Prerequisites for the development of the MiG-31

The question may arise: why, over such a long period of time, did not create machines with better performance in terms of height and speed than the MiG-25? The fact is that the unbridled growth of speeds in world aviation stopped when the triple speed of sound obeyed the aircraft. It is clear that such work has been and is being carried out, but a further increase in speed leads to a significant complication and rise in the cost of the structure. Therefore, at one time they decided to focus on something else: now the on-board equipment and armament of vehicles came to the fore. Actually, this is how the history of the MiG-31 interceptor began.

During the Cold War, the protection of the northern and Far Eastern borders was an extremely difficult task for the Soviet air defense: it was difficult to deploy the required number of ground-based radar stations and organize a wide airfield network there. In such conditions, an interceptor with a long range was required.

In the 60-70s, the only Soviet long-range interceptor was the TU-128, it was a development of the 50s, and therefore its on-board equipment and weapons were no longer suitable for new tasks. In terms of speed and flight altitude, it also did not meet the increased requirements.

The MiG-25 interceptor was better in many ways, but it was not long-range. The situation was aggravated by the changed tactics of attack aircraft, according to which the breakthrough of air defense zones had to be carried out at low altitudes.

Another headache was the development of a new generation of cruise missiles: they flew at ultra-low altitudes with enveloping terrain, while they were relatively small.

Thus, the question arose of creating an interceptor with a long range, and most importantly, with a new ideology.

The concept of the MiG-31 stemmed from the experience of operating the MiG-25 and all other vehicles: it lacked range, all-altitude, low-altitude speed, radar and ultra-long-range missiles. The MiG-25 was "one-one" - one target, one aircraft, here the task was to increase the maximum number of targets that one aircraft could intercept.

To counter groups of targets, the idea arose to use a group of aircraft, where the combat control of this group was carried out using specially designed data transmission equipment.

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