Foxbat
From Flight International 10 April 1976
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mach | night attack | attack missile | 1976 | 0585 | Flight Archive
MiG-25s over Britain?
Reports that Mikoyan MiG-25R Foxbat-A reconnaissance aircraft are making regular surveillance flights over the United Kingdom were last week flatly denied by the Ministry of Defence. Under-Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force Brynmor John said in the House of Commons on March 29 that there had been no high altitude intrusions into British sovereign airspace in the past 12 months. Nato officials would neither confirm nor deny reports of intrusions into other Nato airspace.
The reports originated on March 22 in the American aviation press which said that MiG-25s were "conducting daily surveillance mission over the Nato nations of Western Europe," as well as the Middle East and Mediterranean.
Reports that Mikoyan MiG-25R Foxbat-A reconnaissance aircraft are making regular surveillance flights over the United Kingdom were last week flatly denied by the Ministry of Defence. Under-Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force Brynmor John said in the House of Commons on March 29 that there had been no high altitude intrusions into British sovereign airspace in the past 12 months. Nato officials would neither confirm nor deny reports of intrusions into other Nato airspace.
The reports originated on March 22 in the American aviation press which said that MiG-25s were "conducting daily surveillance mission over the Nato nations of Western Europe," as well as the Middle East and Mediterranean.
mach | night attack | attack missile | 1976 | 0585 | Flight Archive
Around that time, a friend of mine was working as an ATCO at RAF Scampton. He saw something very odd on the radar and was going to report it (presumably as a UFO, for which reporting guidelines existed back then), but was told "You haven't seen anything...OK??". As a Plt Off wasn't really able to query this - and I was never able to ask him anything further as he sadly died a few years ago.
Beagle - Mach 3 tracks over the North Sea in early 1976 were very possible as that's when the 9th SRW SR-71 Det 4 set up shop at Mildenhall.
SR-71 Operations-Mildenhall UK
SR-71 Operations-Mildenhall UK
Except, or so he said, that it was rather a large radar return and was capable of stopping in mid-air, then accelerating away at speed.......
And was over land, not sea.....
He wouldn't say any more - someone had obviously put the frighteners on him....
And was over land, not sea.....
He wouldn't say any more - someone had obviously put the frighteners on him....
Viktor Suvorov (in 1982 book Inside the Soviet Army) fingered the Tu-123 Yastreb drone in the 1976 reports. It confused the heck out of everyone because Yastreb was very little known, but what we knew about the '25 said it could not go that far.
