I had read somewhere, can't remember where exactly, that the Foxbat could (and did??) overfly UK airspace at such height and speed that nothing could get near it (presumably the recce version).
Well the only UK asset that might have got up there was the Lightning. Although the Lightning's performance was impressive its weapons system was, by the 1980s, practically steam driven.
The Foxbat however, had enormous power designed as it was to shoot down Mach-3 bombers, and very powerful radar. So I suppose the fighter version would "see" the Lightning at greater range getting in first with the huge Acrid AAMs before heading away at anything up to Mach 3??
What if we had developed some the aircraft that aviation genius Dummkopf Sands said we wouldn't need because, oh, you know the story.....
Lightning/Foxbat. Two Cold War icons. I salute them both.