MiG-31BM/Κ Interceptor/Attack aircraft: News

Wanting to carry anti ship missiles on the Mig-31 would be not the best idea I would think in terms of clearance under the aircraft.

However most naval targets would have RCS of 200m^2 plus so detection range would not be an issue... curvature of the earth would have more influence on range than anything else.

The original R-33 can hit targets at 120km so I rather suspect the tracking range is greater as the R-33S can engage targets to 150km and the soon to be introduced if not already introduced R-37M will have a range of 300km.

If you want a platform to carry long range anti ship missiles then right now I would say use Tu-22M3Ms, and in 10 years time I would say the PAK DA would be ideal for that role too.

The Mig-31 is an excellent interceptor... there is no need to make it anything else.

GarryB wrote:Wanting to carry anti ship missiles on the Mig-31 would be not the best idea I would think in terms of clearance under the aircraft.

Hell it might work, the MiG-31D put a not-quite-small Vympel ASAT under the centerline.

GarryB wrote:However most naval targets would have RCS of 200m^2 plus so detection range would not be an issue... curvature of the earth would have more influence on range than anything else.

At that range, curvature is only a problem below around 2500 meters (roughly 7000 feet). Above 2500 meters and you have no problem seeing something on the surface at 200 km. The curvature issue is usually more of a big deal for sensors like land-based or ship-based radars. They can't adjust too much to change the geometry involved so they're basically stuck with the perspective they've got. If you're an aircraft at a good cruising height of, say, 12000 meters, your radar horizon is all the way out at 450 km.

Hell it might work, the MiG-31D put a not-quite-small Vympel ASAT under the centerline.

But a Tu-22M3M could carry 4 missiles or more over a longer range and its new radar will likely be optimised for land and sea targets.

Fact is, we need the MiG-31 where it is now. We don't have enough of them in service to have any spares for such experiments.

MiG-31 could serve however for a lot of years as a recon aircraft

I suspect UAVs and Satellites would be more appropriate, while for side looking high flying recon the M-17/M-55 would probably be much cheaper if a lot slower.

The Mig-31 is what it is... an excellent interceptor.

And considering how much actual high g dogfighting there has been in the last 30 years of real combat it could probably be an excellent fighter too.

The generally one sided combat seen over the last few decades have been between aircraft with AWACS support and those without. With AWACS the Mig-31 would be excellent as it could zoom climb and launch missiles at high speed and high altitude giving them extended range and performance over missiles carried by aircraft flying lower and slower.

CaptainPakistan wrote:It would be bad at this due to the Zaslon and R-33 being compromised 3 decades ago.

...except that the Zaslon and R-33 were upgraded following the compromise specifically because they knew what happened.

There was a bomber version designed to carry 6 1,500kg FAB-1500 bombs... 4 under the belly and two under the wings for a total of 9 tons of bombs.

The Mig-31BM was originally called a SEAD version able to carry ARMs.

http://russianplanes.net/images/to128000/127868.jpg

A fantastic photo of the a MiG-31BM.

A fantastic photo of the a MiG-31BM.

Looks like my avatar photo except with a green background...

http://russianplanes.net/id127912

Another great photo. And with a rarity- R-73.

I find that astonishing when you look on this great bird how this tinny looking wings can lift that massive body without breaking apart. Kinda impressive what men can create, if they would focus more on defensive and space tech and overall technological and medical fields could be a great planet.

Best MIG-31 photo in years. We just need to trace the exact number of modernized MIG-31.

Good.. finally a REAL R-73 on MiG-31... Hope there would be R-77 as well.

GarryB wrote:

A fantastic photo of the a MiG-31BM.

Looks like my avatar photo except with a green background...

Time for an avatar change, GazB?   

Arrow wrote:Mig 31BM still with the old R-33.

Nothing gets past you does it .

Werewolf wrote:I find that astonishing when you look on this great bird how this tinny looking wings can lift that massive body without breaking apart.

Buttloads of thrust! Given enough thrust I could make a brick wall fly   That being said the wings aren't actually that small. And the massive body has two big empty tunnels in it for the air intake trunks, so it's not exactly a big solid object, either.

Arrow wrote:Mig 31BM still with the old R-33.

I noticed the same thing. I wonder if they never made a lot of the R-33S, and are ignoring them while waiting for the R-37.

Stealthflanker wrote:Good.. finally a REAL R-73 on MiG-31...

Carrying dummies is not that uncommon. The more amusing feature is that the upgraded FOXHOUNDs have been carrying the R-73 launch rails for a while now, making it one of the giveaways to an upgraded airframe.

What is a point of wasting R-33S when there are probably plenty of R-33's already in use. Majority of flights now is considered training for the pilots, especially since Russia is not in a war atm. Awaiting on R-37 though. I thought it was already under production?

As well, never seen the MiG-31 with R-73! Looks nice. Love the jet.

So what is the outcome from MoD? Are they actually going to find a replacement jet for the MiG-31? Has there been any new news regarding a tender for an interceptor? Or is it pretty much going to be default Sukhoi due to the Su-35S and PAK-FA having the ability for long range engagement (Irbis-E and the N-035 Radar).

The new Zaslon specs Perhaps this is the one that designated as "Zaslon AM"
http://www.niip.ru/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:-l-r-lr&catid=8:2011-07-06-06-33-26&Itemid=8

I posted about it previously.. but forget to add link.

This one is great improvements over earlier Zaslon.. (Track 10 for early Vs 24 for new one) The range figure however is somewhat different to one i previously read in Yefim Gordon books (280 km vs 10 Sqm RCS) While this one has 19 Sqm detected in 200 Km. But then .. as one said in secret projects forum.. one cannot actually find "real" detection range figure for a radar.

I still would not write off the Mig-31 replacement as being a combination of PAK FA and Su-35.

We have heard the head of the VVS say they wont replace their Mig-31s, but I rather suspect the head of the VKKO might decide that the Mig-31 offers things no stealth fighter can offer so they might invest some of their budget into a replacement... I still dream of an interceptor version of the Tu-22M3M... I will call it Tu-22M3MP... and it can have a huge nose mounted AESA and a flattened belly with conformal launch positions for 20-30 R-37Ms, plus some more missiles in the rotary launcher and four main wing pylons.

I would probably replace the wing design with an active live wing similar to the Su-33KUBs wing that is fixed in sweep but able to be shaped in profile to change lift performance.

It is already at 90 I think, the 60 bird contract was a follow on of an earlier one.

At the pace it is going, it looks like the whole active fleet will be modernized before 2020.