Soviet AA-6 Missile May Have Reacquired MiG-25 After Losing SR-71 Lock Near Vladivostok
Updated
Updated · National Security Journal · May 15
Soviet AA-6 Missile May Have Reacquired MiG-25 After Losing SR-71 Lock Near Vladivostok
1 articles · Updated · National Security Journal · May 15
Colonel David Cobb said a Soviet MiG-25 fired an AA-6 at his SR-71 near Vladivostok, but the Blackbird’s Defensive Electronic Gear broke the missile’s lock.
Cobb and his RSO then heard the missile was still locked onto something other than the SR-71, raising the possibility it reacquired the MiG-25 that launched it.
The encounter underscored how narrow the Soviets’ firing window was: Belenko later told U.S. officers MiG-25 crews had to zoom up, lock on and break away with extreme precision against a target moving 3,600 feet per second.
The episode also highlighted the performance gap between the aircraft, with the SR-71 able to sustain about Mach 3.4 at 80,000 feet versus the MiG-25’s roughly Mach 2.83.
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