BVR Combat: Speed and Altitude

This thread is about BVR combat and how speed and altitude is an advantage which aircraft like Mig-25 and Mig-31 have an advantage at.

For example, I have studied cases of Iraqi and Syrian Mig-25s and how they were so hard to hit by the Israelis, Iranians and Americans during all those wars because they evaded so many BVR missiles such as Sparrows, AIM-120s and on few occassions Phoenixes. They can easily turn around and run, and once the enemy aircraft runs out of missiles chase after them, or if they turn around and run you run back after them. Speed seems like such a big advantage in BVR combat. Supersonic aircraft have a much bigger advantage over subsonic aircraft, which is why there are no subsonic fighters, but aircraft such as Mig-25/Mig-31 have a much bigger advantage over much slower aircraft like Mig-29, F-16, F-15, Su-27 and others.

Ok look at this situation, you have a Mig-31M loaded with 2 R-77s and like 2 R-37s charging mach 2.3 at an altitude of 60 000 feet pitted against a Su-35 with like 4-6 R-77s and few R-73s charging at m1.4 at 40 000feet. The Mig-31M might or might not see the Su-35 first or the Su-35 might see it first, but the Mig-31M will get the first shot with R-37. But LETS pretend the Mig-31M is loaded with only R-77s. The Mig-31M is flying MUCH higher and faster, therefore it will give R-77 a bigger range against that of the slower and lower flying Su-35 by at least i’d say 20-40kms. This is a big difference. So once the Mig-31M locks on and fires, it can probably and comfortably turn around before the Su-35 will fire it’s R-77 and run back. Once the Mig-31M turns around and accelerates to m2.5 and runs back, the Su-35 will have an option to run back and evade the R-77 or try and follow it to fire it’s own R-77, which would have a LOW chance of hitting due to the evading Mig-31M which is running back m2.5 and R-77’s range gets cut like by 3/4s when in chase mode. It would NOT be a wise idea to go to a lower altitude for the Su-35 because the lower and slower it goes, it’s R-77s loose much more range where they have to climb up to hit the fast Mig-31M while Mig-31M’s R-77s have to climb down easier. Ok the Mig-31M is no match in a dogfight against Su-35, but a good Mig-31M pilot should be able to defeat a Su-35 at BVR with either R-77s or R-37s and would not have to get into a dogfight.

So the point is, speed and altitude seem like a big advantage, because it gives your missiles longer range, and also greatly increases your survavibility of getting hit by a BVR missile or being intercepted in any way. It also increases your survavibility against SAMs.