Russia secretly deployed MiG-31 in Belbek: will there be alarms throughout Ukraine?
There are two different modifications of the MiG-31 aircraft, each with its own level of threat.
Satellite images have been made publicly available, showing that no later than October 15, 2023, the Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied Crimea suddenly deployed at least four MiG-31 aircraft at the Belbek airfield. These planes are parked in open parking lots with makeshift barriers between them, probably in case of an “arrival” to reduce the possible spread of debris.
In addition, the images also show up to 10 Su-27 and Su-30 aircraft either under cover or in tie-down parking lots. OSINT analyst MT_Anderson posted the images on his Twitter account.
🇷🇺BELBEK AIR BASE🇷🇺
Worth a look given the potential of new Mig-31s at Belbek. While there are a handful of Su-30s and Su-27s around, some covered with camo netting and tires(?), there appear to be 4x Mig-31s on the flight line. 0.5M📷 from Oct 15, 2023. https://t.co/bb4Rf0Fa9u pic.twitter.com/3Nn4M5iSdl– MT Anderson (@MT_Anderson) October 19, 2023
Defense Express adds that the sudden appearance of the racist MiG-31s in Belbek is fully correlated with Russia’s intention to start patrolling the Black Sea with Kinzhal airborne ballistic missile carriers. But on the other hand, these satellite images do not provide a clear understanding of what kind of modification the occupiers have deployed in Crimea.
This may also refer to the MiG-31K, the actual carrier of the Kinzhal missiles. And thus, Belbek can be a new site, or for demonstration flights, which can be accompanied by the announcement of alarms throughout Ukraine.
Or it could be a modification of the MiG-31BM, an interceptor that can use R-37M air-to-air missiles with a range of approximately 200 kilometers. And then these aircraft may have a slightly different task – to prevent missile attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces on military targets in the temporarily occupied Crimea, using subsonic cruise missiles such as Neptune, Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG.
