The MiG-25 was, quite simply, the fastest interceptor ever built. In the 70s, one was tracked by radar flying at Mach 3.2 over the Sinai peninsula.
May 1997. It's a summer day over Islamabad, the greenest of Pakistan's major cities. Life is carrying on in the usual orderly fashion of this modern capital when suddenly: Boom! A terrifying explosion-like sound rents the sky and continues rolling like thunder through this city of chir pine and pomegranate trees.
Pakistan's air defense radars catch an aircraft streaking towards India — it's not one of their own. The aircraft has just broken the sound barrier over Islamabad, and the sonic boom generated has echoed through the city's streets, getting people to rush outside their homes and pretty much pausing every activity for a few moments.
Scramble! A brace of Pakistan Air Force F-16s, a type called the Fighting Falcon by its US maker, takes to the air, armed to the teeth and cleared to destroy this impudent intruder.
But this show of force is in vain because the intruder is a Garuda — the Indian Air Force name for the Soviet-made MiG-25 — and flying at 65,000 feet which is well beyond the operational ceiling of the PAF's top fighter aircraft.
Even if the Garuda were below the 50,000-feet level (modern airliners cruise at about 35,000 feet), the Fighting Falcons would not have been able to catch up, for the Garuda was Mach 3-capable, and would have pulled away easily without the need to go all-out.
Pakistan lodged a complaint;...
Read Full Story: https://www.firstpost.com/india/on-iaf-day-a-tale-of-when-our-air-force-showed-how-paf-is-its-bunny-10037481.html
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