MiG-21
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MiG-31 - The Fighter India refused to buy.
Following the retirement of the MiG-25, the residents of Rawalpindi may have heaved a sigh of relief since now they don't have to replace their Glass Windows often, but on the other side of the border the IAF was left with a huge gap in its surveillance capabilities. Russia was quick to offer replacements for the MiG-25 following its retirement in the form of MiG-31, but the IAF in its infinite wisdom refused the offer.
IAFs rationale was it now has Spy Satellites to do the job of a MiG-31. It is worth noting that the U.S has literally filled outer space with 100s of spy satellites while India will be lucky if it has even half a dozen of them. But still the U.S used U2's extensively during the 2003 Iraq campaign. That's because the primary disadvantage of spy satellites is, it is anything but a spy. A "Spy" Satellite's path is extremely predictable since all satellites have to follow a specified orbit, hence the time of when it will be over an enemy country is well known to the enemy... which ofcourse defeats the very definition of a "Spy". What kind of a spy comes by announcing that he will come and spy on you only between these times. Also it can only stay in a location in the range of minutes and has to zoom away.
The U.S is planning to replace its U2s with Global Hawks, while India has no aircraft in the caliber of Global Hawks and the U.S is not willing to trade it with even some of its most trusted allies, let alone India. India only has low altitude UAV of Israeli origin called Searcher, which is a sitting duck for modern day aircraft(PAF has already shot down one IAF searcher IIRC). While the primary defence of aircraft like the U2 and Global hawk is extreme high altitude, Aircrafts like the MiG-25, MiG-31 and SR-71 use both Speed and Moderate-High Altitude as its insurance. In any case, these kinds of Spy Planes can never be replaced by spy satellites. Lets hope the IAF knows what its doing.
The MiG-31, in short, is a Pure-BVR-Fighter/Interceptor/AWACS/AWACS killer/Recon Spy Plane/SEAD-Aircraft. Apart from the recon pods offered to the IAF with the MiG-31s, the Russians also offered Zaslon-M radar and R-37, and other usual assorted array of Russian Missiles along with the Package. Zaslon-M is a very powerful beast to say the least. Just for comparison with the Su-30MKI's radar BARS -
Su-30MKI N-011M Bars Range - 140km for 5m2
MiG-31BM Zaslon-M Range - 282km for 5m2
That's more than twice the detection range of the radar on the Su-30MKI!
The Zaslon-M successfully destroyed an AWACS sized target 300km away using the R-37 missile during routine testing, that's close to the range of the AWACS radar itself!!
The R-37 missile is another scary beast. Not a supersonic, but a true Hypersonic missile at Mach 6, it can reach a speed of 2km each second. So to reach 300km it would take it only around 150 -160 seconds. The crew of a slow moving propeller driven AWACS would literally be counting their seconds the moment their RWR screams Zaslon-M all over their screens. It's maximum range is 390km. Unfortunately R-37 cannot be mounted on a Su-30MKI. That's because each R-37 weighs a whopping 600kgs. In comparison an R-77 has a range of 70km, with a speed of Mach 4 and weighs 175kgs.
The MiG-31 was never exported. The only export was canceled following immense pressure from Israel. Syria was planning to buy 5-8 MiG-31 for use as a fighter interceptor, an AWACS and as an AWACS killer. 4 MiG-31s can be used as a AWACS whose data can be datalinked to fellow MiG-31s and MiG-29s.
We all hope the future Super Sukhoi Radar will come close or exceed the performance of Zaslon-M(since rafale with its small nose may never offer such ranges). Or else...
Following the retirement of the MiG-25, the residents of Rawalpindi may have heaved a sigh of relief since now they don't have to replace their Glass Windows often, but on the other side of the border the IAF was left with a huge gap in its surveillance capabilities. Russia was quick to offer replacements for the MiG-25 following its retirement in the form of MiG-31, but the IAF in its infinite wisdom refused the offer.
IAFs rationale was it now has Spy Satellites to do the job of a MiG-31. It is worth noting that the U.S has literally filled outer space with 100s of spy satellites while India will be lucky if it has even half a dozen of them. But still the U.S used U2's extensively during the 2003 Iraq campaign. That's because the primary disadvantage of spy satellites is, it is anything but a spy. A "Spy" Satellite's path is extremely predictable since all satellites have to follow a specified orbit, hence the time of when it will be over an enemy country is well known to the enemy... which ofcourse defeats the very definition of a "Spy". What kind of a spy comes by announcing that he will come and spy on you only between these times. Also it can only stay in a location in the range of minutes and has to zoom away.
The U.S is planning to replace its U2s with Global Hawks, while India has no aircraft in the caliber of Global Hawks and the U.S is not willing to trade it with even some of its most trusted allies, let alone India. India only has low altitude UAV of Israeli origin called Searcher, which is a sitting duck for modern day aircraft(PAF has already shot down one IAF searcher IIRC). While the primary defence of aircraft like the U2 and Global hawk is extreme high altitude, Aircrafts like the MiG-25, MiG-31 and SR-71 use both Speed and Moderate-High Altitude as its insurance. In any case, these kinds of Spy Planes can never be replaced by spy satellites. Lets hope the IAF knows what its doing.
The MiG-31, in short, is a Pure-BVR-Fighter/Interceptor/AWACS/AWACS killer/Recon Spy Plane/SEAD-Aircraft. Apart from the recon pods offered to the IAF with the MiG-31s, the Russians also offered Zaslon-M radar and R-37, and other usual assorted array of Russian Missiles along with the Package. Zaslon-M is a very powerful beast to say the least. Just for comparison with the Su-30MKI's radar BARS -
Su-30MKI N-011M Bars Range - 140km for 5m2
MiG-31BM Zaslon-M Range - 282km for 5m2
That's more than twice the detection range of the radar on the Su-30MKI!
The Zaslon-M successfully destroyed an AWACS sized target 300km away using the R-37 missile during routine testing, that's close to the range of the AWACS radar itself!!
The R-37 missile is another scary beast. Not a supersonic, but a true Hypersonic missile at Mach 6, it can reach a speed of 2km each second. So to reach 300km it would take it only around 150 -160 seconds. The crew of a slow moving propeller driven AWACS would literally be counting their seconds the moment their RWR screams Zaslon-M all over their screens. It's maximum range is 390km. Unfortunately R-37 cannot be mounted on a Su-30MKI. That's because each R-37 weighs a whopping 600kgs. In comparison an R-77 has a range of 70km, with a speed of Mach 4 and weighs 175kgs.
The MiG-31 was never exported. The only export was canceled following immense pressure from Israel. Syria was planning to buy 5-8 MiG-31 for use as a fighter interceptor, an AWACS and as an AWACS killer. 4 MiG-31s can be used as a AWACS whose data can be datalinked to fellow MiG-31s and MiG-29s.
We all hope the future Super Sukhoi Radar will come close or exceed the performance of Zaslon-M(since rafale with its small nose may never offer such ranges). Or else...
