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The MiG-25 doesn't need to be faster than the SR-71. It just needs to have a certain fraction of the speed to be able to intercept it at an angle. At the high

The MiG-25 doesn't need to be faster than the SR-71. It just needs to have a certain fraction of the speed to be able to intercept it at an angle. At the high altitudes and speeds the Blackbird would have to go to evade a MiG-25, it would have no hope at all of evading a missile.

MegaButts 5y ago
> At the high altitudes and speeds the Blackbird would have to go to evade a MiG-25, it would have no hope at all of evading a missile. I thought the SR-71 was faster than missiles? https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-stealth%E2%80%94-sr-71-blackbird-could-simply-outrun-missiles-120021 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-stealth%E2%80%...
- zip1234 5y ago
  Missiles are faster but start in a far disadvantaged position. The missile has to start from 0 speed and 0 altitude. By the time the missile is at speed and altitude, it is too late given the speed of the SR-71.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    SAMs have to start at 0 speed and 0 altitude. An R-40 launched from a MiG-25 would start at Mach 3+ and 30km altitude.
- rtkwe 5y ago
  From your own article: > In effect, by the time it took a SAM system could lock onto an SR-71 traveling at Mach 3 and launch a missile, the Blackbird was already moving beyond the effective range of the missile. It wasn't purely faster than the missiles, it was fast enough to get out of range of radar and tracking for ground based missiles and beyond the effective range of the missile before it could reach the jet. Fired from an already moving jet at altitude missiles would have a longer effective range as it would spend less fuel getting to speed and gaining altitude.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  It was too fast for surface-to-air missiles, because by the time they got to it's altitude and caught up, they would have lost most of their kinetic energy. Of course, modern SAMs would be able to hit it. The Soviet Union at the time had the R-40 series of air-to-air missiles, that could got Mach 4.5 at very high altitudes if launched by a fast enough, high altitude aircraft, which is much higher than the Mach 3.4 the SR-71 could hope to achieve. The reason it could go that fast is because it didn't have to expend its kinetic energy to climb much, and because it already started up at Mach 3.
wil421 5y ago
As many other people pointed out a slight change in direction would be able to put the SR-71 way off course of a MiG-25 intercept path.
- hef19898 5y ago
  Bit it would also put the SR-71 of course by quite a bit. If that happens early enough any hypothetical MiG-25 mission would have been a success either way.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  No, it would not. The SR-71 is only very slightly (~200km/h) faster than the MiG-25, and if it were to make any sizeable turn, it would have to slow down significantly, perhaps even to a lower speed than it's pursuer.
  - wil421 5y ago
    It is highly doubtful a MiG-25 is just waiting up in the air for a plane to intercept and just happened to be going at it’s top speed. It is much more likely they will have to scramble a few jets for the intercept. I believe that SR-71 didn’t fly over Russian airspace due to the U2 incident. It’s also likely an AWACs or two are around and could detect the jets scrambling.

MegaButts 5y ago

> At the high altitudes and speeds the Blackbird would have to go to evade a MiG-25, it would have no hope at all of evading a missile. I thought the SR-71 was faster than missiles? https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-stealth%E2%80%94-sr-71-blackbird-could-simply-outrun-missiles-120021 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-stealth%E2%80%...

zip1234 5y ago
Missiles are faster but start in a far disadvantaged position. The missile has to start from 0 speed and 0 altitude. By the time the missile is at speed and altitude, it is too late given the speed of the SR-71.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  SAMs have to start at 0 speed and 0 altitude. An R-40 launched from a MiG-25 would start at Mach 3+ and 30km altitude.
rtkwe 5y ago
From your own article: > In effect, by the time it took a SAM system could lock onto an SR-71 traveling at Mach 3 and launch a missile, the Blackbird was already moving beyond the effective range of the missile. It wasn't purely faster than the missiles, it was fast enough to get out of range of radar and tracking for ground based missiles and beyond the effective range of the missile before it could reach the jet. Fired from an already moving jet at altitude missiles would have a longer effective range as it would spend less fuel getting to speed and gaining altitude.
sudosysgen 5y ago
It was too fast for surface-to-air missiles, because by the time they got to it's altitude and caught up, they would have lost most of their kinetic energy. Of course, modern SAMs would be able to hit it. The Soviet Union at the time had the R-40 series of air-to-air missiles, that could got Mach 4.5 at very high altitudes if launched by a fast enough, high altitude aircraft, which is much higher than the Mach 3.4 the SR-71 could hope to achieve. The reason it could go that fast is because it didn't have to expend its kinetic energy to climb much, and because it already started up at Mach 3.

wil421 5y ago

As many other people pointed out a slight change in direction would be able to put the SR-71 way off course of a MiG-25 intercept path.

hef19898 5y ago
Bit it would also put the SR-71 of course by quite a bit. If that happens early enough any hypothetical MiG-25 mission would have been a success either way.
sudosysgen 5y ago
No, it would not. The SR-71 is only very slightly (~200km/h) faster than the MiG-25, and if it were to make any sizeable turn, it would have to slow down significantly, perhaps even to a lower speed than it's pursuer.
- wil421 5y ago
  It is highly doubtful a MiG-25 is just waiting up in the air for a plane to intercept and just happened to be going at it’s top speed. It is much more likely they will have to scramble a few jets for the intercept. I believe that SR-71 didn’t fly over Russian airspace due to the U2 incident. It’s also likely an AWACs or two are around and could detect the jets scrambling.