In this respect, it is the ambitious MiG-41 stealth interceptor project of Russia that has won much attention in military aviation. The MiG-41 is being developed as a possible sixth-generation aircraft for the PAK DP program to replace the aging MiG-31, which entered service in 1980. However, the feasibility of this advanced aircraft has many experts questioning whether or not this will come to be.
The MiG-41, officially announced in 2018, is said to have next-generation capabilities. According to reports, it will feature a ramjet or turboramjet powerplant that will give it Mach 4, possibly even Mach 5, speeds. Some say it is radar stealth, equipped with anti-satellite missiles, and will fly around near-space environments. Others even suggest it could intercept hypersonic missiles. The ambitious features have earned it comparisons to “vaporware”, the term the tech industry uses to refer to products hyped but never actually released.
“By 2028, the fighter-interceptor MiG-31 will cease to exist… We have the time to create a new aircraft as a replacement,” MiG chief Sergey Korotkov said in 2016. Despite this optimistic assessment, many doubt the development schedule of the MiG-41. Work has been underway since January, according to Rostec, the Russian state-owned military tech conglomerate. It does seem pretty unlikely that this MiG-41 will make its first flight by 2025, as Rostec claimed, or that it will replace the MiG-31 by the end of the decade.
Already strained with a variety of programs, not least of which include the long-delayed Su-57 stealth fighter and updating its fleet of bombers, it is hard to envision a scenario in which the Russian aerospace industry can afford to put up a next-generation interceptor program, according to independent military analysts. “It is hard to imagine a situation where the MiG-41 moves from hype and propaganda into reality anytime soon,” said Dr. Brent M. Eastwood, an expert on emerging threats.
Despite all this, there have been reports by Russian media that the MiG-41 is close to the first flight and could find induction into the Russian Air Force within the next 2-3 years. According to leaks from sources, the jet flies with some incredible specifications, where it would be able to launch satellites into low orbits and intercept hypersonic missiles. That is countered, however, by U.S. experts, who say that concepts dealing with such technology as that behind the MiG-41 remain nonexistent.
The MiG-41 is said to achieve speeds between Mach 4 and 4.5, nearly hypersonic. Developers say it will come fitted with next-generation avionics that can support manned and unmanned variants. However, it is at the cost of extreme difficulty in getting real-world stealth that such a speed penalty could be exacted for the aircraft. Most conventional coatings for stealth applications erode very fast under the hypersonic regime, rendering an aircraft highly visible on radar.
Moreover, special materials would be needed for such kinds of temperatures caused at the above speed of the MiG-41. According to the analysis, “It would need to withstand amazing levels of heat using specialized materials while it is flying above Mach 4 at such altitude.” The fuel it would need to carry would also be heavy, hence limiting the aircraft’s range and making it dependent on aerial refueling.
In light of these challenges, many experts at best are skeptical about the MiG-41’s prospects. “The Russian aerospace industrial base is just stretched too thin to give the MiG-41 the kind of attention that it needs to make it from concept to prototype to serial production,” said Dr. Eastwood. With Russia’s resources already tied up in the ongoing Ukraine conflict, it yet remains to be seen whether or not the MiG-41 will ever turn into reality from a piped dream.