Looks as stealthy as a brick. Is that the best theyve got. The Russians have come up with some beautiful aircraft, this isn’t one of them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soloviev_D-30
Id be interested if the Russians have been able to get any new engines for the Mig-31 this century.
I've always thought that the MiG-3 had nice lines:
Our A-10 isn’t too pretty either. But deadly in its mission.
Russia has a unique solution to the problem of how a bankrupt ex Super Power can maintain military relevance in a high tech world.
Their solution is ominous and poses a very realistic threat.
They minimize development costs by up grading existing high speed, high altitude platforms like the Mig 31 and Backfire Bomber Tu-22 as bomb trucks for hypersonic missiles carrying small, low yield, battlefield tactical micro nuke warheads .
Very unsubtle but potentially very effective and difficult ( and expensive) to defend against