Ukraine 7

[Canuck Conservative]

@adorno

Nice to see you escaped that Putin Gulag hellhole, away from all the haters and negativity, thru the Iron Curtain to the sweet taste of freedom! Welcome aboard!

(BTW, for me, TOS will always be "the other site", and now TOS = a POS ... just sayin ...)

[PeteS in CA]

WRT the Estonian airspace interception story, the MiG-31 sounds like it's the ultimate of a 1950-1960s mission-concept, ground-controlled interceptor, whose target is fleets of bombers coming in at high altitude for a nuclear attack. An interceptor was/is very fast, climbs fast, and can operate at very high altitude. BUT maneuverability is sacrificed and its range of weapons tailored to its interception role.

That bomber strategy was largely abandoned by the US in the 1970s (maybe earlier, given the abandonment of the B-70 program), and the USAF's last interceptor was the F-106. The USAF went largely multirole as it evolved the F-4 Phantom. The USN did similarly, though the F-14 Tomcat started out with interceptor being one of its primary missions (the Phoenix missile was more suited to bomber targets rather than maneuvering fighters).

[BobfromWB]

WRT the Estonian airspace interception story, the MiG-31 sounds like it's the ultimate of a 1950-1960s mission-concept, ground-controlled interceptor, whose target is fleets of bombers coming in at high altitude for a nuclear attack. An interceptor was/is very fast, climbs fast, and can operate at very high altitude. BUT maneuverability is sacrificed and its range of weapons tailored to its interception role.

That bomber strategy was largely abandoned by the US in the 1970s (maybe earlier, given the abandonment of the B-70 program), and the USAF's last interceptor was the F-106. The USAF went largely multirole as it evolved the F-4 Phantom. The USN did similarly, though the F-14 Tomcat started out with interceptor being one of its primary missions (the Phoenix missile was more suited to bomber targets rather than maneuvering fighters).

The MiG-31 was originlly Russia's response to the SR-71 Blackbird.

[adorno]

Thanks, Canuck! I really appreciate it!

[Timber Rattler]

The MiG-31 was originlly Russia's response to the SR-71 Blackbird.

It was the MiG-25 (1960s tech) actually.  The MiG-31 (1970s tech) is a two-seat version with more advanced avionics and engines.