Defection of Viktor Belenko
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On September 6, 1976, Lieutenant Viktor Belenko of the Soviet Air Defense Forces defected by flying his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25P "Foxbat" aircraft from near Vladivostok in the Far East of the Soviet U
Viktor Belenko's military ID
A MiG-25PU two-seat trainer
Japan Air Self Defense Force F-4EJs of 302 Squadron
Hakodate Airport in 1976
Mikoyan MiG-31
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The Mikoyan MiG-31 is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the MiG-25 "Foxbat", on which it is based and with which i
Defection of Viktor Belenko
…the Soviet Union, the MiG-25 was also operated by its successor states of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. The MiG-31 Foxhound was already in development at the time of Belenko's defection and had first flown in September 1975. Belenko was aware of the "Super Foxbat" and informed…
A Russian Air Force MiG-31DZ in flight over Russia
A Russian Air Force MiG-31BM taking off from Chelyabinsk Shagol Airport, 2012
Russian Air Force MiG-31B in 2011
MiG-31BM, Zaslon phased-array radar visible