No other nation operates anything like the MiG-31 ‘Foxhound’ — a big, brutish, heavyweight interceptor offering Mach 2.8 performance and long range.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF Russia, its vast uninhabited territories of the north and close proximity to a ‘probable enemy’ — the US — coupled with sparsely located airfields, radar and missile sites, drives the demand for a long-range interceptor. It requires an aircraft that has the ability to operate with limited ground support and utilize automatic data exchange within a formation. The reaction to any threat must be fast, hence the requirement for high speed. This is the domain of the MiG-31
The ‘Foxhound’ has a supersonic range of 1,300km (702nm) or a subsonic range of 3,000km (1,620nm), and can fly at Mach 2.8 (or Mach 2.35 cruise). This interceptor is intended for autonomous operations with or without the support of a ground-controlled intercept (GCI) network, for protection against attack by cruise missiles launched from heavy bombers or submarines.
After the initial prototype was flown on September 16, 1975, the Nizhny Novgorod plant built 519 MiG‑31s between 1976 and 1994. The first unit equipped with the type, the now-disbanded 786th Fighter Aviation Regi…
