Russia Sets Up ‘Dagger’ Hypersonic Strike Squadron with Foxhound Jets to Challenge NATO in Northern Regions

The Russian Air Force has established a new strike unit comprised of one of its newest and most dangerous combat aircraft, MiG-31K Foxhound heavyweight jets, to improve offensive capabilities in the country’s northern regions. Based at Monchegorsk in the north of the Kola Peninsula, near the border with Finland, the Foxhounds will join the 98th Mixed Air Regiment which already deploys older MiG-31 variants designed for air to air combat. The Foxhound is considered Russia’s most capable aircraft for air to air combat, and is the world’s heaviest combat jet designed for that role. It is notably faster and carries a larger sensor suite than any of its competitors either domestically or internationally. A modified variant of the Foxhound, the MiG-31K, has been in service since early 2018 and is equipped purely for a long range strike role. Each of the aircraft is equipped with a single Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic ballistic missile, which retain a 2000km range, Mach 10 speed and high manoeuvrability. The missiles are almost impossible to intercept, and combined with the long range of the Foxhounds themselves they provide a long strike range against land targets and surface warships. 

Deploying MiG-31K jets alongside standard MiG-31 interceptor variants will ensure high interoperability among units with different roles, as the two use identical maintenance infrastructure and all the same spare parts. Aircraft deployed to the Kola Peninsula will have the range needed to engage targets across all of Europe without the need for aerial refuelling. They will also be able to strike targets across the Arctic and Greenland, and to deny NATO surface warships the ability to operate across much of the northern Atlantic. Even without making use of the MiG-31’s long range, Foxhound jets simply circling over their airbase at Monchegorsk will be able to engage targets across Scandinavia and the Baltics and in parts of Germany, Poland and Ukraine. With Northern European states moving to fast modernise their aerial warfare capabilities, including the activation of the first F-35 stealth fighter squadron the Norwegian Air Force, deployment of a Kinzhal equipped MiG-31K unit provides the Russian military with the option of striking airbases across enemy territory quickly in a war’s opening stages.