A.R.S.E.

Something I saw recently described the MiG-25/31 as having the aerodynamics of a house brick but in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. You don't get to Mach 2.8+ that way. Yes, it looks agricultural but looked at head on - the way the airflow sees it, there's just a radome a cockpit and intakes and some very thin foils. For an aircraft with such huge engines, it is astonishingly small. Viewed from the side, it's huge and ungainly (the Foxbat more so than the Foxhound) and that is what confuses most people.

Detail design and finish is pretty bad though.

I can't imagine another purpose built interceptor ever being built and this unique mission is another source of confusion. Comparisons with the F-15 are pointless because they would almost never meet in any war scenario. Doesn't stop people from comparing apples to oranges.

Migs are very nice indeed, planes now are going other directions, like lock on and fire a few k's away.

wobblysauce wrote:Migs are very nice indeed, planes now are going other directions, like lock on and fire a few k's away.

The MiG-31 was built for exactly that purpose. It had a radar range of 120 kms . It can detect 24 targets simultaneously and fire on 8 of them. It has excellent target discrimination capability and can fire on anything between 90000ft and ground level. Its passive (thermal) detection range is an astonishing 56kms. Its R33 missile has a range in excess of 160kms.

When it first entered service, it had the world's first phased array radar (all are phased array now) and the new version has a dish size of 1.4 metres, making it by far the world's most powerful fighter radar. Radar range is a function of dish size and no other fighter has anything like that power. In fact, a radar that powerful would have very good prospects of detecting a lot of stealth designs like the F-35. I believe it is also multi-mode/multi-band, meaning that an attack can be tailored to suit whatever is known about the stealth types it might be facing.

The Foxhound is still very relevant today.

The 5 phases of air combat are 1. detection, 2. closing, 3. attack, 4. manoeuvre and 5. disengagement. The idea is to be in disengagement when your opponent is in detection. That's why you want the biggest radar dish you can fit into your fighter.

And that is why the Migs are at the top of my Aircraft list.

Sorry, I had a different impression.

The old go-around. Bloody hell, disaster averted.

[youtube] [/youtube]

Incident at Barcelona Airport caught on video. An UTair Boeing 767-300 was just about to land at Barcelona Airport when an Aerolineas Argentinas A340-300 crossed the runway just in front of the landing aircraft. Pilots of the landing UTair flight noticed what was about to happen and performed a go around to avoid collision.

Would love some of those in 2560x1440.

A couple of mine. Not as good but I thought they were pretty cool at the time:





Are you looking for a desktop BG Richo? Trust me; they look better in full resolution.

Wow Kev, that's a great shot! Thanks for posting it.

Big Kev wrote:

Holy hell!

That's one of those... 'just in case Putin goes Super-sayan' deals!

Look closely....

RTooooooooooo!

I'm not really into aviation myself but I thought these might be of interest to some here.

The brother of a mate of mine has spent the last 10 years building this and it had its maiden flight today. (not my photos).

A Sopwith Snipe? Looks perty.

Wow that's brilliant.

Not cool, but ouch!

That doesn't look like a cheap fix.

norbs wrote:Not cool, but ouch!

Oh man. Someone is in trouble.