reply to post by Aim64C
Again - that missile is incapable of intercepting the blackbird.
It's a simple matter of ballistics - that missile rapidly climbs, then assumes a ballistic trajectory to come down on top of its target.
For crying out loud, how many times do I have to repost the same sources?!
It’s not my OPPINION, it’s a matter of FACT.
The R-33 long-range missile was created for arming MiG-31 fighter-interceptors. It became operational in 1980 and is capable of engaging SR-71
strategic reconnaissance aircraft, B-52 and B-1 bombers, aircraft of front and transport aviation, and also helicopters and cruise missiles. The R-33
may be used at any time of day, under any weather conditions, in the presence of interference and jamming to engage targets flying against earth and
water surfaces. The missile is made in a normal aerodynamic scheme and has a cruciform configuration. Lifting surfaces of the R-33 are made with a low
aspect ratio and two control surfaces are folding for its semirecessed accommodation beneath the platform's fuselage. Control and stabilization in
three angles are accomplished with the help of four mechanically unconnected (differential) aerodynamic surfaces activated by gas drives. The missile
is equipped with a semiactive radar homing head that locks onto a target on the trajectory. Guidance of the R-33 to a target is a combination:
inertial in the initial phase and homing in the terminal phase.
The R-33 is the first Russian air-to-air missile to use an onboard digital computer, which has stable characteristics compared with analogue devices.
It is fitted with an active radar proximity fuze and impact fuze as well as with an HE-fragmentation warhead.
www.globalsecurity.org...
The Vympel R-33 (Russian: Вымпел Р-33, NATO reporting name: AA-9 Amos) is a long-range air-to-air missile developed by the Soviet Union.
It is the primary armament of the MiG-31 interceptor, intended to attack large high-speed targets such as the SR-71 Blackbird, the B-1 Lancer bomber,
and the B-52 Stratofortress.
www.answers.com...
www.fas.org...
Fired from head-on, the blackbird would change-course about 90 degrees, which would put the missile in a chase situation - with the blackbird
already in the lead and capable of sustaining its top speed for far longer. The launching aircraft (the MiG-31) is also incapable of catching the
BlackBird.
Yep, and that would be called a “mission kill”, and if it doesn’t turn, it’ll will be a kill.
And, again, this is also assuming the BlackBird can't simply increase its altitude even further (the worst enemy of a missile - having to
climb even further after its motor has burned out).
MiG-25 holds the absolute altitude record to this day, 121 thousand feet.
MiG-31 cruise (operational) alt is 17,500 m (57,400 ft) with cruise speed of M2.35. Max horizontal alt is 89K feet (27K meters) with maximum speed of
Mach 2.8 which can be exceeded to unspecified number if mission requires.
SR-71A max horizontal alt is 85K (26K meters)
Cruise speed is Mach 3.2, max speed Mach- 3,2+ bit not exceeding 427 degrees C CIT.
R-33 Mach 4.5 launched in horizontal or aeroballistic trajectory.
Do the Math and figure out the Fpole when fired from Mach 3 MiG-31 at 80K feet.
As history records, MiG-31s presence in the vicinity of SR-71 will result either in a mission kill, or a launch of a R-33s which may or may not catch
the Blackbird, but since Foxhounds hunt in packs, the first shots will be fired only to flush the Blackbird out into another flight of 31s, and it
will be the second flights job to finish it off.
Another problem is the SARH guidance system - which requires the MiG-31 to 'paint' the target. If the target-lock is broken once the missile
goes to terminal guidance, even for a second - the missile will miss.
That’s just wrong, pleased read source.
Your best bet at nailing a BlackBird would be to fly up in its face and nail it with an IR homing missile at a near point-blank range. Because
you're not keeping pace with it, nor are your missiles.
Maybe in a comic book or a cartoon where the space for all that action is limited by the size of the page or the TV screen, but in real life the world
is a whole lot bigger then that.
For SR-71 that big world immediately gets a whole lot smaller as soon as MiG-31s appear in the area.
A good source for missile “non-comparison” charts;
www.canit.se...
I said it before and I’ll say it again, Soviet/Russian tactics have always focused on joint effort, and pondering upon scenarios in which a lone
Blackbird valiantly goes against a lone Foxhound is simply ludicrous.
MiG-31s always patrol in multilayer packs, and SR-71 can only hope to skim right on the outskirts of the protected areas, because otherwise it will
have to avoid both SAMs and MiG-31s, which will ruin anybody’s day.
The fact that officially SR-71 was never shot down has a lot more to do with the shooting down of the U2.
After such a disaster, loosing another spy plane was (and still is) simply not an option, and that’s why SR-71 was never shot down even if it
was.
Here’s what I read years ago from a diary of a Russian WWII MiG3 interceptor pilot, and this is relevant to this conversation because German ground
units were so effective specifically because they always had reliable and plentiful air reconnaissance data provided by Luftwaffe.
In fact, just by looking at any Soviet WWII stock footage, just about in every shot they are busy assembling, positioning, paining, and making all
kinds of camouflage and decoys. Inflatable/Wooden planes, tanks, etc. All in a effort to confuse daily Luftwaffe recon flights.
His regiment was often tasked with hunting down high altitude German reconnaissance flights. Gruppenfliegerstab 32/41. (under Kommandeur der
Luftwaffe Panzer-Armee-Oberkommando 1)
Talking about cat and mouse games. He explained that a zveno by it self had no chance of scrambling and intercepting a good German crew, regardless
if they were flying BF 109s, Bf 110G, Fw 189s, etc.
Only in a team effort they could corner and either mission kill or intercept the intruder.
The pilot was from a village, and he wrote that it’s just like hunting down a village wolf with a string of red flags. (“village” wolf is a
“lone wolf” that is no longer afraid of the humans, and attacks livestock at night)
After learning movement patterns of the wolf, the hunting party isolates a wooded area by putting up a string around the trees about 3 feet of the
ground. The string has red flags evenly spaced a few feet apart, and when strung up it makes a coldasack.
Then they place the bait to lure the wolf into the area, and when the wolf takes it they flush him out towards the “flagged” trees where the
shooters are.
Wild wolves don’t know how to react to the red flags and can’t jump over or under them, so they just run alongside, and that’s where the
shooters bring them down.
Same strategy was (is?) used on recon planes since they always had the energy advantage. After learning their approach patterns and probing them for
their limitations (speed, acceleration, altitude), “flushing” party will be placed in the patrolling area, while the shooting party will be right
where those limitation “red flags” will stop the intruder in its tracks.
Nature teaches us absolutely everything we need for survival, and it will always be that way.
