: on 16 March, 1965, the E-155R1 with two-tonne load aboard and piloted by A. Fedotov, in 1000 km-long test run reached 2,319 km/h speed (the record was registered when flying without load and with 1 and 2 ton cargo).

In the report submitted to the FAI (Federation Aviation International) this aircraft was designated as E-266 while its power plant was given R-266 designation. Since then, in all official protocols and files of the FAI other experimental aircraft-world record holders of the E-155 series (namely, E-155P1 and E-155R3) were known under the similar coding. The Ye-155 prototype was assigned a secret designation of "Ye-266" (Ye-266M) and utilized as a record-breaking platform. These records were acknowledged by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), bringing attention of the Soviet design to Western observers for the first time. The first record breaking act occurred on March 16th, 1965 with Alexander Fedotov at the controls, reaching 2,319.12km/h and a 1,000- and 2,000kg payload. 2,982.5km/h was then achieved without a payload in 1967. Fedotov eventually claimed another record by reaching an altitude of 29,977m while carrying a payload of 1,000kg and later netted 35,230m with a 1,000kg payload - this record, however, resulting in an double engine flameout and forcing the pilot to glide his aircraft back down to safety. On August 31st, 1977, a Ye-266M fitted with a pair of R-15-BF2-300 engines set a speed record at 123,523.62 feet.

Lockheed's A-12 was quick to capture several records away from the Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft by May of 1965. Of the 29 records claimed by the new Soviet design, several were not broken until the early-to-mid 1990s while others remain even today. Their efforts in the design of the Ye-155/Ye-266 and its counterparts captured the design Mikoyan-Gurevich design team the "Lenin Prize" for their achievements. The Ye-266 record-breaking airframe would prove critical in the development and ultimate production of the upcoming MiG-31 "Foxhound" series - a long-range interceptor created in 1982 to overcome the performance limitations of the MiG-25 series, once the latter entered service production with Soviet units in the 1970s.

Development of the MiG-25, took several more years to complete.The new aircraft was first shown to the public at Domodedovo air show on 09 July 1967. Production of the interceptor was undertaken in 1969 under the military designation of "MiG-25". NATO believed the new Soviet aircraft to be an agile, dedicated fighter design, and assigned the MiG-25 the codename of "Foxbat" to coincide with NATO practice of designating Soviet fighters with "F" names and bombers with "B" names.

Twenty-fives were produced in Gorky until 1982, 1,119 production aircraft of all modifications were built, including more than 900 MiG-25P and MiG-25PD interceptors. The aircraft became a symbol of Soviet aviation power; no country in the world could afford to massively build such high-speed and maneuverable "three-wing" machines, especially in four modifications (interceptors, reconnaissance aircraft, reconnaissance bombers and training doubles). The MiG-25P was the first serial fighter in the world to reach the speed limit of 3,000 km/h. He became the record holder for the number of world records set: 29 of them were recorded, including three absolute ones.