November 19, 2013 at 5:12 am
My knowledge of military airplanes is very limited but I have realized that most 1 vs 1 airplane threads are largely useless when it comes to evaluating aircraft as combat weapons.Most modern wars between airforces of average size rely on several factors and on several types of aircraft and SAMs etc.2 kind of fighter planes jousting like knights just does not happen usually.
SO here is my question, there is no doubt that Mig-25 was NOT designed as an air superiority fighter however if used in “slash and dash” attacks against enemy strike planes and escort fighters how much can foxbats disrupt their enemies air offensives? even if it does not score kills can it seriously interfere with escorts main mission i.e protection of strike package by wasting their tme trying to chase and destoy foxbats or force the strike planes to dump their offensive load to evade its missiles?
Given foxbat can carry 4 AAM missles each and has superior performance than most fighters of that time ( including F-15s in some repects ) allowing it to escape the escorts if needed
Imagine late 70s and 80s technology, its adversaries A-7 F-4 F-5 and F-15A/B, good GCI control and sufficient numbers of foxbats available to meet the escorts on equal terms
How would you use the foxbat to get the most out of it ?