From the Middle East to the Iron Curtain \x26#8230; the definitive combat history of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25. July 1967: At the Moscow Air Show, the Soviets unveiled six new state-of-the-art aircraft. From among this lineup of new fighters and interceptors stood the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25\x26#8212;purportedly capable of outrunning and outmaneuvering any aircraft in NATO\x26#8217;s inventory. Yet even before its public appearance in Moscow, the MiG-25 had been a grave concern for Western analysts. Indeed, this new interceptor could fly at speeds in excess of Mach 3 and cruise at altitudes heretofore deemed unreachable for a tactical fighter. Moreover, NATO\x26#8217;s intelligence community was baffled by how the Soviet Union had cobbled together such a \x26#8220;masterpiece\x26#8221; of modern engineering. The reality, however, was that this \x26#8220;interceptor\x26#8221; was a poorly-designed airframe with an oversized motor. Although it excelled as a reconnaissance aircraft, it fared poorly as a dogfighter\x26#8211;and it was typically the loser when pitted against Western aircraft like the F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle. From the Sinai Peninsula \x26#8230; to the Soviet-Afghan War \x26#8230; to Operation Desert Storm, Foxbat Tales is the definitive operational and combat history of the MiG-25.
