The question asked is, is there a Russian fighter that can reach MACH 4 to MACH 5? That is what Russia wants for its sixth-generation MiG-41 fighter.
This theoretical warplane would provide a wish list of 21st-century attributes: utmost stealth, ultra-high speed, ramjet engine, firing and shooting down hypersonic weapons, and lasers, and flying to near-space altitudes to destroy satellites. The project remains at an experimental level with considerable technological and financial hurdles.
The MiG-41 is supposed to replace the swift and deadly MiG-31 Foxhound by 2030. The first flight of the MiG-41 will be in 2025 if designers and engineers from Mikoyan OKB have their say. However, this program is still in experimental/research and development mode. It is, at best, a future technology demonstrator.
At that sort of speed, the design of both the airframe and the canopy would be special. It would be made from specialized materials to withstand amazing amounts of heat generated while flying at higher than MACH 4 at that altitude. The MiG-41 could take after the American SR-72 Darkstar “Son of Blackbird” or it could be based on a MiG-31 platform. Replacing the MiG-31 entirely by the end of the decade is, however, probably a bridge too far.
As Dr. Brent M. Eastwood, author of “Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare,” states, “It is difficult to foresee a scenario in which the MiG-41 emerges from just hype and propaganda in the near future.” Russia’s aerospace industrial base is stretched too thin, and the program is assuming a level of technological advancement that does not exist.
But with that kind of speed, the fuel carry of the MiG-41 would be enormous, and it would mean that it would need to refuel in the air if it were to do anything useful, limiting its range. The heat from the exhaust could also increase its radar signature, keeping it from being as stealthy as Russia has claimed.
The MiG-41 would be spectacularly whiz-bang, but these days monetary resources are in short supply with the war in Ukraine taking priority over such speculative affairs. The MiG-41 would face innumerable problems regarding heat, friction, ‘radar signature, weapons development, and a dependence on technology that doesn’t even exist yet. So, this one goes down as a pipe dream for Russian aviation. The only thing it has going for itself at this point is an artist’s rendering.