I’ve never posted here but now is a good time as ever i supose.
I’m an avid defender that the russian interceptors are, unlike what some moderators and some people may say, perfectly balanced for the current state of the game.
The interceptors im mainly talking about for russia are the SU-15 Flagon, whose aiframe is already in game (J-8’s in the chinese air tech tree), the MIG-25 Foxbat and the MIG-31 Foxhound.
I believe the both the foxbat and foxhound could have been in the game already with little consequence. The mig-25 being dropped after the Mig-23MLD and the Mig-31 in update “La royale” over the Su-25T and SU-39 (which would have allowed for the SU-25BM to remain properly valuable in the market).
Regarding the current state of the meta and the addition of the MIG-31 specially, i think it would sit nicely at 12.3 and maybe even 12.7. It’s only “overpowered” quality to speak of is the Zazlon PESA radar (iirc there is already a pesa radar within the Pantsir-s1 but correct me if im wrong.) which makes it a great interceptor and consequently a great BVR platform. The MiG-31 is a balanced aircraft. With an extremely fast firing (8,000RPM) GSh-23-6 and options of R-60Ms, R-40s, R-73s, and R-33s (ARH AIM-54C equivalent) the A2A armament of the MiG-31 is extremely similar to the F-14B. While the MiG-25 ancestry is clear on the MiG-31, it’s flight performance is more well-rounded. Top speed is reduced to Mach 2.83 while its composite construction gives it half-decent maneuverability.
Basically the MiG-31 is an F-14B that gives up CAS capability and some maneuverability for way more speed
Discuss this with me, im curious to see what you lot think, maybe smin will look at this and give an answer too, one that isn’t “We dont always add aircraft in linear relation with the timeline” which is basically what everyone at gaijin says when asked about planes like the mig-25 that still isnt in game when the f15 already is…the aircraft that was made specifically because the foxbat exists, but oh well, share your thoughts!
I think the MiG-31 would be great for 12.3. The MiG-31B with improved avionics and R-33S would be 12.7 IMO.
Paired with the similarly capable F-14D at 12.3 or 12.7 depending on AIM-9/7 variants available would make for a nice update.
A couple corrections:
GSh-6-23, not 23-6. Typo whoops.
I was wrong about the R-33, all versions are SARH, not ARH. A source lumped the R-33 and R-37 (ARH variant) together as both being ARH and I didn’t check my sources. The R-33 does have an active radar fuze, which is probably the source of the confusion. The actual seeker is inertial with terminal SARH.
While the J-8II shares a lot of design similarities with the Su-15, it’s not based on it. The J-8II was based on the original J-8, which was based on the J-7. It incorporated technologies and design features from MiG-23s purchased for evaluation from Egypt and the visual similarity to the Su-15 is coincidence.
Clarification, not correction but still:
The GSh-6-23 has actually a top tested fire rate of 10,000RPM. It has a theoretical maximum of 12,000RPM. This was limited to 6-8,000RPM in service due to jamming and overheating issues with that extreme fire rate.
Hi! Thank you for talking about this aircraft, I think the MiG-31 would be a very good addition to the URRS tree in 12.3/7, it’s a bit of the Russian F-14B but much faster, a very correct armament with the R-73 as well as the big Radar/Thermal missiles, except that it will be one of the planes at this least maneuvering BR xD, but also the fastest haha
i was unaware of the fact the r-33 was SARH, i thought it was just a Russian version of the phoenix. Thanks for clearing that up, isnt there a variant of the r-33 that is fox-3 though? cuz gaijin adding the foxhound with the hypersonic r-37 would be certainly overkill
no prob, its one of my favorite aircraft and it needs to be done some justice. If its not added in the next patch i have hopes that at least this year we will get it. It’s perfectly ballanced imo but ive seen some mods saying that the mig-25 is too advanced for the current state of the game which is absolute nonsense. It has the same radar as the mig-23 mld, worse flight performance than any of the russian jets and can only carry R60Ms and R40R/T which are fox 1 and fox 2 respectively, how is it more advanced than what we have in game, yknow what i mean?
I believe so, though I don’t remember the top speed of the top of my head. However, only the MiG-31BM and BSM (of the MiG-31 family) use the R-37. The missile was originally developed in the 80s but due to the collapse of the Soviet Union it was cancelled. In 2006, the program was restarted in tandem with the beginning of the MiG-31BM program, with the missile probably entering full production in 2014. Because the R-37 was at its core an 80s missile expected to compete with missiles such as the AIM-120C-7 and R-77-1, an upgrade program was initiated that same year. The R-37M probably entered service in 2017.
So unfortunately there’s not really a good way to realistically add a MiG-31 with R-37 but not R-37M, unless R-37M just is just not added to the game.
However, with inertial guidance, mid-course updates, and a radar that can simultaneously track 10 targets and engage 4 (later 6 for 31B) of those, the R-33 would probably behave guidance-wise more like an ARH than like most SARHs in the game.
makes me really hype for a possible addittion of the mig-31 even if limited with r-33.
how does one evade a pesa radar? You evade pulse with chaff, Pulse-Doppler by notching, but what do you do with pesa, do you still notch + chaff?
IDK TBH, RF has always been the aspect of aerospace engineering with which I am least familiar. From my understanding PESA functions quite like a normal PD, but the array allows it to continually scan its entire FoV rather than sweeping through like a conventional mechanically scanned radar.
Notch and chaff or stay low are presumably the best options as normal, since the missile has a minimum altitude of 50m AGL. It’s also probably best to evade during the inertial stage of flight if possible.
Though with the terrible overload of the R-33 it might be easier to avoid kinematically than by breaking lock.
Just once, for one day, I would like to look at this forum without reading something that gives me a similar experience to drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
Let’s just think about which UFO planes are in the game, recently added and as of yet unnerfed. F-14 and F-16.
The Tomcat is hardly over performing - in fact it’s underperforming with regards to it’s sensor package.
Yes, I don’t think anyone argues that.
My original comment was more pointed at Gaijin’s tendency to introduce over-performing FMs and nerf them post launch rather than feed people’s foil hat theories about nation bias.
Right. It simply wasn’t an appropriate plane to add, still under BR for what it is.
Strange how there is a pretty consistent correlation between the nations of such planes.
From loads of BR brackets it’s a pretty consistent experience of getting your teeth kicked in by US planes. P-39, XP-50, F2G-1, F-104, AV-8, F-5, F-14, F-15 and F-16.
For sure that nation holds no exclusive dominion over ridiculous or cracked planes, but it is pretty awfully consistent in having many highly dominant and somewhat ridiculous planes at a lot of important BR points.
Not even that every plane in the tree is perfect, but there are more than enough monsters to basically ruin any BR.
These planes are nightmarish when flown competently, their only limitation is that the pilots are often not as skilled as required to truly dominate in those planes.
Meanwhile we see that even Soviet and Russian planes are struggling to get their proper performance implemented, despite all the hollering about supposed Russian bias.
So we can sort of predict that a plane like MiG-31 would be implemented without proper engine power and with crippling energy bleed, just like MiG-29 and Su-27.
