Posted on 08/31/2013 9:14:50 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Russian MiG-31 Fighter Jets Good Enough Until ‘At Least 2028’
ZHUKOVSKY, August 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors will stay in service until “at least 2028” or possibly five or 10 years more, Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Friday.
“We are satisfied with this aircraft; it performs its functions wonderfully,” the general said, adding that as next-generation long-range missiles and aircraft are developed, interception functions could be assigned to newer warplanes as well.
Bondarev’s remarks seem to be a little bit at odds with his comments in April, when he said the Air Force hoped to receive a new long-range fighter-interceptor by 2020 and retire its existing fleet of MiG-31s by 2028. He also spoke out against restarting production of the MiG-31, which was discontinued two decades ago, saying the country needed a totally new interceptor to meet modern requirements.
The Russian Air Force has 122 MiG-31 interceptors in service and more aircraft in reserve, the general said at the time.
The MiG-31, the fastest fighter-interceptor in service anywhere in the world, has recently been the subject of a comprehensive upgrade to the MiG-31BM standard. The Russian Air Force has previously said it intends to take delivery of up to 60 MiG-31BMs by 2020, under a contract signed with United Aircraft Corporation in 2011.
Thanks to 0bama we won’t be able to afford the fuel to gas up our planes, so it doesn’t matter how good the russkies are.
I guess we’ll be finding out how good they are in a few days. Obama the destroyer of worlds.
It seems to be a rather dated fighter jet, but there is something to be said for having large numbers of aircraft.
It's de ja vu all over again!!!
My knowledge of things military is somewhat limited to what happens on the ground. I freely admit to a paucity of understanding when it comes to fighter aircraft.
Please enlighten me - It seems that 260 rounds of ammunition for the main gun on a fighter would not be very much.
Are these rounds especially effective? Or are Russian pilots really good marksmen? Or do these cannon fire very slowly?
When I read “Gatling cannon” the image in my mind goes to mini-guns spewing out thousands of rounds per minute.
3000 Km per hour seems pretty fast. Isn’t that nearly 2000 mph?
They’re big rounds, you can only carry so much.
I remember Chuck Yeager talking about the MIG 15 during the Korean War. The MIG had a large cannon but Yeager said the .50 cal. would do the job.
It is not only the fastest but also flies the highest and equipped with an AWACS class powerful radar easily burning through countermeasures.
This plane is an extremely potent BVR interceptor platform, a Mig-25 replacement with most of it’s bugs and shortcomings fixed.
Technology has improved the "aim".
Wiki says the gas-operated cannon can run 9,000-10,000 round/min, and 260 rounds is, obviously, gone in less than two seconds.
Yes, I think it was Stalin who said quantity has a quality all its own.
Not if it is based off the MIG-25.
1,864.113576712 miles per hour
As a general officer I once worked for used to say, if you need more decimal places, convert from English to Metric and back. He was being sarcastic, of course.
Large? Not as large as the A10’s 30mm round and the A-10 carries over 1,000 of those.
For this Russian jet the number of rounds is awfully inadequate. They likely expect a one pass haul a$$ worth of gun engagement as that box car can’t turn worth a darn to survive a gunfight.
That is close enough for government work.
Heh; that’s more numbers than I need to deal with. I can’t even imagine those kind of mach speeds.
I once did 200mph (300ft/sec) laps testing BFG tires at Daytona in an mid-80s IMSA GTP Porsche 956, and that was plenty fast enough for me.
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