anti-satellite weapon Archives - The Aviation Geek Club

In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union had developed two MiG-31D Foxhounds as a launch platform for a potential anti-satellite version of the R-77 Vympel air-to-air missile According to Zvezda TV the video in this post shows how the MiG-31 (NATO reporting name Foxhound) interceptor shoots down satellites. Even though most probably this footage is nothing more than a "MiG-31 propaganda video," in the early 1980s, the Soviet Union had developed two MiG-31D Foxhounds as a launch platform for a potential anti-satellite version of the R-77 Vympel (NATO reporting name AA-12 Adder) air-to-air missile. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this project was put on hold due to reduced defense expenditures. However, in Aug. 2009, the Russian Air and Space Force (RuASF) had announced the resumption of the program. Moreover in 2010 several reports indicated that Russia was "developing a fundamentally new weapon that can destroy potential targets in space," in the form of the Sokol Eshelon an airborne laser anti-satellite system based on a Beriev A-60 aircraft. Furthermore in 2015 Russia successfully tested a direct ascent anti-satellite missile, known as Nudol, which in May 2016 was launched for the second time from the Plesetsk cosmodrome test launch facility, located 500 miles north of Moscow.

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anti-satellite weapon

“THE MiG-31 FOXHOUND INTERCEPTOR CAN SHOOT DOWN SATELLITES” ZVEZDA TV SAYS