THE MIKOYAN DESIGN Bureau, now RAC MiG, began working on a replacement for its MiG-25 in the late 1960s. The new long-range fighter was required to intercept targets flying at supersonic speeds at low level, distinguishing hostile aircraft and cruise missiles against ground clutter, a task the MiG-25 was unable to perform. The prototype, designated Ye-155MP (izdeliye [product] 83/1], subsequently took to the air for the first time on September 16, 1975. The Sokol aircraft plant in Gorky (later re-named Nizhny Novgorod) would ultimately go on to manufacture around 50-500 of the new interceptors, now designated as the MiG-31 between 197.7 and 1994.
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