MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Groups of Russia’s super-fast MiG-31 interceptor aircraft (NATO reporting name Foxhound) were deployed in Russia’s easternmost region of Chukotka to control the Arctic airspace, Russian Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Sergei Avakyants said.
"From December 1, groups of MiG-31 aircraft of the fleet’s naval aviation assumed combat duty in the Arctic," the commander said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.
"Relevant infrastructure has been created at the airport of [Chukotka’s administrative center] Anadyr, allowing our forces to be on round-the-clock air defense duty," he added.
The long-range MiG-31 was designed in the Soviet Union. Several jets can control 900-km wide airspace. MiG-31 has always been engaged to intercept sophisticated targets. Its takeoff weight is over 45 tons. The combination of a high speed, long range and altitude developed the jet into the carrier of the Russian hypersonic missile. MiG increases the range and speed of the missile. The aircraft accelerates to specific speed, ascends and launches the weapon. MiG-31 with K index (Kinzhal) operates as the first stage of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile and begins an attack outside the dense layers of the atmosphere at altitudes of 12,000-15,000 meters. The missile flies at the stratosphere boundary to decrease air resistance.