Here is an extremely cool video of Russian Mig-31 Foxhound jets refueling from Il-78 Midas tankers

This is something you don’t see every day.

The MiG-31 Foxhound is a two-seater derivative of the MiG-25.

It is a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor, in service since 1983 fielded to counter the B-1B bomber, which was designed to operate at low-level, below the radar coverage. Hence, the Mig-31 has quite good low-level capabilities and is equipped with an advanced radar with look-down-shoot-down capability needed to detect low-flying bombers, and data bus, allowing for coordinated attack with other fighters.

Although it is quite obsolete, with top speed of Mach 2.83 and a range of 1,450 km the Foxhound is still one of the most amazing interceptors ever built, often encountered by U.S. and NATO fighter jets during standard routine identification of Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea.

Here is an interesting video of some Russian Mig-31s refueling midair from an Il-78 Midas tanker.

H/T Lasse Holmstrom for the heads up

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• Russia to base Mig-31 Foxhound fighters at Arctic airbase in renewed sign of pivot to the North Pole
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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.