Best Interceptor?

There are all kinds of interceptors that have been design, from the Russian Mig-25 and Mig-31 to the US F-102, F-106 and F-14. What do you think was the best interceptor ever built? (WW2-Present)

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

Thats a bit of a broad sweep there as obviously the latest is usually the best. For a pure Interceptor, ie get as high as possible as fast as possible and shoot down the enemy and do nothing else, I suppose the BAC Lightning and Mig 25 were the most effective in their respective days. The F-15A, being the first fighter to match the Lighnings vertical climb capability, must also deserve special mention as it not only did thisd job but was manoueverable as well, pretty unique in those days.

How about the SR-71 derived plane that used the pheonix missle system? 100,000 ft and mach 3+ speeds with long range missles

The F-14 hands down. Its radar is only second to the raptor for range and tech. I t can fire at six separate targets at the sometime from 150miles away and it can track 24 targets at the same time. It can fire at targets as low as 50 feet or 100.000 feet at the same time. It carriers one of the deadliest missile the Phoenix, has great speed and maneuverability.

By that criteria you could include the Tornado F3 as well Westy, though I wouldn't dream of it

The F-14 is a mighty all rounder for sure but as a 'pure' interceptor, and taken in the context of what was needed when each one was first deployed I'll stick with my original three.

Greetings,

Lets not turn this into a F 22 Raptor Fest again. As an interceptor I would also go with the BAC Lightening, I suppose the only thing that you can really say was wrong with the BAC Lightening was its range.

For a Pure Interceptor, these days that term is hard to place, as most Generation Fighters have a second ability of ground attack, but I would have to say the best ones at the moment are the Saab Gripen and the French Rafale.

- Phil

The Phoenix was a great missile for long distance shooting, however it wasn't exactly maneuverable, it was specifically designed to hit Russian antishipping missiles and bombers, not exactly one you'd use against a maneuvering fighter type aircraft. The Phoenix was of the Falcon family loosely and was directly developed from the YF-12 missile.

Originally posted by American Mad Man
How about the SR-71 derived plane that used the pheonix missle system? 100,000 ft and mach 3+ speeds with long range missles

That IMHO was the best! it was the YF-12 and it was armed with the precourses to the Pheonix missile system. A Mach 3 Cruise to intercept, a lookdown Radar and a 100 mile+ missile attack. Enuf time to turn around and get any leakers too. Well before they get close. Mcnamara killed it though.

YF-12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the interceptor category would include pursuit aircraft then I would have to say from ww2-P51d. from the jet age my vote goes for the MiG-25, speed and altitude are both awesome for the time.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
The F-14 hands down. Its radar is only second to the raptor for range and tech. I t can fire at six separate targets at the sometime from 150miles away and it can track 24 targets at the same time. It can fire at targets as low as 50 feet or 100.000 feet at the same time. It carriers one of the deadliest missile the Phoenix, has great speed and maneuverability.

It is widely regarded that Intel produced the first microprocessor in1971, but in fact the first microprocessor was built by the AF for the F-14 AWG-9 radar. The person who invented it couldn't take credit for it as it was top secret at the time.

As for the Phoenix missile they are really only effective against non-manouvering targets. They are only powered for the first phase of their flight, and a fair bit of energy is bled off at long ranges. They wuld probably only have a 10% kill probablity against modern fighter aircraft.

Originally posted by Der Kapitanfrom the jet age my vote goes for the MiG-25, speed and altitude are both awesome for the time.

True, the MiG-25 is a nice plane.

Originally posted by ghost
There are all kinds of interceptors that have been design, from the Russian Mig-25 and Mig-31 to the US F-102, F-106 and F-14. What do you think was the best interceptor ever built? (WW2-Present)

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

The Mig-29 is an excellent interceptor.

The F-14 Tomcat was great in its day, but could probably get waxed by a MiG-29.

I'm going to enjoy watching what the F-22 Raptor can do. It should be a good inidication of how the Joint Strike Fighter will operate.

US Air Forces F-15 and the US Navys F-15, both to be replaced soon by the highly versatile F-22. The Mig-29 is a peice of crap machinery built by a bunch of faggot commies! The instrumentation is analog and primative by Western standards. Up against an F-14 or an F-15, the dogfight would last no more than 90 secs, with the Tomcat or Eagle coming out on top.

[edit on 17 PM109278066317 04 by Intelearthling]

[edit on 17 PM109278103417 04 by Intelearthling]

Originally posted by Intelearthling
The Mig-29 is a peice of crap machinery built by a bunch of faggot commies! The instrumentation is analog and primative by Western standards.

You make the mistake of thinking that's a hinderance.

You realize that a plane that flies totally mechanically has no avionics to jam? that because it has no fly-by-wire means no EMP pulse can disrupt the plane's flight? In fact the russian planes are far more manoevrable and far more tolerant of FOD. Russian missile tech is certainly not to be sniffed at.

The reason we do well against MiG's is because we can get more planes off the ground as a fration of the fleet, we have better training and much, much better maintenance.

[edit on 17-8-2004 by Cjwinnit]

Originally posted by Cjwinnit

The reason we do well against MiG's is because we can get more planes off the ground as a fration of the fleet, we have better training and much, much better maintenance.

And you have enough money to pay for gas, which the Russian Air Force does not Lack of training is in part due to that.

There was a program "Wings of Glory" in Discovery a while ago, there was a comparison of the US and Russian AF. The air intakes of some planes are covered with a titanium grill to prevent the debris (common on poorly cleaned runways) from getting into the engine LOL. That in fact means more reliability in combat situation when you don't have enough time to clean the runway between missions.

It's true that maintenance must suck in Russia nowadays due to lack of funds, but in it's heyday they used positron emission tomography to diagnose engine parts, I assure you that's high tech.

Just random thoughts on the subject... I also saw MIGs every day when I was a kid. They made the first test flight right out of the factory and the turning point was right over my house... We heard sonic booms many times during the day, in school

Originally posted by Intelearthling
The Mig-29 is a peice of crap machinery built by a bunch of faggot commies!

What a fine choice of language! I'm so impressed. Let me just point out that pretty much same individuals are maintaining the only working fleet of manned spacecraft in the world, at this moment. Give me a call when the spaceshuttle is airborne.

Originally posted by Aelita

Originally posted by Intelearthling
The Mig-29 is a peice of crap machinery built by a bunch of faggot commies!

What a fine choice of language! I'm so impressed. Let me just point out that pretty much same individuals are maintaining the only working fleet of manned spacecraft in the world, at this moment. Give me a call when the spaceshuttle is airborne.

Well, when the Space Shuttle has resumed its flight schedule, the ISS will start receiving the components that no other nation seems capaple of doing. What happened to the Buran? It may have contributed to the building of ISS, in which a tremendous amount of burden was placed on the American team. ISS should be ours. If you overwork a horse, it will give out on you.

Originally posted by Intelearthling
US Air Forces F-15 and the US Navys F-15, both to be replaced soon by the highly versatile F-22. The Mig-29 is a peice of crap machinery built by a bunch of faggot commies! The instrumentation is analog and primative by Western standards. Up against an F-14 or an F-15, the dogfight would last no more than 90 secs, with the Tomcat or Eagle coming out on top.

Aside from the poor language, the Mig-29 and the SU-27 and its derivatives are highly capable aircraft. I would point you to do a seaarch on the many threads talking about the Indian SU-30MMK's that won a simulated engagement against F-15's

For me the best interceptor in its time was the Mig-25 and I base this off of certain areas it exceeded in.

Avionics:

For the necesarry standoff kill capability the main radar was large and powerful, and when it was designed in 1959 the Fox Fire radar was the most powerul for regular AI use with the average electrical load of 600kw.

Armament:

Those Acrid AA-6 missiles were pretty hot in their day. With two SARh and two IR, the 25 had some nasty teeth.

And who can forget.

Speed:

With 2.8 under combat situations and 3.2 mach in a clear configuration the Mig-25 never had to fear itself being interercepted.

The only flaw in the 25 I can think of (other than the rumor I heard that whenever they touched Mach 3 the engines had to be overhauled) was that it was designed solely in response to the B-70 Valkeryie which never reached full production.

Other than that the Mig 25 is the horse Id ride into town.

Originally posted by Agent47
With 2.8 under combat situations and 3.2 mach in a clear configuration the Mig-25 never had to fear itself being interercepted.

If I recall the Mach 3.2 speed was attainable only by burning out its turbines. I don't think you could overhaul them. It still is a good plane even today and rugged as all get out to boot. The Mig31 was another one. Kind of looks the same but it was an entire animal all together.