Mikoyan MiG-31

226 Pages·2005·89.49 MB·English

by  Gordon Yefim

_j
Contents
Introduction .............................. 3
Part 1. TAKING SHAPE
Foxbat Becomes Foxhound .. ......... 9
Part 2. THE KENNEL
Foxhound Versions .. ............... 37
Mikoyan MiG·31
© 2005 Yefim Gordon Part 3. MIG-31 IN ACTION
Original translation by Sergey & Dmitiry Komissarov
Homeland Watchdog .............. 10 3
ISBN 1 85780 219 5
Part 4. FOXHOUND VERSUS TOMCAT ... 139
Published by Midland Publishing
4 Watling Drive, Hinckley, LE10 3EY, England
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Part 5. STRUCTURAL DESIGN,
E-mail: [email protected] SYSTEMS & ARMAMENT
Midland Publishing is an imprint of The MiG-31 in Detail ... ... ......... 157
tan Allan Publishing Ltd
Worldwide distribution (except North America): Line Drawings .... ....................... 202
Midland Counties Publications
4 Watling Drive, Hinckley, LE1 0 3EY, England
Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Colour Drawings ........................ 214
E-mail: [email protected]
www.midlandcountiessuperstore.com
Record Achievements ...... .............. 223
North American trade distribution:
Specialty Press Publishers & Wholesalers Inc
39966 Grand Avenue, North Branch, MN 55056
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Toll free telephone: [phone]
www.specialtypress.com
Acknowledgements
This book is illustrated with photos by
Yefim Gordon, Vyacheslav Martyniuk, Nikolay The author wishes to thank the photographers (notably
Popov, Victor Drushlyakov, Sergey Skrynnikov, Vyacheslav Martyniuk) who provided photographs for this
Sergey Sergeyev, Ernest Katayev, T. Shia, as well
book. Several photos were supplied by the late Sergey
as from the archives of RSK MiG, Yefim Gordon,
ITAR-TASS, the Voyeninform Press Agency, Skrynnikov, one of Russia's best aviation photographers,
World Air Power Journal and the Russian Aviation who was tragically killed in an aircraft crash in 2003.
Research Trust. Special thanks go also to Nikolay Popov who furnished a
lot of valuable material.
Line drawings by Andrey Yurgenson,
Oleg Put'makov and Polygon
Finally, credit is due to the translators (Sergey and Dmitriy
Colour artwork by Sergey Yershov Komissarov) who are my partners in many book projects.
Without their assistance the book would never have
Printed in England by tan Allan Printing Ltd appeared.
Riverdene Business Park, Molesey Road,
Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG
This book relies on unclassified sources (books and
All rights reserved. No part of this magazines published in Russia, the UK and the USA);
publication may be reproduced, see bibliography section at the end of the book.
stored in a retrieval system, transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical or photo-copied, recorded
or otherwise, without the written
permission of the publishers.
Introduction
For years, the northern and eastern borders of however, cannon-armed subsonic intercep
the USSR were well guarded by Mother tors could no longer cope with high-flying and
Nature herself; the vast expanses of water and fast targets. Two approaches were pursued:
ice made them inaccessible for any foes. the first was to equip production tactical fight
Things changed dramatically in the late 1940s ers with airborne intercept (AI) radars and air
with the advent of strategic bombers pos to-air missiles (AAMs), while the other option
sessing intercontinental range. was to design dedicated interceptors from
Since then, the Soviet leaders regarded scratch, tailoring them to the PVO's needs.
the creation of a highly effective national air The adoption of the aerial intercept
defence system capable of protecting the weapons system concept by the Soviet mili
country from any attack as a top-priority task. tary in the mid-1950s was of prime importance
With the onset of the Cold War the Soviet for the Soviet Air Defence Force. The inter
Union found itself at odds with nations pos ceptor was now regarded as part of an inte
sessing strategic bombers and cruise missiles grated system comprising the aircraft as such
capable of carrying one-megaton nuclear (that is, a missile platform), AAMs, Al/fire con
warheads which were capable of wiping out trol radars and ground-based guidance sys
nearly all key industrial and military targets of tems. The first Soviet aerial intercept weapons
the USSR within a very short time. Effective systems to enter squadron service were the
countermeasures had to be developed pronto. ones based on the subsonic Mikoyan/Gure
The first Soviet surface-to-air missile vich MiG-17PFU and the Yakovlev Yak-25K.
(SAM) systems - the S-25 Toongooska and Later, the supersonic MiG-19PM, Sukhoi Su-9,
S-75 Vo/khov (both named after Russian rivers Su-11 and Yak-28P were fielded nationwide.
and known to the Western world as the SA-2 Yet again these aircraft could effectively inter
Guideline) - had limited range and a kill alti cept an incoming target at a distance of sev
tude not exceeding 20 km (65,620 ft). Thus, eral hundred kilometres from base, at best. A
they could only be used for point defence of totally new type of aircraft was required for
major cities and military bases. SAMs were combating aerial attackers at distances in
not enough to protect the vast country that the excess of 1 ,000 km (620 miles) and altitudes
Soviet Union was. Conversely, missile-armed in excess of 20,000 m (65,600 ft).
aircraft could destroy the attackers while The first attempt to create such an inter
these were still a long way from the Soviet bor ceptor was undertaken by Semyon A. Lav
ders. Manned interceptors were thus an effec ochkin's OKB-301 in the second half of the
tive solution for covering the huge expanses 1950s. (OKB = opytno-konstrooktorskoye
of Siberia and the Soviet Far East where build byuro- experimental design bureau; the num
ing a lot of SAM sites was impossible. Thus the ber is a code allocated for security reasons.)
task of building a chain of air defence radars The La-250 had a design endurance of more
along the frontiers and fielding new intercep than two hours in subsonic mode and a top
tors capable of patrolling the borders for an speed of 1,600 km/h (990 mph). Yet the test
extended time received the highest priority. programme was plagued by accidents which,
The first Soviet interceptors for the nation's together with troublesome equipment and
Air Defence Force (PVO - Protivovozdoosh unsatisfactory handling, caused the trials to
naya oborona) were developed in the late drag on for years and eventually led to the
1940s and early 1950s. By the mid-1950s, cancellation of the programme. Now the PVO
4 MiG-31
high command found itself in a nice fix. There MiG-21 tactical fighters. In the late 1950s the
fore, Artyom lvanovich Mikoyan's OKB-155 OKB tried its hand at 'heavy' designs. The first
was instructed to start work on superfast, of them- the 1-75, Ye-150 and particularly the
ultra-high-flying heavy interceptors. (In this Ye-152 series- suffered an ignominious fate.
context, 'heavy' means that the aircraft is These aircraft, capable of destroying almost
larger and heavier than the 'light' interceptors any target at altitudes of up to 22,000 m
adapted from single-seat tactical fighters. (72, 180ft) and ranges of up to 1 ,000 km (625
Another reason for this term is that the 'heavy miles), did not progress beyond the prototype
interceptors' are dedicated aircraft whose stage due to development problems and con
only mission is to destroy the enemy aircraft at stantly changing requirements. The S-75
long range; they are not designed for close-in SAM's success on 1st May 1960 when Fran
combat.) cis Gary Powers' Lockheed U-2 was shot
The Mikoyan OKB gained fame as a down was undoubtedly a major contributing
'fighter maker' in 1949 when the famous factor; the Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrusch
MiG-15 was brought out; this was followed by chov's bias towards rocketry killed off many a
the equally successful MiG-17, MiG-19 and promising aircraft. (The Ye prefix means
yedinitsa- 'unit', that is, 'one-off' aircraft, and
was used to designate Mikoyan fighter proto
types right down to the MiG-25.)
Still, the threat posed by USAF's large
strategic bomber force had to be countered,
and the Mikoyan OKB persevered. The devel
opment work of the late 1950s and early 1960s
was not in vain. The mighty Tumanskiy
R15B-300 afterburning turbojet with a reheat
thrust of 10,150 kgp (22,380 lbst) was verified
on the Ye-152 series and finally entered pro
duction; major progress was also made in
radar and air-to-air missile technology. Thus,
many of the technological prerequisites for
the birth of a high-speed long-range intercep
tor were there by 1960. What actually trig
gered its appearance was yet another round
in the arms race .
•
The Mikoyan/Gurevich
MiG-17PFU, an upgraded version
of the cannon-armed MiG-17PF,
was one of the first Soviet all
weather interceptors to feature
missile armament. This view
shows the characteristic twin
radomes of the RP-5 radar and
the four RS-1-U missiles on
underwing launch rails .
...
The subsonic MiG-17PFU was
gradually supplanted by the
supersonic MiG-19PM. Both
types are shown together here,
with a dolly loaded with RS-1-U
(the ones with tracers at the
wingtips) and RS-2-US AAMs in
the foreground; the missiles are
facing alternatively left and right
and feature protective caps over
the noses. Both aircraft had fairly
modest capabilities,
necessitating development of
more modern interceptors.
Introduction 5
~
A magnificent view of a fully
armed MiG-19PM as It banks away
from the camera ship, showing off
its sleek lines and sharply swept
wings. Fighters operated by the
Soviet Air Defence Force (PVO)
normally had blue tactical codes
as shown here.
Two PVO pilots sprint towards
their MiG-21 interceptors. The
aircraft in the foreground is a
MiG-21 PFS with a narrow-chord
fin, while the other one is a later
MiG-21 PFS with a broad-chord
~ fin. Both versions were operated
f
exclusively by the PVO;
"' nevertheless, the aircraft have
~~ ..... ______. .o...;__,.....,....., r.e.. d tactical codes.
~
In February 1961 the Central Committee of
the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet
Council of Ministers issued a joint directive
tasking the Mikoyan OKB with developing an
aircraft designated Ye-155; interceptor and
reconnaissance versions designated Ye-155P
(perekhvatchik) and Ye-155R (razvedchik)
respectively were envisaged. The actual
development work started on 1Oth March
1961. Designed around a pair of R15B-300
engines, the Ye-155P had a powerful Smerch
A (Tornado-A) radar with a detection range of _______ _
100 km (62.5 miles) and was armed with a _"
quartet of R-40 medium-range AAMs. The first
prototype Ye-155P interceptor was completed
~
Two MiG-23Ms in air superiority
grey camouflage armed with
IR-homing R·13M missiles are
prepared for a night sortie. The
aircraft was operated both by
the Air Force (VVS) and the Air
Defence Force (PVO), but these
two machines are PVO aircraft
(red codes notwithstanding)
because the R·13M AAM was
on the PVO's inventory only.
Note the 'Excellent aircraft'
maintenance award badge on
the far aircraft.
6 , MiG-31
command link system connected with the
radar and enabling the aircraft to be directed
to the target area automatically or semi-auto
matically.
Officially the MiG,25P was cleared for ser
vice by a directive of the Council of Ministers
dated 13th April 1972. By the mid-1970s it
made up the backbone of the PVO's intercep
tor inventory. After converting to the MiG-25P,
PVO units stationed near the borders suc
cessfully intercepted Lockheed SR-71A spy
planes approaching sensitive areas. The
Blackbirds could have been shot down,
despite the USAF's allegations to the con
trary, and the only reason why they weren't is
that no order to fire had been given. Anyway,
the SR-71 sand U-2s stayed clear of the areas
where MiG-25Ps were based.
...
in the summer of 1964, making its first flight After Lt. Viktor I. Belenko's widely publi
An atmospheric night shot of a on 9th September - soon after the Ye-155R cised defection to Japan in a MiG-25P on 6th
Sukhoi Su-9 interceptor. The four prototypes featuring 'camera case' noses. September 1976 the Soviet air defence force
RS-2-Us are not fitted here, but
In 1971 the interceptor entered full-scale found itself in a predicament again. The Amer
the two underfuselage drop
tanks are. The Su-9 entered production as the MiG-25P and was code icans had studied the MiG-25P in detail;
service in 1958 and remained in named Foxbat by NATO. Its Smerch-A1 unless the design was drastically upgraded,
service for many years. Note the (RP-25) radar could search and track targets the type's combat efficiency would be far too
lengthwise positioning of the either autonomously or using ground inputs low. To correct this, it was decided to develop
aircraft on the flight line, as was
relayed via the Vozdookh-1 (Air-1) command a new weapons control system for new-build
customary in the PVO in the
1960s. link. After that, target lock-on, aircraft guid aircraft and retrofit it to existing ones. Hence
ance towards the launch point and data feed the Mikoyan OKB developed a comprehen
to the missiles' warheads occurred auto sive upgrade in a remarkably short time. The
matically. The weapons load consisted of four Smerch-A radar was replaced by a new
R-40 missiles (two radar-homing R-40Rs Sapfeer-25 (Sapphire)/RP-25M radar. An
and two IR-homing R-40Ts). The MiG-25P infra-red search & track (IRST) unit coupled
was fitted with the Lazoor' (Prussian Blue) with the radar made the weapons system less
~
The Su-15TM was the ultimate
production version of this
aircraft and formed an important
component of the PVO's fighter
fleet until the late 1980s. This
view illustrates well the cranked
'™-
delta wing planform of the
...
susceptible to enemy ECM and enabled the nated MiG-25PDS (for perekhvatchik, dora
aircraft to make 'sneak attacks' without botannw v stroyu - field-modified intercep Another Su-15TM carrying two
R-8 AAMs (a heat-seeking R-BT
switching on the radar. An all-new ground tor). A small number of MiG-25Ps were
to port and a radar-homing
based command system and a new identifi exported to Iraq, Libya, Syria and Algeria;
R-8R to starboard) and two
cation friend-or-foe (IFF) set were installed. some of them are reported to have seen UPK-23-250 cannon pods on
The aircraft carried upgraded R-40TD/R-40RD action in various local wars. the fuselage pylons. The yellow
missiles with almost twice the range. code is noteworthy.
Work on the new interceptor, designated ...
MiG-25PD (dorabotannw - modified) pro
gressed very fast. Several prototypes com A pair of R-40TD AAMs under
the port wing of a MiG-25PD.
pleted their test programme in 1978 and the
type entered production in Gor'kiy that year.
This MiG-25PD, '306 Blue',
In 1979 the new version was officially added
carries a pair of R-40RDs inboard
to the inventory and stayed in production until
and four R-60s on APU-60-2
1982; all early production aircraft were paired launch rails outboard.
updated to MiG-25PD standard and redesig- T
8 Introduction
range and outdated weapons systems. There
fore, the Mikoyan OKB proposed developing
the MiG-25PD into a long-range interceptor
capable of patrolling alone over the vast north
ern wilderness and defending industrial cen
tres effectively.
The aircraft was to have long range and a
cruising speed of about 3,000 km/h (1 ,864
mph) and to be capable of destroying multiple
targets (including cruise missiles) in a single
sortie. The crew was to include a pilot and a
navigator/weapons systems officer (WSO).
The idea was supported by the government
and the PVO command.
Three basic versions of the new aircraft
designated Ye-155MP were considered, dif
fering only in wing design as the fuselage, the
lateral air intakes and twin fins were borrowed
.a. In 1968 the Soviet government issued a from the MiG-25 in as-is condition. Version A
'53 Blue', one of the Su-30 directive ordering the Mikoyan OKB to design had three-spar trapezoidal wings featuring
interceptors operated by the
and build three versions (interceptor, strike small leading edge root extensions (LERXes);
Russian Air Defence Force's
and reconnaissance) of an aircraft designated Version B featured variable-geometry wings;
Combat & Conversion Training
Centre at Savasleyka AB. The Ye-155M. Initially the aircraft was merely an while Version C was a tailless delta with ogival
aircraft carries four R-27RD upgraded MiG-25; by the early 1970s, how wings of increased area.
missiles, two of which are ever, the objective was somewhat different. Until 1st May 1960, when the U-2 met its
suspended on the tandem
The USSR had long been suffering from inad match near Sverdlovsk, the Western world did
centreline pylons.
equate air defence of the Polar Regions. Air not rate the Soviet air defence force. The
bases with powerful avionics and navigational Mikoyan OKB did a lot to change this, and a
facilities were few and far between in the major contribution was made by the aircraft
north. The existing air defence radars could which is the subject of this book- the MiG-31
only detect low-flying targets at close range. heavy interceptor; a type which, alongside the
The MiG-25PD, Su-15TM and Tupolev Tu-128 single-seat Su-27P and a handful of two-seat
interceptors equipping the PVO units sta Su-30s, currently makes up the backbone of
tioned up north were hampered by limited Russia's air defence force.
~
The Su-27P is one of the Russian
Air Defence Force's principal
types today. Here the aircraft is
shown with the maximum
possible ordnance load - ten
R-27 medium-range AAMs (in
both lA-horning R-27T and semi·
active radar-homing R-27R
versions), two R-73 short-range
lA-horning AAMs and cannon
ammunition.
MiG-31 9
PART ONE
TAKING SHAPE
Foxbat Becomes Foxhound