Little over a quarter century ago I had the rather unique opportunity to brief the Chief of Air Staff about the proposed induction and deployment of the MiG-25 — NATO codename Foxbat.

There had been some opposition to our (Air HQs’ operations branch) proposal to base it at Bareilly in UP. Some even ascribed political reasons for suggesting it! There were pressures to locate it in the western sector.

The MiG-25 was designed by the Soviets in the 1960s as a high-altitude supersonic interceptor against the B-70 nuclear bomber then being developed by the United States. The version we were acquiring, however, was the strategic reconnaissance one. Speculations in the western media and think tanks carried on for years about the actual type we had acquired.

The aircraft was/is invulnerable to any fighter interception or even surface to air missile due to its normal operational altitude of over 24 kilometres and speeds of around 2,800 km per hour at that height. But while it would take less than 7 minutes to get to that speed and height, the aircraft would already have covered a distance of over 300-km. It would travel another 150 kilometres just trying to turn ! And in spite of carrying 14-tons of fuel, it does not stay in the air all that long. Simple logic required that the aircraft be based sufficiently inside our territory.

A hypothetical flight plan was displayed on the briefing board in the operations room and, within a few minutes, the MiG-25 had its home in India decided. With just six MiG-25s, we had the the smallest aircraft inventory ever in service with IAF.

... contd.