> Russia has at least one major aerial advantage: the terrifying combination of the MiG-31 and its very long-range R-37M missile
Mig-31s are being shot down by 30-year old British missiles [1][2]. The R-37M hasn’t been intercepted yet, but its siblings’ track record leaves much to be desired. Russia’s technological edge has repeatedly proven mostly performative.
The article never really compares the MiG-31 with the F-16 - it has almost nothing to say about the missiles and electronics of the latter.
It reminds me of a time I went to a Honda dealer and started listing the reasons why Toyotas had better engineering.
The salesman appeared to take it very personally, but I was thinking "duh, can't you see I want a Honda because I know all about their competition and yet I'm here?". Maybe he thought I worked for Toyota.
After reading the article (a bit of a slog), it's pretty one sided and sounds like it's from a rabid fan rather than something done with objectivity. :(
Then there's this:
The author of this article had the privilege of flying the MiG-31 BM, Tail
Number 903, on 28 May 1999. The flight was made at the Sokol Aircraft Plant
in Nizhnie Novgorod, 400 km east of Moscow.
Yeah, fanboy article. Not an objective analysis in the slightest. :(
Mig-31s are being shot down by 30-year old British missiles [1][2]. The R-37M hasn’t been intercepted yet, but its siblings’ track record leaves much to be desired. Russia’s technological edge has repeatedly proven mostly performative.
[1] https://www.globaldefensecorp.com/2022/04/26/more-shame-than...
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starstreak