dexter
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In the late 1950s, Soviet intelligence learned that the Americans were developing a new state-of-the-art supersonic bomber that could render the entire Soviet Air Force and air defense system virtually obsolete. The nuclear-armed North American XB-70 Valkyrie would fly more than three times the speed of sound and at an altitude of 75,000 feet. Only a handful of the XB-70’s would be needed to overwhelm any target.
The Soviets would have just a few short years to respond to the threat by designing a new interceptor that could match the incredible performance of America’s XB-70 aircraft. But to guard the enormous air space of the Soviet Union, the interceptor would have to be quickly engineered and mass-produced by the hundreds.
The result would be the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25, an interceptor engineered to do one thing; climb, catch and bring down the American bomber. But the aircraft would end up as one of the most misunderstood jets of the Cold War.
