September 6, 1976. The shape of an unknown aircraft runs on the waters of the Japan Sea. Fly to an altitude of just 30 meters, so as not to be traced by the radars. On board there is a deserter of the great Soviet Union, the pilot lieutenant Viktor Ivanovich Belenkodisappointed by the failure of the communist dream and determined to exchange a future over curtain with military secrets that will reveal one of the greatest dazzles of theUS intelligence: The real skills of the Mig-25 “Foxbat” interceptor hunting. A fear that will prove to be unfounded.
The destination selected by Belenko, a perfect example of Soviet youth, the best of the best of the aviator companions of the communist air force, had to be the basis of chitose, in Japan. But despite its interceptor hunt capable of exceeding the speed of the sound three times did not transport any weapon, the fuel and the speed supported to escape the interceptors as friends as to the enemy, forced him, after a sudden surge in up to 6,000 metersto clearly appear on the radar of the Japanese self -defense forces, fold on the Aerodrome of Hakodate. Leaving off the track of about thirty meters and giving up the integrity of its front trolley.
When he opened the roof of his hunt, he did not announce good news. First, it seems that he shot two shots in the air with one Pistolet Makarovathen explained his reasons: he was a Soviet pilot, as everyone could see, and he intended to desert. His business card was the secrets of a supersonic interceptor who worried the secret services Americans for at least a decade. Especially since a F-4 phantom hunting formation assigned to Israeli airlines had tried, without success, to intercept a hunting pair that had violated their airspace starting from Egypt to disappear from their reach to a speed never seen before.
A fear called “Foxbat”
Then the CIA could not be sure, but it nourished only a serious suspicion that that type of plane had been developed byExperimental design office 155 entrusted to Mikoyan-Gurevich to intercept and break down the spy planes who were sent to steal the secrets of the Soviet Union, and the western supersonic bombers who could threaten the strategic sites of the Great Mother Russia. According to experts of the Pentagonin fact, the jet to which the code name had been assigned “Foxbat“It was an air superiority hunt with excellent maneuverability, given the wide wing opening, made with cutting -edge materialslike the titanium, probably equipped with a long -haul radar in the particularly prominent muzzle.
When the Japanese took over the aircraft, immediately warning the Americans, the then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George HW Bush He did not just admit that he was faced with a fortune of fortune outside of every prediction. A real case of “Intelligence Bonanza“.
As someone wrote, if you have SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance they had the task of “unmask most of the strategic deception“That the Soviets had created for decades to make the West believed to be ahead of technological supremacy, it was up to Belenko to confirm the Great bluff which was celebrated on the other side of the iron curtain. Starting with morals that, at least in his case, began to be very low.
The reasons for a deserter
Born in a family of proletarian extraction and of Ukrainian origins, Belenko had always distinguished himself in the eyes of the party and superiors, to the point of accessing the Elite air defense forcesa body separated from Voenno-vozdušnye sily, born just like“Red Air Fleet of workers and farmers”, With a particular role in defending the USSR.
Despite this, during his ascent in the elite, he had disillusioned the Soviet system and his false promises. No reward had relieved his hard work. Indeed it was believed to be a “sacrificable gear ” within a “Cunchling war machine“.
It seems that Belenko had planned the escape for months, waiting for his squadron to carry out a training mission that involved a flight with a maximum of fuel and the complete absence of weapons on the Japan Sea. In those conditions he had one chance to escape his companions, who would not have weapons to stop him (the MIG-25 had no machine guns), and enough fuel to reach a landing track over curtain.
The Bonanza of Intelligence
After landing, the Japanese officers handed over the lieutenant Belenko and his plane to the Americans, who questioned him and brought him to the United States, where he would spend the rest of his life under a false name. The MIG-25 Foxbat was disassembled and analyzed before being returned to the Sovietswho went to all fury. In the 67 days of studies and inspections of the components, the Japanese experts and those sent by the Pentagon managed to establish that the MIG-25 not only it could not be considered a threat For the supersonic strategic bombers who were in the design phase, but which probably would not even have been able to carry out its task.
According to some, among these engineers there would also be those of the Hasegawaa well -known Japanese modeling company.
Although Hasegawa’s modelists had not “fully exploited” the information obtained, did not lose the opportunity to reproduce and market, in “Cold War Time“(it was only 1978), a aeromodel with Extremely precise details of the Soviet hunt that had terrified the Pentagon.