Threat Brief - MiG-31 and R-37 (AA-13) Hypersonic Missile 

The R37 is called Axehead as far as I know. The Mig31 can really launch this thing with high energy. A mach 5 missile launched at Mach 2 from angels 50 is something to consider. But most importantly, this thing (R37M) flies balistic so it falls on it's prey from angels 100, no RWR warning cause it comes from the RWR dead zone with TWS lock as well, Dangerous.

I’ve heard and seen a few Ukrainian accounts about facing the MiG 31 and the RM-37. They have used them exactly as you described, hang back and lob missiles at range. They have a very low kill rate but they don’t need to have it higher. It tactically limits the Ukrainian Air Force cause they have to worry about long range missiles constantly. That being said I think the Ukrainians are doing a good job at working around that cause it has obviously not stopped them from operating.

Food for thought, when a MiG-31 takes to the sky, all of air-raid sirens in Ukraine go off. Not just a few regions, the entire country gets put on alert. Ukrainians take this jet very seriously.

As a JSTARS crewmember, the MiG-31 was something we would have worried more about than something like a Su-27 (back when I was self-loading baggage in the early 2000s).

To answers your question the WSO of the Mig-31 had a pretty important role. Operating the radar of a Mig-31 is likely closer to operating the PESA radar of a SA-10/S-300PS those radars still require a ton of work for the crew furthermore the big thing for the mig-31 when it entered service was to basically be a giant datalink node for other fighters like Su-27s. So that guy in the back is also reading a big old F-14 style TID and trying to send data link tracks to flight members some of it automatic some of it manually.

From what I understand, mig31’s get really high and really fast over Russia and launch these as far as they can into Ukraine, yes the probability of kill is relatively low, if works at keeping the Ukrainians on their toes. I think it was a su57 that got the longest confirmed air to air kill with this thing, 217km

The GSh-6-23 in the MiG-31 is, as the name suggests, a 23mm gun. So the caliber and ammo capacity are still remarkable for a fighter, but it's no Warthog ;-). The rate of fire is all the more impressive, though. It's a friggin laser!

He can likely outrange you and if he does not CHOOSE to close with you you will not catch him from behind.

200 km is 124 miles.

"Hypersonic" sounds cool, but "super-duper sonic" would have been better. And then after that, "extra-super-duper sonic." Mover, if you need me to edit your sci-fi novel, you just let me know.

When I was in the Air Force, it was always my opinion that the MiG-31 was an underrated aircraft, even when it was only carrying AA-9s (AA-13s obviously make it more dangerous). It's really hard to overstate the impact of very high speed/altitude. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people made/make the mistake trying to make a "fair" comparison, by assuming the MiG-31 and its opponent will be in similar flight regimes (altitude, airspeed), when that is almost certain not going to be the case.

MIG 31 is a fast interceptor. It’s weapons options are impressive for what it is. But I never saw myself worrying about the MIG-25 or 31 when I was in F-14’s with the AIM-54C esp if I could engage BVR. And while the AIM-54C was big and heavy and we paid a drag penalty for the pylon, the missile was highly capable…and had an end game capability that made it very effective even against high G fighters…the warhead was huge…you didn’t eject if you got hit by this…

The long range maneuverable missile you're descbribing is the MBDA Meteor. It's basically the "I win" button of aerial combat today.

These videos where you guys discuss stuff like this are PURE GOLD. 🤘🏻🇺🇸

Love this type of video guys. Love to learn what I can.

I think, the "Big deal" nowadays is, that the MIG-31 can haul the Kinzhal missile. It is a derivative of the Iskander missile, (which could be Nuclear-tipped), and has almost twice the speed and 3 times the range of an R-37. It's not an AA-missile though. For what it was supposed to do, the MIG 31 is pretty brilliant. The capability to give a Missile a little more oomph from a high-speed aircraft from high altitude, is pretty neat to have. The R-37 can be lobbed by many other Russian planes. But the Kinzhal is restricted to the Mig-31 and SU-34.Where the missile's performance is clearly in favour of the MIG. I don't think, handling or maneuverability was that important, when all it should do, was to intercept spy planes. The 800 rounds of 30 mil was a surprise amount though. Given the fact, that it was able to outrun it's own bullets once they started to slow down.

The Su27/35 is the definition of a self escort strike. People call it a fighter and forget that it is a big plane that is doing what the F18 is doing AND what the F15 is doing.

R-37 is clamed to be capable to hit targets maneuvering with 8Gs. Not an amraam, but still pretty hard to outmaneuver

Would be great to have threat briefs on the J-10 and J-20!

I like this threat brief take, i hope you do more.