Foxbat

‘That’s what Moscow called them, yes. At some of the more remote, less well-supervised military bases, it became apparent that some officers had been supplementing their salaries by disposing of certain equipment they decided was surplus to requirements. Basically, they would write off a few cases of AK47s, say, on the grounds that they had been damaged by immersion in water, and then sell them to anyone who wanted them. Once this came to light, Moscow finally understood why the Chechen rebels seemed so well-armed – they’d obtained most of their weapons and ammunition direct from Russian regular forces.’

‘You didn’t bring me all the way out here to talk about a few black-market Kalashnikovs, Viktor. What else went missing?’

A look of embarrassment flitted across Bykov’s face. ‘You’re quite right. Missing small arms are a matter of concern, obviously, but we soon discovered that some larger and more expensive pieces of military equipment also couldn’t be accounted for. In particular, we seemed to be missing a few aircraft.’

‘What aircraft, precisely?’

‘The Russian Air Force reported that it couldn’t locate fourteen of its Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 interceptors: the aircraft NATO has codenamed the Foxbat.’

Richter stared at him. ‘Jesus, Viktor, you can’t misplace something that size, and certainly not fourteen of them.’

‘I agree. Yesterday,’ Bykov added, looking even more unhappy, ‘that number went up to sixteen. An inspection team sent to the Letneozerskiy interceptor base – you might know it as Obozerskiy Southeast – in Karelia, near the Finnish border, couldn’t account for two MiG-25s that were supposed to be on the strength of 524 IAP. What’s even more disturbing is that all the members of the inspection team were killed outright when their aircraft crashed shortly after leaving the same base. An initial inspection of the wreckage suggests that it exploded in midair. We only know about the missing MiGs because the team leader telephoned Moscow two days earlier to explain that he’d have to go in person and check if they were currently at a maintenance facility in the Ukraine before he rendered his final report. I’ve since checked with Zaporizhia, the facility in question, and the MiGs definitely aren’t there.’

For a few moments Richter was silent, then he spoke slowly. ‘I can see your problem, Viktor. What I’m not sure about is how you think I can help you solve it.’

Bykov raised a hand to the waiter and requested another round.

‘As you well know, we have adequate technical intelligence resources – satellites, phased-array radars and the like. Our problem is that our satellites carry out surveillance only of countries we consider to be hostile or potentially hostile to Russia. Likewise, our radars look outwards, across our borders, into China, Scandinavia and all the other countries that surround us. What we don’t have is much satellite coverage of activity here inside Russia, and before we can work our where the MiG-25s have gone, we need to get access to the take from whatever satellites the Americans had within range when those aircraft went missing. So I supplied whatever dates and locations I could deduce to your section, and requested that you brought the images with you.’

‘I’ve got them right here,’ Richter said, touching his briefcase, ‘together with our analysts’ best guesses about the aircraft they’ve spotted on the films. I’ve also got JARIC and N-PIC analysts standing by to talk to your people if necessary.’

‘Thank you.’

‘But first I have a question. In fact, I’ve got two. If somebody’s buying or stealing Foxbats, that’s only half the equation. Without munitions, spares, maintenance people and, obviously, pilots, the aircraft’s just a thirty-ton paperweight. Are you missing any pilots or maintainers as well?’

Bykov nodded. ‘I don’t have exact figures, but I understand that a number of qualified Air Force personnel cannot currently be located. And your other question?’

‘Why are you bothered? So what if some nation wants to beg, borrow or steal a handful of obsolete interceptors? Remember, the MiG-25’s a forty-year-old design. If somebody had walked off with a dozen of your latest air-superiority fighters I could understand your concern. After all, you sell fighter aircraft around the world, and you’ve supplied that aircraft to a lot of countries – off the top of my head Algeria, Iraq and Syria to name but three – so what’s so special about these sixteen antiquated Foxbats?’

‘Let me ask you a question,’ Bykov responded. ‘Why did we build the MiG- 25?’

For a few moments Richter just stared at the Russian. ‘I don’t see where you’re going with this, Viktor.’

‘It’s crucial. When you know why we built the aircraft, you’ll know why we’re so worried about who’s got them now.’

Richter nodded. ‘OK, I’ll play the game. We believe you originally designed the Foxbat to counter the American XB-70 Valkyrie Mach three bomber.’

‘That wasn’t in fact the case, but even if it was, the XB-70 project was cancelled well before the first prototype MiG-25 flew. We knew that the Americans had no other supersonic bombers planned, so why did we continue developing the aircraft?’

‘Probably to counter the SR-71A Blackbird spy-plane. To catch it you’d have needed a Mach three interceptor.’

‘Wrong again,’ Viktor Bykov said. ‘The Blackbird was never a real threat to us. That aircraft carried no weapons: all it could do was take pictures, obtain radar images and measure radiation.’

‘So why did you build the Foxbat?’ Richter demanded.

‘Let me ask you another question,’ Bykov said, clearly determined to spin this out. ‘In September 1976 a renegade pilot called Viktor Belenko defected to the West from our airfield at Chuguyevka in a MiG-25 and landed it at Hakodate airport in Japan. The American Central Intelligence Agency and the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson took the aircraft totally to pieces before giving it back to us. You heard about that, no doubt?’

‘It was before my time, but I’ve read some reports,’ Richter replied cautiously.

‘Do you remember what those reports said about the avionics and radar fit?’

Richter shook his head. ‘Not in any detail.’

‘Let me refresh your memory, then, though I didn’t read the same reports that you did.’

‘I’m certainly glad to hear that,’ Richter murmured grimly.

Bykov smiled, then continued. ‘The reports probably highlighted the lack of solid-state electronics in the avionics. Everything was old-style, with valve-driven circuits and equipment, and a massively powerful radar. I’m sure there was a certain amount of self-satisfied chuckling in the corridors of Whitehall and the Pentagon at the poor old Russians and their old-fashioned fighter.’

Richter shifted slightly in his seat. What Bykov was saying was indeed a fairly accurate paraphrasing of the classified analyses that had circulated in Western intelligence services following the examination of the misappropriated Foxbat by American technical experts.

‘It apparently never occurred to anybody to ask why. Why had we used valves instead of printed-circuit boards and transistors? After all, in our other fighter aircraft we used similar technology to the latest American fighters. In fact,’ Bykov added with a chuckle, ‘some of the avionics we used were actually stolen from the Americans.

‘Long before we built the MiG-25, we’d perfected solid-state electronics, and we had off-the-shelf components that we could have used in the aircraft, but we didn’t. We took a step backwards and fitted valves, and all that other old-fashioned equipment. So I ask you again – why?’

‘Viktor, I have no idea. The Foxbat was your front-line interceptor and—’

‘Exactly,’ Bykov interrupted. ‘But what was it intended to intercept? That’s the crucial question.’

‘American bombers? B-1s and B-52s, I suppose?’

Bykov shook his head. ‘To intercept those lumbering giants we would hardly have needed a Mach three fighter, and certainly not a fighter that can reach a ceiling of over thirty thousand metres. Let me give you a clue – EMP.’

‘EMP? You mean electromagnetic pulse?’ Richter frowned.

‘Exactly. Add EMP to valve-based avionics and a Mach three interceptor with a thirty-kilometre ceiling, and what do you get?’