Originally Posted by Visigoth

Did you know that a MiG-25PD recorded the only Iraqi air-to-air kill of the Gulf War? It dropped an F-18C on the first night of the war--then went on to fire another missile at an A-6 and buzz an A-7, all while avoiding escorting F-14s and F-15s.
An isolated incident? How about the single Iraqi Foxbat-E that eluded eight sweeping F-15s then tangled with two EF-111As, firing three missiles at the Ravens and chasing them off station. Unfortunately, the Ravens were supporting an F-15E strike, and the EF-111's retreat led to the loss of one of the Strike Eagles to a SAM. Oh BTW, the Foxbat easily avoided interception and returned safely to base.

There's more. When F-15 pilots were fighting for the chance to fly sweeps east of Baghdad late in the war, itching for a chance to get a shot at an Iraqi running for Iran, they weren't expecting the fight that a pair of Foxbats put up. Two Foxbats approached a pair of F-15s, fired missiles before the Eagles could get off shots (the missiles were evaded by the Eagles), then outran those two Eagles, four Sparrows and two Sidewinders fired back at them. Two more Eagles maneuvered to cut the Foxbat's off from their base (four more Eagles tried, but were unable to effect an intercept), and four more Sparrows were expended in vain trying to drop the Foxbats.
Not as useless an aircraft as everyone has made it out to be..

Originally Posted by Jimmy

I'm pretty sure the Blackbirds are gone. MiG-31s are still in service, but they are rare.

Originally Posted by dalem

Oooooo, fantasy fighter grog-porn, let me try!

"Dear DreamFighter Forum-

I never thought I'd be writing to a magazine like yours, but a few wars ago something happened that made me think that all the letters I read in your pages just might be true. I'm a single-vector pushcart with a titanium skin and poor maneuverability. I'm originally from a large second-world country with delusions of adequacy so I'm constantly bragging about my decision to exchange my youthful dream of a career as an all-weather interceptor for the workaday reality of being a rocket sled with a camera."

-dale

Originally Posted by Captain Drunk

What beastly luck the Foxbat's being phased out. Straying across international borders at Mach 3 must have been the ultimate thrill in all military aviation history.......anything less, like flying slower invisible to radar could be done in a helicopter hovering a few feet above the ground

Originally Posted by indianguy4u

Above Mach 3 speeds, its engine used to get destroyed, so its flight envolope was restricted to under this, to reduce maintaince costs.

Originally Posted by Captain Drunk

That’s just a spoof, no such thing as Foxbat engines exploding. The IAF wouldn’t have had those planes for quarter of a century penetrating regions deep in the North West and far off Indo-China. Neither would Russia be operating Foxbats with PVO Home Defence. More countries operate the Mig-25 than the F-15 or F/A-18. In my thinking, I’m sure it was Russia that planted this notion in the west about Foxbat’s engines burning out only to deter the US from producing their own version of the Foxbat, then selling the ‘golden goose’ cheaply affordable trisonic worldwide. Regardless of what the west thinks, I’m sure Russia and the IAF know better, cos they’re the only ones actually flying beyond Mach 3.

To do the Mach 3 talk, you gotta do the Mach 3 walk

Originally Posted by Captain Drunk

BK, the recee Mig-25R has no defensive armament and relies totally on Mach 3 speed. It's the fighter version Mig-25s with pylons that only fly at Mach 2.83 simply because they're more heavily loaded. Recee photographs of militant training camps across the Line of Control, images of Pakistani army and armoured corps movements, mapping of new roads built by adversaries deep inside forbidden territory, was all the work of IAF Foxbats flying well above 80,000 ft. pressing home at Mach 3, unless you strapped in your seat in front of a Pentium IV think you know better than a Foxbat pilot

To do the Mach 3 talk, you gotta do the Mach 3 walk

Originally Posted by The_Burning_Kid

MiG-25 and MiG-31 were restricted below Mach 3, it was because of the engines. They burned out and were totalled after the stunt. It wasn't about the airframe but the engine, it couldnt' withstand the sheer power of thrust needed to get to Mach 3+ flight.

Originally Posted by Captain Drunk

[b]
To do the Mach 3 talk, you gotta do the Mach 3 walk