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Midland Publishing |
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Mikoyan MiG-31 Famous Russian Aircraft Series by Yefim Gordon |
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Reviewed By Charles Landrum, #26238 |
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MSRP: $44.95 USD 224 pages with over 400 mostly color photos in a hardbound edition Review copy provided by Specialty Press and can be ordered directly at: 1-800-895-4585 Yefim Gordon continues his tireless campaign to bring Soviet and Russian military aircraft design, long secretive, to the rest of the world in what has become a continuous stream of publications on the subject. His latest deals with the Mig-31 (Foxhound), a long range and powerful interceptor. Previously the aircraft had been the subject of an AEROFAX Monograph, along with its predecessor, the Mig-25. What characterized that book was a lot of modeling references – pictures and drawings. In this book, Yefim has uncovered enough of the development story of the Mig-31 to dedicate its own volume, while still retaining the reference material modelers crave. An outgrowth of the Mig-25 (Foxbat) series, the Mig-31 was intended to fill the gaps in the air defense system over the Arctic and Siberia. The design married a long-range phased array radar and long range missile with an airframe that has become the stereotype of Soviet aircraft design practice – a lot of airplane, with a lot of armament pushed through the sky with massive engines. Optimized for beyond visual range air defense with its sophisticated weapons system, the Mig-31 was never exported – even though a lower technology version was offered to traditional client states. However, the fact that it is a single mission aircraft no doubt weighed against its selection including by China, which chose the more versatile SU-27 series. This book is the first of a new series by Midland Publishing called Famous Russian Aircraft that is supposed to provide more in-depth coverage than previous series. While I am unsure if the book provides more coverage than the Aerofax series, I do like the new cleaner format presented here and the plentiful use of color photographs. The pictures are clear and clean with some amazing photographs that only a well-connected author like Yefim can obtain; many coming from his extensive personal archive. Like the Aerofax series, there are a lot of walk-around style photographs as well as detailed drawings and profiles. In this regard the book provides good coverage of the cockpits and weapons. The margins are wider as well giving the text a less cluttered appearance. The text is well written and is a bit more narrative than the Aerofax series. The chapter breakdown is as follows:
Part 1 is a well-structured discussion of the development of the aircraft, the competing design philosophies and the challenges faced by the designers. Central to this discussion is the need for the capability as a long-range interceptor. Capping the discussion are photos that appear to be period models of the various design proposals, no doubt used in the decision making process during development. I can imagine the models as witnesses to high-level discussions with Politburo members! With respect to the main armament of the Mig-31, the discussion implies a pure Soviet development. However, it does not address the uncanny resemblance of the R-33 to the Aim-54 Phoenix; the US Navy referred to the R-33 as the Phoenix-ski due to this uncanny resemblance. Nor does it address nor improvements in capability derived from the alleged handover of an Aim-54 by the government of Ayatollah Khomeini. Part 2 is cleverly titled “The Kennel” and refers to the different types of Foxhounds in the family. This is a large chapter despite the relative few modifications to the aircraft. It includes stills from video footage, no doubt from a training film, of a missile intercept as seen from the pilot’s and weapon system operator’s perspective. Part 3 discusses the Foxhounds operational history. It outlines the introduction of the airframe including the operational airbases. It is fascinating to read of the challenges that came with introducing such a sophisticated airframe, especially with units that had not operated the Foxbat. The chapter includes assertions that deployment of the Foxhound greatly reduced US overflights of reconnaissance aircraft of Soviet airspace. Part 4 is a fascinating comparison of the capabilities of the Foxhound versus those of the western contemporary the F-14A Tomcat. This type of comparison has been done before with aircraft that actually faced each other in a hostile environment, but I don’t think that there was ever an occasion that these two aircraft met. The author builds the comparison on open source information on the F-14A and files from Russian sources. While Yefim lays out a well-reasoned argument, it has the ring of theoretical calculations where somewhat subjective information is objectively assigned merit. While later variants of the Mig-31 are considered in this comparison, curiously the improved F-14B and F-14D are not. I suspect that this less of an oversight than a lack of open source information. Part 5 is provides the majority of information of interest to the modeler, the specifics on the airframe, systems and weapon loadout. The chapter is a wealth of information and being in color makes it that much more useful. Overall this is a very comprehensive, well illustrated and written volume on the Foxhound. While priced higher than other monographs the extensive use and color and the fact that it is hardbound, and therefore more durable, account for this difference. Highly recommended. |
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