USAF

MiG is often used as a generic term for enemy aircraft. It is actually a westernisation of Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau, one of the OKB's or official Soviet Design Bureaus. Others are Antonov, Sukhoi and Tupelov.

The MiG-25 Foxbat was allegedly developed in response to the XB-70 Valkyrie, a a supersonic heavy bomber which was cancelled before entering production.

Until Lt. Viktor Belenko defected to Hakodate airport in Japan in 1976, the MiG-25 was thought to be constructed of advanced alloys. Remember the Clint Eastwood movie " Firefox ", based on the books by Craig Thomas? That was inspired by the MiG-25. Clint apparently wanted to use a SAAB Viggen to represent the Soviet aircraft but this was vetoed by the director who opted for something which resembled a Klingon starship!

By the way the defection flight... the actual flight... by Belenko was pretty hair raising apparently. The Soviet pilots were routinely issued with just enough fuel to complete their planned mission. Belenko headed off to Japan and, apparently unable to raise the control tower on radio and low on fuel... headed for the runway.. narrowly missing a civilian airliner and coming to rest in the over-run area!

Here is an interview with
MiG-25 Foxbat