An amazing interceptor: MiG -25

MIG-25: A piece of junk.

I have seen the technical details of the jet. It is a piece of junk compares to Western peers. That is not to say I do not admire Soviet engineering. I do. A lot.

When it was built, the MIG-25 was an excellent example of Soviet engineering overcoming NON-TECHNICAL challenges that would have their Western counterparts crying to their Congress/Parliament reps, becoming whistleblowers for the media, or transferring to another industry. For that, I would have loved to have a nice long conversation with the MIG-25's lead engineer over a bottle of Knob's Creek aged bourbon.

But battles are won by actual fighting against an enemy and for that, the MIG-25 was junk, to put it kindly.

Its radar was powerful enough to burn thru jamming, but was so poorly designed that it could only provide the pilot with target's general direction.

If the engines are used at %90 capacity in a single sortie, it should, not must, be removed from the jet for inspection, whereas, when I was on the F-111 and F-16, we often fly supersonic and at the end, if the crew chief said the oil sample was fine, the jet can be flown supersonic again the next day.

The MIG-25 belongs in a museum.

Am going to clarify my previous position.

The F-106 Delta Dart ( Jun 1959 ) was not designed to fight against the F-102 Delta Dagger ( Apr 1956 ). The F-15 Eagle was not designed to fight against the slightly older F-14 Tomcat.

The point here is that you do not design against what you have but against what you PERCEIVED to be what the other guy have. When it comes to highly specialized platforms like the SR-71, then you compare against the mission, which for the SR-71 is reconnaissance.

That is why the MIG-25 must be compared against its OPPOSITION peers and from what we found out of Belenko's MIG-25, overall, the aircraft is far inferior to Western counterparts.

gambit said:

Am going to clarify my previous position.

The F-106 Delta Dart ( Jun 1959 ) was not designed to fight against the F-102 Delta Dagger ( Apr 1956 ). The F-15 Eagle was not designed to fight against the slightly older F-14 Tomcat.

The point here is that you do not design against what you have but against what you PERCEIVED to be what the other guy have. When it comes to highly specialized platforms like the SR-71, then you compare against the mission, which for the SR-71 is reconnaissance.

That is why the MIG-25 must be compared against its OPPOSITION peers and from what we found out of Belenko's MIG-25, overall, the aircraft is far inferior to Western counterparts.

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@gambit what about SR 71 black bird vs Mig 25?

Mig 25 can intercept it during reconnaissance and shoot down SR 71 ?

@Srinivas Mig 25 led to Mig 31 which is still a very useful fighter