Hi guys, dug out this old thread as the SR-71 propaganda has spiked once more recently. Some answers were very helpful and informative, thanks!
I just want to add some considerations to the thread:
1. What do you expect to hear from highly trained and indoctrinated USAF pilots? Full disclosure of BVR tactics and parameters maybe? Any trained military will give you the answer your question suggests, will say he doesn't know, or something random.
2. What do you expect to hear from a member of the Russian VKS?
3. What was the purpose of the MiG-25 after all? When seemingly SU-15, MiG-23 and even MiG-21 could do thye same job. They built more than a thausand of that extreme machine.
4. Why do some of you assume the USSR accounted for every modification they made or even for the actual parameters of an extreme and expensive weapons system that they built in big numbers - obviously relying on it for performing of some not really clear tasks. At that level of performance it should be intuitive that those extreme machines had parameters and flight envelopes dictating very specific way of piloting and missions profiles. - applies for both SR and MiG. Why would anyone disclose the actual parameters, profile, envelope, etc?
Something to consider: Does anyone outside the military of any country operating supersonic fighters know the launch, defense and other parameters of BVR missiles? - The answer is: No.
My take is that it is very, very possible that:
1. The SR had a modification with weapons bay or some other means to deliver something very big and nasty very fast very far. Irrepective if it was ever tested, installed, etc. This capability could have been exploited.
2. The MiG was more than capable to intercept and down and SR with very high probability even alone. Even if it didn't in 1967, it did in the 70's. 1.100+ made is not because it was just a tad faster 23 of SU-15.
3. At high supersonic speeds the airfoil doesn't work the way it does at lower speeds. Lift is created by the angle of attack.
Thus, it is very easy to figure out that drag is proportional to weight.
- Now compare the two planes weights.
- Now compare the two planes thrust.
- Now... Compare the MiG-31 to the two former planes...
4. The last consideration is, if you compare the prices of the SR and the MiGs it is very obvious that an exchange rate of 1:1 is very favorable for the USSR whereas they had built more MiG-25's than SRs, XB70s, etc. the US could have ever built. Also the burned engines myth is already busted, they didn't burn. See that video, you could disregard what you don't like, but there are some graphs of the power Vs drag, lift, etc. that can't be disregarded:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSn9_6Vnft8
My conclusion is that almost every claim of the two planes performance is most likely true, with that twist that the SR was the more poorly made plane, also less developed with more primitive engines and metallurgy. Imagine comparing a prototype car and a series one. The SR had bigger problem with inlet heat than the MiG.
Here's exactly how to do it:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5s0zieHSXY
As you can see, the USSR tailor made a weapon system that can down an SR front and rear hemishere. Also, you get a hint why the speed of the MiG-25 was limited. 9.000 km/h maximum relative approach speed of the fuse... If you add the maximum speeds of the rocket, the MiG and the SR, it would be more than 9.000 km/h, thus the speed was limited. At M=2.8+ the missile fuse began overheating, that's why that relative speed limit.
References taken from the channel of the author of the videos:
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Ka-bot 2015 AN-ts
преди 1 месец
"Автоматизированная система управления "Воздух-1" (в 4-х частях)", publishing house of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, 1963; J. Fedosov. "Полвека в авиации" глава 2; Markovsky, Prikhodchenko, "Истребитель-перехватчик Су-15: граница на замке"; Data on the flight characteristics of the Phoenix missile - from the NASA source about the flying laboratory based on the Phoenix. Historical information (about the attempt to ram the U-2, about the characteristics of the R-40, about the defeat of the KRM target-drons) is contained in military journals, as well as in declassified reports. In the video about the trajectories of the S-75 missiles on my channel, there are scans of a declassified report on the KRM target with its speed and height - it was the same target that the MiG-25 shot down.
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Read the comments of both videos, allot of further references and explanations by the author.
Now some critic. Many of you say that the SR "Simply" accelerated when threatened. That "simply" is simple only in words, in practice it could have accelerated only to the ISS or the Moon LoL
P.S. The current record holder of absolute maximum altitude and time to altitude to 25, 30, 35 and 37-something km is the MiG-31... Figure it out by yourself. The MiG-25 is lighter and has more thrust at high altitude... Anyway, that's not that interesting, because in the high speed intercept game, time of takeoff has bigger influence on the chances than an altitude and speed drag race... that the MiG would have won...
. by the way what about some of the missiles of the S-400 complex?
