"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...

The MiG was intended to be flown by normal service pilots, use normal
fuels and systems, and be maintained by 20 year old conscripts in
Siberia. Making an airplane that can do all those things wasn't a
trivial acheivement.

Another way to look at it is that the MiG-25 has pretty much the
ultimate perforance that can be acheived with a normal shape, and
fairly normal materials. (Stainless Steel, for the most part)
If you're going to go faster and higher, you need to start making
exotic airplanes like the SR-71.

Thank you all for making things clear! One more strange thing: russians have
a lot of titanium, they even built submarine hulls from that - strange
airframe builders in SU find so little use for titanium. Do anybody know the
reason?

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster