After reading “MIG PILOT” subtitled “The Final Escape of Lt. Belenko” and learning what the MiG-25 he defected with was THOUGHT by our Air Force to be ABLE to do, vs, what the technicians found when they disassembled it, my money sez this new Ruskie plane is basically a one-trick pony.
All the MiG-25 could do, because of humomgous engines, was take off and fly in a straight line like a bat out of Washington, DC, and at the end of the flight, both engines were totally shot. The Ruskies couldn’t mfr. good enough ball bearings to take that beating. I wonder if they can yet?
So the Ruskies are trying the same old play; 2 yards and a cloud of dust. Their plane has humongous engines, and can take off fast, and with no payload, do some low-speed aerobatics. Color me suspicious.
That book is a great read. A friend of mine who worked at the CIA at the time went up to Wright-Patterson to inspect Belenko’s disassembled MIG. I remember him telling me in 1982 about that experience and then saying “we’re going to win the Cold War.”
However, where you are wrong is taking that as a disadvantage. You see, the FoxBat was meant to protect the USSR from supersonic ingress by nuclear capable bombers like the B-58 and B-70, both of which were capable of supersonic dash speeds (Mach 2 for the Hustler and faster for the proposed Valkeyrie) and carried nuclear weapons.
The Soviets needed a plane that could quickly take off, head towards oncoming supersonic bombers, which were not maneuverable themselves, light them up with its huge radar (first PESA radar in the world), and shoot them down before they dropped their nukes.
In such a case they needed a plane that could go extremely fast on an intercept (rather than dog fight) course, pick out targets with a large radar, and shoot down an oncoming supersonic target. Period. Who cared if the engines were shot afterwards ....two dead engines were perfect substitutes for saving a city for getting nuked.
It is the CIA that saw overhead photos of parked FoxBats and decided, as always 100% 'accurate,' that it was a Soviet super fighter when it was actually a Soviet super interceptor. It took the defection of tje Soviet pilot for the realization that the FoxBat was no super fighter, although that belief did help in birthing one of the greatest manned jet fighters ever (the F-15 ...I doubt any other manned fighter, including the Raptor, will ever get the Eagle's combat record).
Anyways, the 'inadequacy' of the MiG 25 is often brought up. Yes, it is a useless dog fighter (although it did manage, in Iraqi hands for the matter, to bring down a F-18 during the Gulf war). However, the FoxBat was never meant to be a dog fighter but rather an interceptor, and in that it was superb.
In the meantime, Saab and the Swede’s are marketing the Gripen NG as the “Sukhoi Killer.”
The Japanese had a far more superior fighter in the Mitsubishi A6M Zero than we did in the Grumman F-4F Wildcat, but superior pilots and tactics proved to be the deciding factor in a dogfight (if anyone remembers the “Thach Weave.”)
The Gripen NG and F-35 were not designed to be lone rangers. They are both designed for tactical superiority at BVR distances. Once the fight gets close (if it even gets there), superior pilots and tactics will win the fight. You can put a good pilot in an average plane and a poor pilot in a superior plane and the outcome will always be the same: the better pilot will win.
“I wonder if they can yet?”
After 20+ years of working in the US, China, Japan, France, England, etc, in every aerospace company in the world...they have learned a great deal. Their capitalism has let them enjoy their quest for excellence. They may not be at our level yet, but they will be quick to get there. I’ve work with a number of old Soviets. They are not stupid.