MiG-31BM long-range interceptor. (Photo: Russian Aircraft Corporation/Sergey Kuznetsov)
Russia is carrying out state trials of a fly-by-wire control system for the upgraded MiG-31BM long-range interceptor aircraft, TASS reported on 26 November.
The state-run news agency quoted officials from the Sokol Aircraft Plant as saying ‘there is an option of upgrading this aircraft where we switch from the mechanical to the fly-by-wire control system, which yields a host of computers mounted on the plane’.
The officials added: ‘The option with the fly-by-wire control system is already being implemented: now this variant of the upgraded interceptor is undergoing trials.’
Shephard Defence Insight calculates that 110 MiG-31s have been upgraded to the MiG-31M (Foxhound B) and MiG-31BM (Foxhound C) standard.
The main strategic aim is to protect Russian airspace in polar regions.
The Russian MoD signed another contract with Sokol in August 2021 to repair and upgrade MiG-31K interceptor-fighters to the MiG-31BM level with advanced avionics.
A squadron of MiG-31K fighters armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles is on experimental combat duty in Russia’s Southern Military District, TASS noted, adding that ‘an air regiment [currently operating MiG-31BMs] stationed in Kansk in the Krasnoyarsk Region in Eastern Siberia was set to be rearmed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles by 2024’.
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