OVERVIEW: The MiG-25P Foxbat A is a single seat, single engine, all-weather, supersonic 3rd generation interceptor. 

DETAILS:   The MiG-23P was designed to be a very high-speed interceptor, with a primary mission of countering high speed aircraft like the SR-71 and XB-70.  As such, its design emphasized speed and high ceiling, at the expense of range and maneuverability.

To ease production and save money, the MiG-25 was largely (80%) constructed using nickel-steel alloy.   Despite being designed for high speed flight, only 9% of the airframe was made out of titanium, which was in employed in the areas of the airframe subjected to high heat stress. The steel components were formed by a combination of spot welding, automatic machine welding, and hand welding. 

The MiG-25P was equipped with the powerful TL-25 Smerch-A radar, aka FOXFIRE.  While its power gave it long-range and an ability to "burn through" jamming, the TL-25 lacked a look down/shoot down (LD/SD) capability.

The aircraft was powered by two R-15-300 turbojet engines, each producing  24,700 lb of thrust.  Although theoretically capable of reaching Mach 3.2, the aircraft was limited to Mach 2.83 (3,000 hm/hr) for a maximum of 5 minutes to avoid damaging the engines and/or overheating the airframe and fuel.  The design cruising speed is Mach 2.35.  The Foxbat has high fuel consumption while sub-sonic.  It is not capable of in-flight refueling. 

The MiG-25P was a poor dogfighter.  It's maximum g-load was a mere 2.2 g  with full fuel tanks, and had an absolute limit of only 4.5 g.  

NOTES: IOC June 1972. The Foxbat continues to hold the record for the fastest operational fighter aircraft.


SOURCE: Mladenov, Alexander. Soviet Cold War Fighters. Fonthill Media, 2017, (Kindel ed., locations 3651, . ; (Charles), JetWhiz. "Global Aircraft -- MiG-25 Foxbat." Accessed December 22, 2021. https://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/mig-25_foxbat.pl. ;"MiG-25 FOXBAT (MIKOYAN-GUREVICH)." Nuclear Resources. Accessed December 22, 2021. https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/airdef/mig-25.htm. ;"MiG-25P Foxbat Interceptor." Airforce Technology. Last modified September 7, 2020. https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/mig25/.

