Bill Sweetman reminisces…

Here is an article from Ares discussing the first real world exposure of the west to the MiG-31:

http://aviationweek.com/blog/foxy-woxy-wows-paris-0

I found this bit particularly interesting, along with some of the comments after the piece:

“The MiG-31 had been primarily designed to stop low-flying B-1s and B-52s armed with cruise missiles, but — as Fink reported — it was still intended to intercept high-speed, high-flying targets. Officially, there were no such things by June 1991, the SR-71 having been retired the previous year. But oddly enough, a few years later, MiG pitched an export version of an improved MiG-31, the MiG-31FE, with the claim that it could defeat targets flying at Mach 6 and 140,000 feet -– and named that target Aurora.”

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences similar to those contributors ?