On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 00:30:15 GMT, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


"phil hunt" wrote in message
...
On 14 Dec 2003 22:13:18 GMT, BUFDRVR wrote:
Good reply, but I don't think I'd classify Mig-25 as 4th generation.

I may have catagorized that one incorrectly, but I though it was
considered the
same generation as the F-15?

Wasn't the F-15 designed as a counter to the MiG-25?

That was one of the justifications, since the true nature of the Mig-25 ("Go
really fast, but don't go to far, and avoid anything resembling a
dogfight"--understandable given that the Foxbat was designed with the high
altitude/high speed XB-70 threat in mind) was apparently not known at the
time. But I believe the experiences of the US forces during Vietnam, not to
mention Israeli forces during the '67 War and later War of Attrition, versus
more agile MiG products (like the -21) had more influence upon the F-15's
evolution.

Brooks

Yeah, at the time it was assumed the Mig-25 was a multirole aircraft
that could dogfight too. Combined with the fact that they thought the
Mig-23 designation went with the Mig-25 airframe it gave them quite a
scare. (They thought the Mig-25 was going to be built in the numbers
planned for the Mig-23). The existence of the Mig-25 *did* influence
the requirements for the F-14 and F-15. The FX program was initially
intended to produce something along the lines of an F/A-18 but when
they started looking at the Mig-25 they bumped up the requirements
considerably.