MiG-25 Foxbat and MiG-31 Foxhound - Aerofax (eng).pdf - MiG - bogg

MiG-25 'Foxbat'

MiG-31 'Foxhound'

Russia's Defensive Front Line

Yefim Gordon

Colour profiles by Valentin Vetlitskii. Line illustrations by Oleg Put'makov

Translation by Dmitri Komissarov

MiG-25 'Foxbat' and MiG-31 'Foxhound'

ISBN 1 85780 064 8

Design concept and layout

Stephen Thompson Associates

Published by Midland Publishing Limited

24 The Hollow, Earl Shilton

Leicester, LE9 7NA, England

Tel: 01455 847 815 Fax: 01455 841 805

E-mail: midlandbooks@compuserve.com

Edited by Ken Ellis

Printed in England by

Clearpoint Colourprint Limited

Daybrook, Nottingham, NG5 6HD

Contents

United States trade distribution by

Specialty Press Publishers & Wholesalers Inc.

11481 Kost Dam Road, North Branch, MN 55056

Tel: 612 583 3239 Fax: 612 583 2023

Toll free telephone: 800 895 4585

Aerofax is an imprint of

Midland Publishing Limited

Foreword

The author and publishers wish to thank the

following for their contributions to this book:

Rotislav Belyakov, General Designer, MiG 0KB;

Anatoliy Belosvet, Deputy Designer, MiG OKB;

Eduard Kostrubskii and Yurii Polushkin, designers

at MiG OKB;

Konstantin Udalov of Avico-Press and

Dmitrii Khazanov.

Abbreviations and Designations

be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, trans-

mitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical or photo-copied, recorded or otherwise,

without the written permission of the publishers.

Chapters

1 Awakening

2 A (Red) Star is Born

3 All the King's Horses

4 Under the Skin

5 'Foxbats' in Action

6 'Foxbats' in Detail

7 'Foxbats' in Colour

8 From 'Bats to 'Dogs'

Index

Title page: MiG-31 'Blue 31' operational at a Far

East PVO air base. Sergei Skrynnikov

Below: The Ye-155R-3 - third prototype of what

was to become the MiG-25, with large ventral

fuel tank. Yefim Gordon archive

Foreword

Уважаемые читатели английского издания книга МИГ-25/МИГ-31!

Эти самолеты стали эпохой не только в Российской, но и в

мировой авиации» Знакомство с историей создания этих самолетов

поможет вам лучше понять жизнь конструкторского бюро и создате-

лей знаменитых МИГов.

Желаю всего наилучшего читателям и издательству

Генеральный конструктор

Dear Readers,

These warplanes became an epoch, not just of

Russian, but of world aviation. By acquainting

yourselves with the design history of these two

aircraft, it will help you to appreciate the life of

the Design Bureau itself and its famous aircraft

and personalities.

With best wishes to the readers and to the

publisher.

Rotislav Belyakov,

General Designer, MiG-MAPO

Abbreviations and Designations

ДАМ Air-to-air missile.

ABNCP Airborne Command Post.

AFCS Automatic Flight Control System.

AoA Angle of Attack.

ANS Automatic Naviation System.

APU Auxiliary Power Unit.

ARM Anti-Radiation Missile

ASCC Air Standards Co-ordinating Committee, allocated

reporting names to WarPac types, eg ! Fishbed'.

ASI Air speed indicator.

CAHI Central Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic

Institute, often rendered in English phonetically as

TsAGI (Tsentralny Aerogidrodynamichesky

Institut).

eg Centre of gravity.

ChR Special combat regime flight rating.

CIAM Central Institute of Aviation Motors - Tsentral'nyi

Institut Aviatsionnogo Motorostoeniya.

C-in-C Commander-in-Chief.

C 3 I Command, Control, Communications and

Intelligence.

CTP Chief Test Pilot.

D As a designation suffix: Modified or Upgraded -

Dorabotannyy - MiG-25.

ECCM Electronic counter-countermeasures.

Elint Electronic intelligence.

ESM Electronic Support Measures.

F As a designation suffix: Tactical - Frontovoy.

FAI Federation Aeronautique Internationale -

intertional organisation overseeing record flights.

g Gravitational pull, ie 1g = the gravitational force

experienced on Earth, 7g is seven times this.

gal Units used are Imperial gallons, 500 Imp gal =

600 US gallons = 2,273 litres.

GosNIIAS Russian state research institute for aviation systems

- Gosudarstvennyi Nauchno-lssledovatel'skii

Institut Aviatsionnyikh Sistem.

HAS Hardened Aircraft Shelter.

HDU Hose Drum Unit.

HF High Frequency.

I- As a prefix: Product or item - Izdelye.

IA-PVO Interceptor Force of the Air Force of the Anti-

Aircraft Defence of the Homeland - Istrebitel'naya

Aviatsiya-Protivovozdusdushnaya Oborona.

IAS Indicated Air Speed.

IFF Identification friend or foe.

IFR In Flight Refuelling.

IFR Instrument Flight Rules.

ILS Instrument Landing System.

INS Inertial Naviagtion System.

IOC Initial Operating Capability.

IR Infra-red, heat radiation.

IRCM Infra-red Countermeasures.

IRST Infra-red Search and Track.

К As a designation suffix: Fitted with a weapon

system (often for air defence suppression) -

Kompleks.

kN KiloNewton, SI measurement of force (thrust).

1kN = 224.8lb = 101.96kg.

Kompleks Integrated electronic, or weapon, system.

LERX Leading Edge Root Extension.

Lll Ministry of Aviation Industry Flight Research Insitut,

at Zhukovsky - Letno-lssledovatel'skii Institut.

LL Flying laboratory - Letayushchaya Laboratoria, or

in some cases just'!_'.

LLTV Low Light Television.

LORAN LOng Range Aid to Navigation.

LSK-LV East German (former German Democratic

Republic) Air Force and Air Defence Command -

Luftstreitkrafte und Luftverteidigung.

M Designation suffix: Modified - Modifikatsirovanny.

MAPO Moscow Aircraft Production Association, merged

with the MiG OKB in the mid-1990s.

MER Multiple Ejection Rack.

Mischen Literally 'machine', used to denote unmanned

(pilot-less) drones.

P As a designation suffix: Interceptor, radar-directed,

all-weather - Perekhvatchik.

Photint Photographic Intelligence.

PLAAF People's Liberation Army Air Force, China.

PRF Pulse repetition frequency.

PVO Air defence forces - Protivo Vozdushnaya

Oborona.

R As a designation suffix: Reconnaissance -

Razvedchik.

RB As a designation suffix: Razvedchik-

Bombardirovschchik - reconnaissance/bomber.

RCS Radar Cross Section.

RHAWS Radar Homing and Warning System.

Rint Radio (or radiation) Intelligence.

RPV Remotely Piloted Vehicle (drone)

RR As a designation suffix: Radiation intelligence -

Radiatsionnyy Razvedchick.

RWR Radar warning receiver.

S As a designation suffix: Field Modification -

Stroyov, MiG-25.

S As a designation suffix: Operational - Stroyevoy,

MiG-31.

SAM Surface-to-Air Missile.

SAR Synthetic-aperture radar.

SFC Specific Fuel Consumption.

Sh As a designation suffix: Fitted with 'Shompol'

SLAR.

SHORAN SHOrt Range Air Navigation.

Sigint

MiG-25 and MiG-31 DESIGNATIONS

0KB /Ye-

Izdelye

ASCC

Ye-155P

Ye-155R

MiG-25P 84

'Foxbat-A'

MiG-25PD 84D

'Foxbat-E'

MiG-25PDS

MiG-25PDSL

MiG-25R

MiG-25RB

02B

'Foxbat-B'

M1G-25RBK

02K or 51

M1G-25RBS

02S or 52

MiG-25RBV

Signals Intelligence.

MiG-25RBN

SLAR

Sideways-looking airborne radar.

SOR

Specific Operational Requirement.

I M1G-25RBT

02T

SOTN

As a designation suffix: Optical and televisual

surveillance - Samolyot Optiko-Televizionnovo

Nablyudeniyn.

: MiG-25RBSh

02Sh

STOL

Short take-off and landing.

MiG-25RBK

02F

Tonnes. 1 tonne = 2,205lb = 1,000kg.

As designation suffix: Additional fuel capacity -

fuel = Toplivo.

MiG-25RR

As designation suffix: Fitted with Tangazh' Sigint.

: MiG-25MR

TACAN

Tactical Air Navigation system.

TBO

Time between overhauls.

MiG-25BM

02M

'Foxbat-F'

TOW

Take-off Weight.

TsAGI

See CAHI.

MiG-25M

Ye-266M

As a designation suffix: Trainer - Uchyebnii.

As a designation suffix: Fitted with 'Virazh' Sigint.

: MiG-25 with PS-30F

Variable Geometry (= 'swing-wing').

VFR

Visual Flight Rules.

: MiG-25PD test-bed

84-20

Air forces of the USSR/Russia -

Voenno-vozdushniye Sily.

; M1G-25PU

Ye-155U

'Foxbat-C'

WSO

Weapon Systems Operator.

Ye-

'Single unit', or more practically one-off or

prototype - Yedinitsa.

Ye-133

As a designation suffix: Refuelling - Zapravka.

MiG-25RU

Note:

Designations suffixes are frequently used in multiples, eg

MiG-25PDS, MiG-25RBVDZ.

MiG-25PDZ

MiG-25RBVDZ

I MiG-25RBShDZ

MiG-25PA

Ye-155PA

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND TRANSLITERATION

Russian is a version of the Slavonic family of languages, more

exactly part of the so-called 'Eastern' Slavonic grouping, including

Russian, White Russian and Ukrainian. As such it uses the Cyrillic

alphabet, which is in turn largely based upon that of the Greeks.

The language is phonetic - pronounced as written, or 'as

seen'. Translating into or from English gives rise to many prob-

lems and the vast majority of these arise because English is not a

straightforward language, offering many pitfalls of pronunciation!

Accordingly, Russian words must be translated through into a

phonetic form of English and this can lead to different ways of

helping the reader pronounce what he or she sees. Every effort

has been made to standardize this, but inevitably variations will

creep in. While reading from source to source this might seem

confusing and/or inaccurate but it is the name as pronounced

that is the constancy, if not the spelling of that pronunciation!

The 20th letter of the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet looks very

much like a T but in English is pronounced as a 'U' as in the word

'rule'. (See the illustration of the Ye-155U two-seater prototype on

page 34.) This is a good example of the sort of problem that some

Western sources have suffered from in the past (and occasionally

get regurgitated even today) when they make the mental leap

about what they see approximating to an English letter.

: MiG-31 MP

Ye-155MP

! MiG-31

'Foxhound'

: MiG-31

01 DZ

: MiG-31 В

01 В

: MiG-si BS

01 BS

: MiG-31 M

MLU

Mid-Life Update.

: MiG-31 D

MTBF

Mean time between failures.

MTOW

Maximum Take-off Weight.

: MiG-31 E

As a designation suffix: Night capability - Nochnoy.

NBC

Nuclear, Biological and Chemical.

• MiG-31 F

Nil

Scientific and Research Institute (of the WS) at

Akhtubinsk - Nauchno Issledovatelyskii Institut.

: MiG-31 FE

OKB

Experimental design bureau -

Opytno Konstruktorskoye Byuro .

Chapter One

Awakening

Yakovlev Yak-27 'Flashlight' all-weather

interceptor, the late 1950s PVO solution to

the western threat. Yefim Gordon archive

Francis Gary Powers was shot down near

Sverdlovsk on 1st May, 1960, in an incident

which put an end to the type's almost unhin-

dered penetrations of Soviet air defences.

Until then the West did not rate the Soviet air

defence force (PVO - Protivovozdooshnaya

Oborona) any too highly. The S-25 surface-to-

air missile (SAM) system designed and fielded

in the early 1950s had limited range and could

engage targets only at modest altitudes. Des-

igned for point defence of large cities and major

military bases, the S-25 was not used

on a wide scale and the backbone of the

PVO was formed by obsolete day interceptors -

the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17PF 'Fresco-D',

MiG-17PM (or 'PFU) 'Fresco-E', MiG-19PM

'Farmer-C' and Yak-25 'Flashlight-A'.

Sure enough, there were some attempts to

boost the capability of these aircraft for PVO

needs. A number of experimental versions of

the MiG-19 were tested, including aircraft with

liquid-propellant rocket boosters to increase

the ceiling and give a burst of speed when

chasing an intruder. One of these so-called

'Rocket Riders', the MiG-19PU (PM - Perek-

hvatchik Modifikatsirovanny, modified and

revised; manufacturer's designation SM-51),

even entered small-scale production but never

achieved operational status. Yakovlev tried

upgrading the Yak-25; the Yak-27K-8 intercep-

tor weapons system derived from it was tested

in the late 1950s but found unsatisfactory.

The design bureau (0KB - Opytno-Kon-

strooktorskoye Byuro) led by Pavel Osipovich

Sukhoi had better luck with their T-3 fighter.

In 1958 the aircraft entered production as the

Su-9 'Fishpot' and achieved initial operational

capability the following year. The Su-9-51 inter-

ceptor weapon system was capable of destroy-

ing supersonic targets at altitudes of up to

20,000m (65,600ft) but had very limited range.

Since the potential adversary had large num-

bers of strategic bombers capable of delivering

nuclear weapons (including stand-off air-to-

ground missiles), Soviet leaders urged the

enforced development of long range, high alti-

tude and high speed air defence systems to

counter the bomber threat. State leader Nikita

Sergeyevich Khruschchev maintained a very

close interest in SAM systems. Thus, the S-75

Tunguska' (ASCC SA-2 'Guideline') missile

system was developed and fielded in the late

1950s after successfully completing the trials

programme. It was this missile which blasted

Powers' U-2 out of the sky.

Meanwhile, the aircraft designers kept on

searching for new ideas. By the early 1960s

succeeded in creating a new class of fighter air-

craft - the so-called heavy interceptors. These

aircraft the customary gun armament and were

not designed for dogfighting. Instead, they

were to destroy enemy strategic bombers a

long way off from state borders with medium-

to-long range air-to-air missiles (AAMs).

Western aerospace journalists and experts

always kept a close watch on new Soviet air-

craft. Until the early 1960s, however, there were

practically no aircraft that could create a sensa-

tion in the West. Of course, there were the Mya-

sischchev M-4 (ASCC reporting name 'Bison')

and Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear' bombers and

Yakovlev Yak-25 'Flashlight', Mikoyan Ye-2A

'Faceplate' and Ye-4/Ye-5 'Fishbed' fighters.

(Ye - Yedinitsa, literally 'single unit', but more

appropriately 'one off'; prefix used to designate

Mikoyan prototypes all the way along to the

MiG-25.) These aircraft caused a bit of a stir but

did not cause the West to worry too much.

Judging by foreign authors' reports, the first

signs of trouble came in the summer of 1961

when the Soviet Union unveiled the M-50

'Bounder', Tu-22 (Tu-105A) 'Blinder' bombers,

Ye-152A 'Flipper' high speed interceptor and

the Tu-28 'Fiddler' long range interceptor. (The

prototype, which took part in the 1961 Tushino

airshow, had the service designation Tu-28 and

the manufacturer's designation Tu-102. Pro-

duction aircraft were redesignated Tu-128.)

Besides these developments, a Lockheed U-2

high altitude reconnaissance aircraft flown by

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