Model Airplane International - June 2018

50 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - June 2018

mounted on fuselage and under wing hard-

points allowed the aircraft to be armed with

FAB-500 M-62 bombs and able to accurately

deliver them from 65,616 feet at 1,554

mph. This was due to the installation of the

Peleng-D aiming computer. The MiG-25RB

stayed in production for two years before

being replaced with the electronic intelligence

(ELINT) equipped MiG-25RBV. This later

variant was basically a simple upgrade which

included a later ECM suite and SRS-9 Virazh

ELINT equipment.

Foxbat reconnaissance variants continued

to be developed, mainly by converting earlier

models. However, such variants were in some

cases limited to a production run numbering

under ten. This was the case with the MiG-

25RR, of which only eight examples were

produced and tasked with the role of high-

altitude radiation sampling from 1970 to 1980.

These airframes were equipped with canisters

under the wings and suitably modifi ed the

MiG-25RRs fl ew sorties along the Chinese

border in order to gain intelligence on the

nation’s nuclear tests.

In the same way that the MiG-25RBs were

upgraded to the MiG-25RBV confi guration,

Mikoyan began production of an entirely new

reconnaissance/strike variant in 1978. The

MiG-25RBTs were equipped with a Tangazh

signals Intelligence (SIGINT) package which

was able to cover a wide range of detectable

NATO radars. The sites’ location could then

be pinpointed when the recorded intelligence

data was processed by analysts.

With the need to transmit intelligence

data to the ground as it was received by

the MiG-25RBT, rather than go through the

lengthy post-fl ight development processing,

led directly to the introduction of the MiG-

25RBK and the introduction of the Kub-3M

ELINT suite. Installation of this ELINT gear in

the nose of the MiG-25 required the removal

of the camera mounts, whilst the dielectric

panels on the nose were slightly enlarged.

The complete lack of camera windows in

the RBK led NATO to give the aircraft the

designation Foxbat D. A further change was

made to the dielectric radome at the tip of the

nose. It was longer and had a cut-out on its

upper surface. The RBK retained the bombing

capability of the Foxbat B. the variant

remained in production until 1980, and proved

the basis for the MiG-25RBF.

The up-grade entailed the installation of an

improved ELINT suite in the form of the Shar-

25. The aircraft was able to carry panoramic
    cameras if necessary and was fi tted with
    extra ECM gear and chaff dispensers. The
    Shar-25 offered improved fl exibility in the
    detection of radar sites and could work in a
    jumbled radio signal environment. During a
    sortie, any intelligence collected could be
    relayed directly to the ground during the fl ight.
    The RBK could be distinguished by the four-
    small low-set rectangular dielectric panels
    mounted either side of the nose.

Continued Development

The MiG-25RBS entered production in 1971.

This variant was equipped with a Sablya-A

SLAR, a variant fi rst proposed in 1963,

but it took the design team seven years to

develop a suitable SLAR. The RBS could

Viktor Belenko’s air force identity papers which he passed to CIA

agents upon his arrival in the United States.

A windfall for the West occurred on September 6, 1976 when Lt Viktor Belenko defected to Hakodate airfi eld in Japan, in his MiG-

25P Foxbat A. US and Japanese technicians swarmed over the aircraft for days before it was returned to the Soviet Union.

An early Cold War satellite reconnaissance image of two early

production MiG-25RBs, at Ramonskoye test facility.

A MiG-25RBF based in the former East Germany during the late

1980s. Note the two pairs of dielectric panels on the nose for its

Shar-25 ELINT system on the nose, which replaced the cameras

of the earlier RB models.

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