Interceptors in The Soviet Union and Russia
During the Cold War, an entire military service, not just an arm of the pre-existing air force, was designated for their use. The planes of the Soviet Anti-Air Defense (PVO-S) differed from those of the Soviet Air Force (VVS) in that they were by no means small or crudely simple, but huge and refined with large, sophisticated radars; they could not take off from grass, only concrete runways; they could not be disassembled and shipped back to a maintenance center in a boxcar. Similarly, their pilots were given less training in combat maneuvers, and more in radio-directed pursuit. The main interceptor was first the Su-9, then the Su-15, and then the MiG-25. The auxiliary Tu-28, an area range interceptor, was notably the heaviest fighter aircraft ever to see service in the world. The latest and most advanced interceptor aircraft is the MiG-31. Although it is the first one to carry an internal cannon, to this day it remains too cumbersome for dogfights with the contemporary air superiority fighters.
Russia, despite merging the PVO into the VVS, still plans to maintain a number of dedicated interceptors.
Read more about this topic: Interceptor Aircraft
Famous quotes containing the words soviet, union and/or russia:
“Nothing an interested foreigner may have to say about the Soviet Union today can compare with the scorn and fury of those who inhabit the ruin of a dream.”
—Christopher Hope (b. 1944)
“These semi-traitors [Union generals who were not hostile to slavery] must be watched.—Let us be careful who become army leaders in the reorganized army at the end of this Rebellion. The man who thinks that the perpetuity of slavery is essential to the existence of the Union, is unfit to be trusted. The deadliest enemy the Union has is slavery—in fact, its only enemy.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“To believe that Russia has got rid of the evils of capitalism takes a special kind of mind. It is the same kind of mind that believes that a Holy Roller has got rid of sin.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)