In an interview given to the Ria Novosti website, the CEO of the Russian manufacturer MIG, Ilia Tarassenko, declared that work on the PAK DP program, namely the successor to the Mig-31, should begin before the end of 2019. This announcement is surprising in the sense that the development of the PAK DP was not planned in the GPV 2019-2027, the Russian equivalent of our Military Programming Law, which focused on the maturation of the PAK DA and the PAK FA, namely the Su-57 and the next Russian strategic bomber.
According to information given by Ilia Tarassenko, the new device will be a high-speed interceptor, capable of exceeding Mac 3.2, high altitude and very long range, embedding “new Stealth and detection technologies”, as well as new hypersonic munitions. The device would also be capable of operating in the stratosphere, that is to say above 15.000 m, and would have “spatial” evolution capabilities. It should have dimensions comparable to the Mig 31, and exceed 40 tonnes at takeoff, making it the heaviest stealth fighter in development. Like the majority of air combat systems due to enter service beyond 2030, MIG plans to release its device in a piloted version and a drone version.
No date of entry into service has obviously been communicated, especially since the announcements made are, at least for the moment, in no way corroborated by official declarations. In this respect, we must keep in mind that Russian defense industries often tend to anticipate the decisions of the Ministry of Defense beyond what is reasonable. How many times have we heard that a new Russian aircraft carrier or LHD is going to be built?
In any case, the Mig-31 remains today a major tool of Russian Air Defense, the only device capable of intervening sufficiently quickly on the 17 million km2 that Russia represents, and cannot be maintained in service at beyond 2035, despite the modernizations that aircraft have undergone. It is also a vector of choice when it comes to using heavy and imposing munitions, such as the Kh47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile, or the AsM-135 anti-satellite missile. In fact, and despite the clear preference given to aircraft from the Sukhoi firm by the Russian air forces in recent decades, it is likely that Russia will not spare the development of the PAK DP, probably hastily identified as Mig-41.
However, we will have to wait for official confirmation from the Russian authorities to find out more about the timetable and the exact ambitions of this program.