12 Facts About Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service.

The appearance of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 sparked serious concern in the West and prompted dramatic increases in performance for the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, then under development in the late 1960s.

The capabilities of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 were better understood by the West in 1976 when Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected in a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 to the United States via Japan.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 OKB had been working on a series of interceptors during the second half of the 1950s: the I-1, I-3U, I-7U, I-75, Ye-150, Ye-150A, Ye-152, Ye-152A, Ye-152P, and Ye-152M.

Work on the new Soviet interceptor that became the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 started in mid-1959, a year before Soviet intelligence learned of the American Mach 3 A-12 reconnaissance aircraft.

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Development of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25, which represented a major step forward in Soviet aerodynamics, engineering and metallurgy, took several more years to complete.

Inaccurate intelligence analysis caused the West initially to believe the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 was an agile air-combat fighter rather than an interceptor.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 engines went into overspeed, which led to them being scrapped.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 was in service with the Iraqi Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War.

On 30 January 1991, an IQAF Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 damaged a USAF F-15C by a R-40 missile in the Samurra Air Battle.

On 23 December 2002, an Iraqi MiG-25 shot down a U S Air Force unmanned MQ-1 Predator drone, which was performing armed reconnaissance over Iraq.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 was kept a guarded secret in India, designated Garuda named after the large mythical bird of God Vishnu from Hindu scriptures.