Russia’s MiG-25s Flew So Fast They Destroyed Their Own Engines

By Robert Farley,The National Interest

In the late 1960s, the USSR debuted what appeared to be the world’s deadliest fighter. The MiG-25 (NATO term “Foxbat”) could outrun any fighter in the air, and indeed any military aircraft other than the SR-71 Blackbird [4].

Bearing a wicked name, a forbidding profile, and some great stats, the Foxbat looked like a world-beater. Combining exceedingly high speed with high altitude tolerance and a heavy weapons load, it looked as if the plane could contribute effectively on the Central Front while also helping to immunize Soviet airspace from U.S. penetration. Combined with the lessons of third-generation fighters [5] in Vietnam, the existence of the Foxbat helped spur U.S. innovation, pushing the development of the F-15 Eagle [6].

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But the Foxbat never lived up to its billing. Deficiencies in design, manufacturing problems, and the disappearance of key aspects of its mission meant that it could not seriously compete on quality with the best fighters of the age, or on costs with models such as the MiG-21 [10]. Despite its stunning performance, the Foxbat has now nearly disappeared from the inventories of the world’s air forces.

Foxbat Inception