Terroristic Countries will have MiG-31

Aye, they will sell to whomever to make the hard currency. However, if it was the flanker or some other decent plane, yes the West would worry, but the 31 ? I doubt it.

A good plane for sure, but when it comes down to the wire, there is not much in the Western inventory that could not take it down or the airfields from which it operates...as for Iran, hell they had F14s for a while...how many are flying now ? Same will happen with the 31, 29 or even the SU-27 were it sold to these nations. The more high tech the kit the more experienced and trained the people need to be to keep them flying, not to mention the hard cash required to purchase the constant spare parts.

All imvho.

Cheers

CodexK

Originally posted by TSR2005
The more I hear about Libya and al-Gaddafi, the more I think he could be one of the west's best allies in that section of the world. After all, he was one of the first to openly comdem the 9/11 attacks. Too many people are still hooked on the past and should start reading more recent information about what going on over there. A lot has changed.
Libya in general is an ideal customer for the MiG-31, since they flew the MiG-25 for so many years. For just about any other air force, the -31 would be too complex for them and, well, bad things would happen. And given Libya has kept cool since the 1990's and has allowed inpectors full access to it's nuclear programs (as opposed to Iran), the purchase of a defence aircraft sure as this might just mean 'keeping up with the Jones'. I personally would not worry to much about it. Only worry if they go to North Korea or Iran.

Gadaffi plays the game with the best of them, he always looks after his best interests. In current affairs he is siding with the West, allowing him concessions on arms, oil and other trade credits. And the West is trying to play him, which is fair enough as when it comes down to brass tacks he's hardly a threat to Israel, etc.

All imvho.

Cheers

CodexK

Originally posted by waynos
The Russians considered a side by side two seater bomber variant during the evolution of the MiG 31 from the MiG 25 but it was not pursued as it would be inferior to the Su-24 Fencer.

Good point, as always Waynos, but if you took the 31 and made it more F-111 like...but with a decent range...then they might have a good low level attack plane. However, the price of range vs speed....would make the trade harsh imo, and not worth doing.

31 is an interceptor, no more, no less I reckon.

Fencer werent bad, but I've bomb scored a lot of Western planes on ranges and I doubt that plane ever caused much worry within NATO during the bad old days.

All imvho.

Cheers

CodexK

Originally posted by planeman
I think people are missing something obvious about the MiG-31 threat. The MiG-31 is fast, but the Russians switched the emphasis away from speed (MiG-25) instead to distance-intercept and endurance - the MiG-31 is a Tomcat equivelent.

Good points chap, but just how old is the old Tomcat ? Awesome plane in its day, probably one of the finest carrier borne interceptors/air defence planes but these days ?

All imvho.

Cheers

CodexK

Originally posted by CodexKeeper
However, if it was the flanker or some other decent plane, yes the West would worry, but the 31 ? I doubt it.

A good plane for sure, but when it comes down to the wire, there is not much in the Western inventory that could not take it down Cheers

CodexK

Question, not counting the obvious (F-22), which are the planes in US inventory that are superior to the MiG-31 in A2A and what about the Flanker makes it more worrying to the west than the MiG-31?

In answer to that I would say that (F-22 excepted, natch) in BVR there is nothing in the West that is superior to the MiG 31, although the DASS suite of the Typhoon levels the playing field somewhat, while in WVR everything, including the Tornado F.3, is better.

Id say the Flanker is more feared because it has great capabilies in BVR, WVR and A2G while the MiG 31 is a bit of a one trick pony.

[edit on 7-8-2006 by waynos]

[edit on 7-8-2006 by waynos]

Originally posted by waynos
In answer to that I would say that (F-22 excepted, natch) in BVR there is nothing in the West that is superior to the MiG 31, although the DASS suite of the Typhoon levels the playing field somewhat, while in WVR everything, including the Tornado F.3, is better.

I wasn't considering dogfights (thought they were considered obsolete around here)
...But since you mentioned it, a very good comparison (Tornado F.3 vs MiG-31), I never thought about that (those two are not the usual suspects when it comes to dogfight arguments). I am willing to agree with you on this one if we include the human factor, meaning the average RAF pilot is probably better trained than the average Iranian pilot, but if it's down to the planes, I'm not so sure.
Good pilots (chief test pilot actually, Valeriy Menitski ) have displayed airshow routines comparable to MiG-23ML displays.
What does a Tornado (or an F-14 for that matter) have on a MiG-31?
Tornado is much lighter for one, but the MiG has gobs more power and more advanced aerodynamics (huge wing, vortex generators), with the same fuel & weaponload as a Tornado it wouldn't be much heavier than a Su 30. And any export versions will most probably have helmet mounted sights and R-73...
Above is all my thoughts, I never heard a professional opinion what a dogfight between a Tornado and Mig-31 will look like.
BTW, how would you compare the F.3 to the other Sumo class fighter, the Tomcat?