MiG-31 aircraft will intercept ballistic missiles, Izvestia reports, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry.
The newspaper writes that “last year, new exercises to intercept simulated ballistic missile targets were included in the combat training program as an experiment,” and such use of fighter-interceptors became relevant after the termination of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty ).
“They are starting to appear at our borders, so you need to have the means to destroy them. These missiles will begin to be deployed in Europe, and we must be ready to repel strikes, ”said Lieutenant General Valery Gorbenko, former commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force (Air Force) and Air Defense (Air Defense).
In February, military expert Pyotr Butovsky said in the pages of the American magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology that Russia is not capable of independently creating a promising long-range intercept aircraft complex (PAK DP), known as the MiG-41.
In January, Izvestia, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that MiG-31BM fighter-interceptors would defend the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
