MiG-31 "The AWACS Scarecrow" - The Fighter India refused to buy

[IND151]

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...

kindly give link for article

BTW we did right by not buying these fighter

Mig 31 is maintenance incentive and we would have suffered much in 1990s due our bad economic condition(then) and lack of spares

USSR developed this fighter because it was must for them to repel US SR 71s from soviet airspace which used to take photos of vital soviet military installations

in many cases Mig 31 was reason why SR 71s aborted mission and returned

Pak and China don't have something like SR 71 and SU 30 can carry K 100 Novator which is good AWACS killer

 

[IND151]

Did i mention there's a version of Mig-31 which can even launch anti-satellite missile?

at least 6 Mig 31s were modified to fire ASAT weapons

Mig 31 video smotr

 

[somebozo]

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".

This tactic was used by Egyptians during their war with Israel to move the artillery and weaponry without being detected.

As with all Russian hardware, reliability sucks..pilots beware..

 

[SamantK]

This tactic was used by Egyptians during their war with Israel to move the artillery and weaponry without being detected.

India used the same method so that US did not detect the test of nukes in 1998..

Im sure India has more sophisticated means to spy on Pakistan...

 

[notorious_eagle]

This is why we should have them...I dont think Pak has anything to counter it, even today.

F16 armed with AIM120 will do the job

The Americans/Israelis learned long time ago that it was much more cost effective to build long range fast and manoeuvrable missiles than building fast jets. No matter how fast the MIG25/MIG31 is, it cannot outrun or outmanoeuvre an incoming A2A missile. The pilot will have a better chance of using his ECM to jam the incoming missile than trying to outrun it.

The SU30MKI is superior to the MIG31 in every way. IAF chose this fighter after conducting extensive feasibility tests. There is a reason why the MIG31 has been failure in the international market and Russia is refusing to upgrade these planes. While the SU30 on the other hand continues to sell like hot cake and is still being upgraded as we speak. Thus, SU30MKI was the correct decision IMO.

India used the same method so that US did not detect the test of nukes in 1998..

Im sure India has more sophisticated means to spy on Pakistan...

Good ole human intel, nothings beat it.

 

[Ajaxpaul]

F16 armed with AIM120 will do the job

The Americans/Israelis learned long time ago that it was much more cost effective to build long range fast and manoeuvrable missiles than building fast jets. No matter how fast the MIG25/MIG31 is, it cannot outrun or outmanoeuvre an incoming A2A missile. The pilot will have a better chance of using his ECM to jam the incoming missile than trying to outrun it.

The SU30MKI is superior to the MIG31 in every way. IAF chose this fighter after conducting extensive feasibility tests. There is a reason why the MIG31 has been failure in the international market and Russia is refusing to upgrade these planes. While the SU30 on the other hand continues to sell like hot cake and is still being upgraded as we speak. Thus, SU30MKI was the correct decision IMO.



Good ole human intel, nothings beat it.

Still i think it would not be so easy...

I found this...It may not be reliable but anyway i am putting it up:

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-1799.html

As for upgrade..Russia is upgrading them.

Russian Air Force Describes MiG-31 Upgrade | Aviation International News

 

[IND151]

Most of the spying is done only within 100kms from the border. So by the time their slow F-16s would scramble get to height and reach maximum speed, MiGs will already be in Indian Airspace. But the proliferation of BVR missile does pose a threat no doubt, but it something which can be defeated when correct ingress/egress surveillance routes are employed. Also lets not forget AWACS keeping an eye on Pakistani airspace and alerting the MiGs of Scrambles if any. At Mach 2.8, a MiG-31 can dash though 100km in less than 2 minutes. WHat's the time it'll take for the PAF pilots to get dressed, run to their aircraft and get seated? Less than 2 minutes? I don't think so.

The reason why the SR-71 was phased out was because it reached its end of service life and the costly production line was not restarted since the cold war was over. No need for expensive mach 3.2 recon planes when they can get all info on Russian weapons and new developments now on the internet.

During the kargil war it was the MiG-25 which detected the depth and the massive scale of the incursion, not fancy spy sats. Even during the war, after the Strikes from MiG-27s, Jaguars and Mirages, MiG-25s were flown to picture if the damage had any effect on troop deployments. It's use as an Tactical Battlefield Surveillance plane is unmatched by spy sats.

Please give source for claim.