Russia willing to export Mig-31s

[marek]

To be honest,the Mig-31 is a dionsaur of the Cold War that was designed for one thing:Shoot down strategic bombers and cruise missiles.Doesn't have a real place in todays world.I think I remember reading somewhere that rather then buying more Mig-31s,the Russian PVO decided to go for more Su-30s.

And how about changing it into high-speed reconnaissance platform? Smaller and less powerful forward looking radar + cameras + IR scaners. 1 pilot only. More fuel.

I think China or India should be interested...

[Shasper]

I've got an idea for a F-15E style strike A/C, using the 'inaccurate' Revell kit.


Shas B)

[GTX]

I guess some stories never die - See Here.

Regards,

Greg

[Daryl J.]

Lessee:  Bill Gates for the Federated Republic of Microsoft...money to spend
            Paul Allen for Vulcan Enterprises...chase planes needed
            Sir Richard Branson for another Virgin advert
            NASA for international shuttle training


All in fun.

Daryl J.

[Maverick]

Wouldn't such sales be detrimental to the 'balance of power' in the Middle East especially?  As for China or North Korea getting some, bad news for the US if they decide to play with them anytime soon..  I'm suprised the US isn't trying to stall the sales somehow.

Regards,

Mav

[Shasper]

Not good mate, I could see this being used as a reason to up spending on the F-22 and JSF here at home.

For everyone else, looks like this world is headed to hell in a handbasket faster than superman  


Shas B)

[PanzerWulff]

I think a NASA Mig 31 would look Awesome     Could anyone pop up a profile ???Heres a 3 view I have


"Panzer"

[Iranian F-14A]

Wouldn't such sales be detrimental to the 'balance of power' in the Middle East especially?  As for China or North Korea getting some, bad news for the US if they decide to play with them anytime soon..  I'm suprised the US isn't trying to stall the sales somehow.

Regards,

Mav

And thats exactly why the US isn't trying to stop it,because if say Iran,or north korea do get some Foxhounds,then the Air force finally has a reason to say "See,we really do need the F-22 and JSF". So in the end,everyone gets their toys.

As far as a recon model of the Foxhound,yea,I'd say it'd make sense to try to convert some to a recon standard.China,Algeria and India would be interested for sure.Iran may find a high speed recce bird useful for locating US carrier battle groups.I believe the export standard Mig-31E is also capible of carrying air to ground weapons.If this is the case,Iran could leave the air defense to the Tomcats,Fulcrums and some Foxhounds while other Foxhounds are used as high speed ASM carriers to attack US Navy ships in the narrow Straits of Hormez,kinda like a mini Backfire.Also good for knocking down possible US bombers,recce and AWACS assets.Not sure I'd go up against another fighter in one though.

[upnorth]

Iwouldn't count Lybia in for MiG-31s these days.

Last I heard, Lybia was still playing the "We're done being the bad guy" card and trying to get in good with the west.

I had also heard that some industry "experts" are pegging Lybia as the Rafale's potential first export customer.

[B777LR]

Iranian,

I tend to think that Iran would be interested - a few MiG-31s would be perfect for a country contemplating a possible war with the USA.  Just the thing to help blunt US airpower.

Regards,

Greg

Iran is currently seeking to buy 250 Su-30MKs, as well as Mig-31E and Mig-29  

[fabe]

Iranian,

I tend to think that Iran would be interested - a few MiG-31s would be perfect for a country contemplating a possible war with the USA.  Just the thing to help blunt US airpower.

Regards,

Greg

Iran is currently seeking to buy 250 Su-30MKs, as well as Mig-31E and Mig-29

IMHO these reports are completely fake, I remember reading a post from Tom Cooper in a German forum that Iran considered the Mig-31 (or even test-flew it) but that like most other Russian aircraft it didn't really offer any improvement over their F-14s.  

[Son of Damian]

"pegging Lybia as the Rafale's only potential export customer."

Fixed    

[upnorth]

"pegging Lybia as the Rafale's only potential export customer."

Fixed  

Yeah, that's only because as near as I can figure Dassault isn't marketing the Rafale worth diddly. Guess France wants it all to itself or something.

[Matt Wiser]

IIRC also in another forum (ACIG.org) that Iran did eval the MiG-31, plus several Flanker variants, but rejected them all; the only Soviet/Russian plane they actually would like more of would be the Su-24-they're reliable, the crews seem to like them, and Sukhoi hasn't been stingy with parts support. One of the obstacles the Iranians found out was that the Russians wanted all depot-level maintenance done in Russia, unlike when the U.S. sold the F-4, F-5 and F-14 to Iran, and facilities were built in-country so that all deep maintenance work could be done in Iran, and McAir, Northrop, and Grumman didn't object. The Iranian AF's MiG-29s and Su-24s have their deep maintenance (according to ACIG posts) done in Iran, much to the displeasure of the Russians, who are missing out on the fees such work would be paid MiG or Sukhoi if the work's done in Russia.

The other objection to the MiG-31 was that it's a single-mission platform, unlike the F-14. The Foxhound can't dogfight, like its predecessor, while the F-14s can not only do standoff intercepts, but get down and dirty as well.

There's one other thing I found on ACIG: the Mullahs still have a distrust of the Iranian AF. It was the most American influenced service, even after the Shah got sent packing, and even in the Iran-Iraq War, the same doctrine, training, weapons, etc. that the USAF had developed based on the SEA experience were put to the test by the Iranian AF, who'd listened to their USAF instructors in the '70s. The mullahs are afraid that if they build up the Iranian AF and Army, that the regular military will decide to use their shiny new toys not in Iraq or the Gulf, but against the mullahs and the RevGuard. All the purges the mullahs did of the military in 1979-80 no doubt have not been forgiven or forgotten, and if there is a coup or uprising that succeeds, the military will have many scores to settle.....

[GTX]

Some more reporting - here

"pegging Lybia as the Rafale's only potential export customer."

I too expect Libya will eventually get some Rafale's, though the last I read was that the sales effort wasn't going to well.

Regards,

Greg