MiG-31 Suspended Until Crash Investigation

The Russian Air Force has suspended the operation of all 122 in-service MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor jets while investigators establish the cause of a crash of one of the planes.

The temporary suspension was imposed after a MiG-31 crashed near the Tsentralnaya Uglovaya airbase outside Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Saturday, an official was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

The investigators are examining the maintenance record of the plane, which they said crashed while on its first qualifying flight after a major overhaul. The Defense Ministry said that one of the MiG-31’s two engines failed just before the accident.

A MiG-31 crashed in Kazakhstan in April, killing its pilot and injuring its navigator, four months after it had been overhauled. Kazakhstan, the only other country to use the MiG-31, temporarily suspended flights following the crash, according to the report. 

The MiG-31 is the fastest fighter-interceptor in operation and is designed to rapidly intercept aircraft or cruise missiles violating Russian airspace.

A modernization program was launched in 2011 to give the 30-year-old jet new radar, avionics, cockpit displays and a firing control system that can track ten targets simultaneously.

Sixty of the upgraded models, designated the MiG-31BM, are to be delivered by 2020 under a tender with the United Aircraft Corporation.

Russia announced in September 2012 that a MiG-31 squadron would be stationed on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya as part of a nationwide air defense system.

The Russian Air Force said in August that it plans to keep MiG-31s in service until at least 2028, the report added.