Russia Built This Jet to Shoot Down the SR-71 Spy Plane

David Axe

Security,

Did it work? 

America replaced its SR-71s with RQ-170, RQ-4 and, soon, RQ-180 drones. But Russia’s aerospace industry never quite mastered robotic aircraft. With satellite locked in predictable orbits, the MiG-25Rs were Moscow’s best way of looking down on its enemies without warning. Su-24 and Tu-22 bombers could carry cameras, but were slower than the MiG-25s and more vulnerable to enemy defenses.

In 1964, the Soviet Union’s awesome MiG-25 Foxbat jet fighter flew for the first time. Specifically designed to intercept the U.S. Air Force’s spy planes, the MiG-25 could routinely reach Mach 2.8—nearly three times the speed of sound.

(This article by David Axe originally appeared at War is Boring in 2014.)

Only the American SR-71 Blackbird was faster—and only slightly.

For nearly 25 years starting in the late 1960s, Foxbats sortied from Soviet bases any time an SR-71 rocketed along Soviet borders. But the longest-serving MiG-25s were the reconnaissance models—the MiG-25Rs.

These super-fast, high-flying spy planes were Russia’s answer to the SR-71. And whereas the Blackbirds finally left service in the late 1990s, the camera-equipped MiG-25Rs soldiered on until December 2013, when the single-seat jets finally became too old and too expensive to keep in the air.

America replaced the SR-71 with radar-evading spy drones. Russia seems to have abandoned the Foxbat without a direct replacement, severely impairing Moscow’s ability to keep tabs on its enemies.

Untouchable spy

Able to outrun normal air defenses during the most dangerous few minutes of a mission, the MiG-25R like the SR-71 was essentially invulnerable to the enemy.

Made largely of heat-resisting nickel steel alloy plus some titanium and fitted with two massive Tumansky turbojets together producing an incredible 45,000 pounds of thrust, the MiG-25 represented a huge advancement for the Soviets.