Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The MIG-25 required an immediate engine rebuild when it came anywhere close to approaching the SR-71's cruise speed. The actual top speed of the SR-71 will probably never be known, but it was capable of well over Mach 3.2 based on numerous pilot accounts.
If the SR-71 had been able to be shot down, I'm sure somebody would have done it (like with the U-2).
This is a great story about the 'bird from a former pilot:
http://www.vfp62.com/sr-71.html
Definitely worth the read. I love this quote:
Quote:
With spikes and doors as tight as they can get, we are racing against the time it could take a missile to reach our altitude.
It is a race this jet will not let us lose. The Mach eases to 3.5 as we crest 80,000 feet. We are a bullet now - except faster. We hit the turn, and I feel some relief as our nose swings away from a country we have seen quite enough of. Screaming past Tripoli , our phenomenal speed continues to rise, and the screaming Sled pummels the enemy one more time, laying down a parting sonic boom. In seconds, we can see nothing but the expansive blue of the Mediterranean . I realize that I still have my left hand full-forward and we're continuing to rocket along in maximum afterburner.
The TDI now shows us Mach numbers, not only new to our experience but flat out scary. Walt says the DEF panel is now quiet, and I know it is time to reduce our incredible speed. I pull the throttles to the min 'burner range and the jet still doesn't want to slow down. Normally the Mach would be affected immediately, when making such a large throttle movement But for just a few moments old 960 just sat out there at the high Mach, she seemed to love and like the proud Sled she was, only began to slow when we were well out of danger. I loved that jet.
The Russian pilot who defected to Japan in his MiG-25 wrote a very interesting book that I read in my teens. He reported firing missiles at approaching SR-71s many times, only to have the Blackbirds turn around and easily outrun the missiles. They didn't have to actually go faster than the AAMs, of course, just fast enough to keep them from closing in the 50 mile or so range that they had. Belenko and his fellow interceptor pilots were routinely frustrated by SR-71 encounters, but they did prevent those planes from flying over the USSR with total impunity.
A MiG-25 did streak over Israel from Syria to Egypt in the '70s, but it limped home with damaged engines. The SR-71 could cruise at Mach 3+ speeds the MiG-25 could only maintain for seconds...the flyover still resulted in the Israelis developing F-4s with high modified water injection engines that gave them impressive streak speeds and a shot at intercepting the MiG-25s, so the stunt was not repeated.
One of the most interesting things from Belenko's book for me concerned the radar...the designers attempted to beat jamming techniques by making it incredibly powerful. Belenko reported that pilots liked to pulse the radar on briefly if they happened to see a rabbit hopping down the runway in front of them while taxiing so as to watch the poor thing drop dead instantly.