Kazakhstan MiG-31s + R-77s?????

[f14peter]

I'm no KAF MiG-31 expert, but I believed the fleet was made up of earlier (B?) models, and were limited to just the single large one-piece (MiG-25ish) pylon on each inner wing station carrying either a single R-40 or a pair-o' R-60s.  I recently read a few somewhat recently written articles on the Military Watch Magazine website that state "At least some of Kazakhstan’s MiG-31s have been upgraded to the MiG-31BM standard and equipped with R-77 missiles"

 

So, my questions would be (assuming the upgrade did indeed happen):

• Did this upgrade include changing to the smaller, two-piece, wing pylon/launch rail found on newer Foxhounds mounting R-73/R-77, or are the Adders slung on the older pylons?
• If using the newer pylons, was the capability to use the outer wing stations part of the upgrade?

 

I've looked around and can only find pictures of KAF 'Hounds in the older configuration.

 

Thanx

Edited August 10, 2023 by f14peter
typo

[Sergei Galicky, Russia]

Hi!

To date, all Kazakh MiG-31s have been modernized in Russia, and some of them have practically been upgraded to the MiG-31BM modification. It is known that Kazakh interceptors are just as equipped as Russian vehicles. Moreover, Kazakhstan received the latest weapons for them, including R-37E missiles. There is no information about the R-77, but I think that their use is possible, taking into account the purchases of Su-30SM aircraft by Kazakhstan.

Regards, Sergey

[f14peter]

Thanks for the insight Sergey, particularly about the R-37s.  I knew Kazakhstan was interested in them, but didn't know if they were in service.

 

I want to do an updated Kazakh MiG-31 with more modern missiles in 1/48 scale and trying to figure which kit to go with.  One of the Hobby Boss kits I think can do any combination of pylons, cockpits and weapons, but I'm very interested in trying one of the AMK kits, but with them it's either one or the other, B or BM.

 

Thanks again