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One has to wonder if or how this ever paid off. Once the sr71 showed up the USSR not only met the challenge with the Mig 25 foxbat a few years later, but outpr

One has to wonder if or how this ever paid off. Once the sr71 showed up the USSR not only met the challenge with the Mig 25 foxbat a few years later, but outproduced the sr 71 to create strong coverage over most of Russia's airspace. Alone it couldn't catch the 71, but its r33 missiles and 600 kilowatt radar could If you owned a 71 it was probably a pretty bitter realization a plane less than half the price could shoot it down regardless of how much clandestine titanium you imported. And after the U2 incident it was probably a pretty loathesome proposal to send it over Russian airspace at all. The mig 31 basically retired it.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Could a Foxbat shoot down an SR-71? The latter is like 0.6 Mach faster. The former was built out of steel, had an underpowered radar, couldn’t climb as high as a Blackbird and carried AA-6’s, which would have to lock and hit their target before the solid motors ran out [1]. To my knowledge the MiG-25’s claim to fame is shooting down an F-15 in the Gulf War. In any case, it’s clearly been worth it. The B-2, B-21 and RQ-180, to say nothing of our (sc)ramjet research derives directly from the Blackbird. [1] https://www.historynet.com/mig-25/ https://www.historynet.com/mig-25/
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  > Could a Foxbat shoot down an SR-71? If it were in the right place at the right time (e.g. already in the air and in front of it so the SR71 comes to them..) Not impossible, but extremely circumstantial.
- nradov 3y ago
  While it would have taken some luck for a MiG-25 or SAM to shoot down an SR-71, for the most part the US Air Force didn't take the chance. Only a few of the early missions actually penetrated Soviet or Warsaw Pact airspace. For the most part they flew along the edges of international airspace and used sensors to look in. They did overly some other countries with lesser air defense systems.
- Tool_of_Society 3y ago
  The Mig top speeds quoted always involve a plane that had no ordinance and was essentially empty. Even then the plane couldn't handle mach 2.83 for longer than 5 or so minutes due to heat generated by air friction damaging both the engines and the air-frame. Meanwhile the SR-71's top sustainable speed was mach +3. So basically a mig25 would have to be in the perfect spot and ready to have a chance at shooting down a SR-71. Even then the odds of success wouldn't be that great. The way bigger threat were the new generation of SAMs coming online that COULD give the SR-71 a lot of trouble. The spin off industries related to the SR-71 was massive and well worth the research. I'm not aware of a mig25 actually shooting down a F15. The only incident I'm aware of was the "ambush" in Samurra. So I'd like to know what incident you're referring to.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > only incident I'm aware of was the "ambush" in Samurra I was mistaken. The MiG-25 was entirely outclassed by the USAF.
- Steve44 3y ago
  Given the difficulties trying to intercept Concorde over the years it looks like it would take an awful lot of planning, equipment working perfectly, and topped off with a lot of luck. There are some intercept stories [1] and [2] about why there isn't a photo of Concorde at Mach 2. An F14 Tomcat [3] did get close once though. These were all controlled intercept attempts when Concorde was flying on a scheduled flightpath so quite unlike a wartime attempt against a Mach 3 SR71. Not saying it's impossible, just very very hard. [1] https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-505899.html https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-505899.html [2] https://theaviationgeekclub.com/not-a-single-photo-of-concorde-flying-at-mach-2-exists-heres-why/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/not-a-single-photo-of-concor... [3] https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-unknown-story-of-the-us-navy-f-14-tomcat-that-intercepted-a-concorde-during-operation-desert-shield/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-unknown-story-of-the-us-...

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

Could a Foxbat shoot down an SR-71? The latter is like 0.6 Mach faster. The former was built out of steel, had an underpowered radar, couldn’t climb as high as a Blackbird and carried AA-6’s, which would have to lock and hit their target before the solid motors ran out [1]. To my knowledge the MiG-25’s claim to fame is shooting down an F-15 in the Gulf War. In any case, it’s clearly been worth it. The B-2, B-21 and RQ-180, to say nothing of our (sc)ramjet research derives directly from the Blackbird. [1] https://www.historynet.com/mig-25/ https://www.historynet.com/mig-25/

mcpackieh 3y ago
> Could a Foxbat shoot down an SR-71? If it were in the right place at the right time (e.g. already in the air and in front of it so the SR71 comes to them..) Not impossible, but extremely circumstantial.
nradov 3y ago
While it would have taken some luck for a MiG-25 or SAM to shoot down an SR-71, for the most part the US Air Force didn't take the chance. Only a few of the early missions actually penetrated Soviet or Warsaw Pact airspace. For the most part they flew along the edges of international airspace and used sensors to look in. They did overly some other countries with lesser air defense systems.
Tool_of_Society 3y ago
The Mig top speeds quoted always involve a plane that had no ordinance and was essentially empty. Even then the plane couldn't handle mach 2.83 for longer than 5 or so minutes due to heat generated by air friction damaging both the engines and the air-frame. Meanwhile the SR-71's top sustainable speed was mach +3. So basically a mig25 would have to be in the perfect spot and ready to have a chance at shooting down a SR-71. Even then the odds of success wouldn't be that great. The way bigger threat were the new generation of SAMs coming online that COULD give the SR-71 a lot of trouble. The spin off industries related to the SR-71 was massive and well worth the research. I'm not aware of a mig25 actually shooting down a F15. The only incident I'm aware of was the "ambush" in Samurra. So I'd like to know what incident you're referring to.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > only incident I'm aware of was the "ambush" in Samurra I was mistaken. The MiG-25 was entirely outclassed by the USAF.
Steve44 3y ago
Given the difficulties trying to intercept Concorde over the years it looks like it would take an awful lot of planning, equipment working perfectly, and topped off with a lot of luck. There are some intercept stories [1] and [2] about why there isn't a photo of Concorde at Mach 2. An F14 Tomcat [3] did get close once though. These were all controlled intercept attempts when Concorde was flying on a scheduled flightpath so quite unlike a wartime attempt against a Mach 3 SR71. Not saying it's impossible, just very very hard. [1] https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-505899.html https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-505899.html [2] https://theaviationgeekclub.com/not-a-single-photo-of-concorde-flying-at-mach-2-exists-heres-why/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/not-a-single-photo-of-concor... [3] https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-unknown-story-of-the-us-navy-f-14-tomcat-that-intercepted-a-concorde-during-operation-desert-shield/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-unknown-story-of-the-us-...