Why the Pacific Fleet is strengthening the Arctic grouping
Increasing the role of combat aviation in the Arctic, the United States has strengthened the 3rd air wing in Alaska with multi-purpose fighters of the fifth generation F-22 "Raptor"("Predator"). In response to this, Russian MiG-31BM interceptors (according to the NATO classification – Foxhound, "Foxhound") of the naval aviation of the Pacific Fleet before the New 2021 year took up combat duty for air defense at the Anadyr airfield. As they say, closer to the borders of the United States. How can the events develop further?
Operating in the largest city of Alaska, Anchorage, the joint base "Elmendorf-Richardson" includes not only the location of the Alaska Command of the US Armed Forces, but also the 11th Air Army, the largest association included in it – the 3rd wing with F-22 "Raptor", the 4th airborne brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, the 381st reconnaissance squadron, and other units. Including the Alaskan Aerospace Defense Zone Command.
Our aviation unit, deployed in accordance with the order of the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sergei Avakyants, is designed to ensure air supremacy and strengthen Russia's air defense on the eastern Arctic borders. For this purpose, issues of interaction with ground-based air defense systems are being worked out.
“ As a result of the development of the MiG-31 fighter fleet, the Russian Air Force received an almost new universal interceptor with a wide range of combat applications ”
Work on the improvement of the premises intended for accommodation, rest and food of personnel while on round-the-clock combat duty has been fully completed. All Russian Arctic airfields have been upgraded or are in the process of being given all-season status.
The Russian military base on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean between the East Siberian and Chukchi seas "Polar Star", opened in 2014 in the village of Ushakovskoye, will allow you to quickly receive information from radar posts and aircraft guidance points deployed on the island. Although the MiG-31 is capable of independently targeting ground-based air defense systems.
Despite the fact that the F-22 Raptor is considered the most advanced Western aircraft designed to gain air superiority, the heavy Russian fighter-interceptor MiG-31 is able to effectively fight it. The F-22, weighing about 29,400 kilograms, can use a powerful radar weighing about 554 kilograms. But the MiG-31 has a mass of about 39 thousand kilograms and is capable of carrying even a larger radar, which provides a longer detection range. The powerful MiG-31 radar allows the interceptor to detect stealth fighters, including the Raptor, at considerable distances.
Priority goals
The Russian aircraft is faster and more versatile than the Raptor. It is armed with R-37 missiles – more modern than the American AIM-120, which are armed with the F-22. They can develop hypersonic speed-up to Mach 6 (the speed of American missiles – Mach 4).
And the destructive power of the MiG missile is more impressive, the Russian warhead weighs 60 kilograms, which is 40 kilograms more than the AIM-120.
The advantage of the MiG-31, flying at altitudes of more than 21 kilometers, allows you to launch missiles with greater kinetic energy due to a more than tenfold reduction in the density of air in the discharged layers of the stratosphere, which increases the flight range.
In addition, upgraded Russian MiG-31BM aircraft can exchange information about targets, which is considered not only an effective means of combating stealth platforms over long distances, but also an effective way to control an impressive sector in the sky.
The presence of an infrared search and tracking system in the Russian aircraft, which the F-22 does not have, is also on the list of advantages of the domestic aircraft, not to mention lower operating costs compared to the F-22. After all, the content of the American "Predator" costs taxpayers $ 700 million. In addition, not all types of runways are suitable for the F-22, while the MiG-31 is unpretentious and able to take off from ice airfields, which is a huge plus in the Arctic war.
Even more "Raptor" loses in the versatility of the MiG-31K, armed with new missiles "Dagger", developing a speed of 10-12 Mach, able to evade the enemy's missile defense and deliver a crushing blow to enemy warships. Recently, a hypersonic aviation missile system was tested in Arctic conditions.
But the main advantage is still in the range of target detection and opening fire. The MiG-31 is the world's first fighter aircraft equipped with an onboard radar station with a phased array antenna. The radar has three channels of operation-detection, target illumination, and identification of belonging. On the upgraded MiG-31BM aircraft, the maximum range of detection of air targets of the Zaslon-M radar was increased to 320 kilometers, and damage-to 280 kilometers. For comparison, the maximum range of the nearest competitor MiG-31BM in the range of the F/A-18 superhornet is less than 100 kilometers. At the same time, our interceptor is able to detect up to 24 targets. Its on-board Argon-K computer automatically selects four priority targets, which can be targeted by four long-range R-33S air-to-air missiles at once.
An additional means of detection is a heat finder. It is placed under the nose of the fuselage. The range of operation, depending on the state of the atmosphere and the degree of "heating" of the target, is up to 56 kilometers.
In the airborne complex of the defence equipment includes performances of the electromagnetic and infrared interference. The aircraft is equipped with electronic warfare equipment in the radar and infrared ranges.
The MiG-31 interceptor is also capable of performing combat missions as part of a group of four aircraft with automatic intra-group information exchange. The digital noise-proof closed-circuit communication system provides automatic exchange of tactical information in a group of four interceptors, remote from each other at a distance of up to 200 kilometers.
MiGs can aim at the target groups of fighters with less powerful avionics, acting as a point of guidance. The Mig-31BM effectively intercepts small-sized low-flying cruise missiles. All this makes the Mig-31 not just an interceptor, but also a flying headquarters for the Air Force and air defense. It is no coincidence that earlier MiG-31 regiments were considered special forces as part of the air defense.
For the MiG-31, the practical range and duration of the flight are three thousand kilometers and 3 hours and 38 minutes, respectively. A group of four MiG-31s controls the airspace extending along the front up to 1,100 kilometers.
The main disadvantage of the layout of the cabins of the previous version of the MiG-31 was the lack of information about the tactical situation of the pilot. The commander did not know what the navigator was doing in real combat. On the MiG-31BM, a multifunctional LCD indicator measuring 15x20 centimeters is installed in the front cabin.
There are three such indicators in the navigator-operator's cabin. They display tactical, navigation, radar information, as well as images from TV cameras of controlled weapons. The indicator is also on the windshield.
The MiG-31BM navigation system also includes a satellite navigation receiver. As a result of the development of the MiG-31 fighter fleet, the Russian Air Force received an almost new universal interceptor with a wide range of combat applications. The export version of this MiG-31FE fighter provides for the installation and integration with Russian Western-made nuclear weapons systems.
Chased away the " Blackbird»
When the MiG-31 fighter-interceptor was adopted in the USSR in 1981, the flight characteristics of this aircraft surpassed the TTX of the American novelty-the SR-71, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force, informally called the Blackbird ("Blackbird").
It is enough to recall the cases of the MiG interception on May 27, 1987 of the "Blackbird", which entered the Soviet airspace in the Arctic region. The MiG-31 fighter-interceptor then successfully pushed the intruder into neutral waters. And shortly before this incident, two MiGs intercepted SR-71 in neutral territory. Some American experts believe that it was the MiG-31 that forced the US Air Force to abandon the SR-71 modernization program. But the main reason for stopping the project was, as usual, money, because the cost of operating the SR-71, including the complexity of maintenance, was enormous. Only one specific fuel JP-7, intended for the "Blackbird", had to be produced specifically. The maintenance of a fleet of 30 tankers for this aircraft, which required frequent refueling, also cost a huge amount. The maintenance of each aircraft could be compared in incredible complexity to the preparation of a space launch vehicle. Not to mention the fuel consumption.
At the end of each flight, the aircraft underwent 650 different checks, including a study of the condition of the airframe, power plants, air intakes, engines, exhaust and bypass devices. It seems that all this was reflected in the speed of response to the changing situation in the world, where the main advantage in the theater was the speed of air group transfer and the conquest of air supremacy without additional efforts of auxiliary aviation.
Despite Lockheed Corporation's attempts to restore the program, it was met with strong resistance in the US Air Force, which encountered unpretentious MiGs in the sky. And the budget was not bottomless. In addition, UAV developers have already begun to worry, because their programs could suffer because of the insatiable Lockheed company, which requires funds to support the SR-71.
As a result, the annual confirmation of long-term planning for the SR-71 was never approved by the US Congress, and in 1996 the United States Air Force announced that the program was being phased out. Two years after this announcement, the Air Force finally decommissioned the SR-71 fleet. "Foxhound", after seeing off the "Blackbird" with a satisfied look, went in search of other "Predators".
Vladimir Volgaev, Captain of the 1st rank
The newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier", published in issue No. 1 (864) for January 12, 2021
