Word: radar
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Country Tinker. The plane turned out to be a crude, early version of the Foxbat, which the Russians designed 15 years ago to bring down the supersonic B-70, a U.S. bomber that never became operational. Belenko's MiG was equipped with obsolescent electronic targeting and radar systems. Its maximum range of 1,200 miles was short compared with the American F-4 Phantom fighter's 2,100 miles. Belenko's plane was also vastly inferior to the reconnaissance version of the Foxbat, which the U.S. has tracked over much longer ranges in the Middle East. Perhaps...
...NATO code, it is the world's fastest weapons-carrying warplane, having attained a record speed* of 1,852.6 m.p.h. and a test altitude of 118,000 ft.-outrunning and outclimbing even the newest U.S. fighter planes. Thus a study of the MIG-25's complex radar, engines and missile system could provide U.S. experts with new insights about the current state of Soviet aeronautical and electronic technology. Delighted by Belenko's gift, the White House immediately announced its willingness to grant political asylum to the Soviet lieutenant. At week's end he arrived...
...break. Somewhere near the Primorsky Kray coast, he suddenly put his MIG in a sharp dive, leveling out 150 ft. over the waves of the Sea of Japan, followed shortly afterward by Russian pilots in hot pursuit. After flying this low for a short distance to elude Soviet radar, he climbed back to 20,000 ft. for the dash to Japan; a jet gulps too much fuel at low altitudes...
...Belenko approached Japanese airspace near Sapporo, the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics, his pursuers suddenly turned back, probably recalled to their base by radio command. Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces, spotting the intruder on radar, warned him (in Russian) by radio that he would soon violate Japanese airspace. When Belenko neither responded nor changed course, the Japanese scrambled two Phantoms to intercept the plane. But find him they could not. Belenko managed for 24 minutes to elude the Phantoms, probably by the simple expedient of flying again at low altitudes, below the sweep of the Air Self-Defense Forces...
...range of frequencies the pilots operate on. Fire-control experts will look at the dials and mechanisms to determine what range the pilot must have to lock on to a target. The squad will be probing the electronic-countermeasure capability of the plane, checking whether it has a radar-absorption paint or plate to give it a distorted blip on radar scanners...