On September 6, 1976, at 1:11 p.m. on the same day, the ground radar of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force discovered that a flying object was flying at high speed towards Japanese airspace at an altitude of about 6,200 meters off the east coast of Hokkaido. At 1:20 a.m., two Self-Defense Force F-4 fighters took off urgently to intercept it. At 1:24, the UFO entered Japanese airspace. At 1:26, the unknown object suddenly disappeared from the radar screen, and the F-4 sent out also failed to find the target, only to learn later that the plane suddenly lowered its altitude and evaded radar detection.

While the Self-Defense Forces' air defense control center was in chaos, air traffic control and ground crews at Hakodate Airport in Hokkaido saw a gray plane painted with a red star insignia hovering at an altitude of 330 meters. Soon the plane flew behind an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 that was taxiing on runway 12 for takeoff, and as soon as the plane left the runway, it forced a landing on the runway, and then rushed out of the end of the runway and knocked down two rows of radar antennas before stopping. A pilot jumped up from above, fired several shots into the air with a pistol, and shouted a few words. The local Japanese Air Self-Defense Force quickly identified the person, and it turned out to be the Soviet pilot Viktor. Belenko defected to Japan in a MiG-25! American intelligence officers immediately rushed to the scene and eagerly and methodically began to examine and measure this coveted treasure that fell from the sky.

It took several hours for the Soviet side to figure out that the MiG-25 was not wrecked, but defected. The USSR immediately exerted strong diplomatic and military pressure on Japan and the West. The Soviet Union claimed that Belenko had lost his flight, made a false landing in Hakodate, and demanded the return of the pilot and the plane (Soviet diplomats later engaged in a psychological war of hard and soft warfare in their meeting with Belenko), and the Soviet delegation to the Farnborough Air Show in Britain immediately withdrew from the air show. From the afternoon of Belenko's defection to midnight, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces made 143 emergency sorties to intercept Soviet planes approaching Japanese airspace.

At this time, Tang Ning frowned and said to Takeda Yixiong, who was sitting in his room, "I said Brother Takeda. Why aren't you in a hurry at all, this is the most advanced aircraft in the Soviet Union at present, and if you don't get it back quickly, your losses will be too great, and the United States and Japan will definitely not let go of this precious research opportunity......"

Takeda Yixiong smiled lightly: "Don't worry, this matter is not necessarily who suffers in the end." ”

In fact, Downing's guess was right, and the United States and Japan will certainly not let go of this opportunity. A few days later the MiG-25 was removed from the wing by a C-5 transport aircraft. Escorted by more than a dozen fighter planes, it was transported to an air base on the outskirts of Tokyo. On the day the plane landed at the Japanese airport, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces imposed martial law, and the airport did not allow any plane to take off and land, and any idle people approached; after the US military and technical personnel arrived, Japan and the United States jointly disassembled and photographed the plane, and all the parts were marked in detail and imitated into drawings. During this period, the Soviet side kept asking Japan to return the plane, but the Japanese side kept making excuses to excuse it, either because the weather was bad or the safety was not guaranteed, until after all the dismantling and photographic work was completed, and the technicians reassembled it. It was only on October 12 that Japan promised to return the plane to the Soviet Union. At that time, many countries in the world were well aware of this, and they all regretted for the Soviet Union that such an advanced fighter plane was so easily taken away by the United States and Japan.

Only then did the West discover that the MiG-25 was not at all the advanced all-round fighter they had imagined, but a unique high-altitude and high-speed special interceptor. The steel structure makes the West incredible, and the backward electron tube technology makes the West deeply understand the lag of the Soviet Union's electronic technology. Belenko's confession also proves that when the MiG-25 interceptor missile flies at high speed, there are still stability problems, so the interceptor cannot fly in Mach 3.2 like the MiG-25R reconnaissance type, and the maximum speed of the missile is limited to Mach 2.8. The nameless panic in the West about Soviet aviation technology has since been alleviated. And established confidence, Western fighters, which appeared in the late 70s, began to surpass Soviet fighters in terms of service time and overall performance. But the West was still amazed by the sophistication of the Soviet Union's overall system integration technology. This incident also caused the Japanese government to vigorously improve the air defense system under the pressure of public opinion. U.S. manufacturers get a lot of contracts.

On the Soviet side, this incident led to huge losses. First of all, the high-ranking officers of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces were dismissed from their posts and punished, and many grassroots officers and men involved in the incident could not escape the disaster. What is even more tragic is that due to the leakage of top secrets such as radar, radio, and friend or foe identification, all MiG-25s were forced to return to the factory to replace the above-mentioned systems, and other combat aircraft were also affected to varying degrees. Of course, taking advantage of this opportunity, the MiG-25 also received an opportunity to improve, but the losses were still heavy.

The USSR after receiving the warplane. It was discovered that the fighter had obviously been disassembled, so the Soviet Union proposed to Japan $11 million in compensation for the damage, and Japan agreed to the Soviet demand in just a few days, and quickly remitted the money to the account designated by the Soviet Union.

At a time when the United States and Japan were secretly rejoicing in the easy acquisition of the advanced aircraft technology of the Soviet Union, they announced on some occasions that they already possessed the most advanced fighter technology in the world. The Soviet Union suddenly announced to the world that due to the leakage of the most advanced Soviet fighter technology due to the defectors in its own country, the Soviet Union decided to change the aircraft export regulations and declassify the MiG-25 fighter in advance. And to tender to the world, sell the MiG-25.

After learning of this news, many countries in the world have found the Soviet Union to strongly demand the import of this kind of fighter, because the United States and Japan have made disguised advertising for the MiG-25 in advance, saying that this aircraft is indeed leading the world, so many countries and even some allies of the United States have found the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union has since begun to produce and export MiG-25 fighters in large quantities, and the Soviet Union has earned tens of billions of dollars in profits in a short period of time. made a fortune. This was a tremendous help in solving the Soviet Union's financial difficulties. As for the defection pilot Viktor Belenko, who disappeared without a trace after a brief stay in Japan and the United States, he was occasionally met on the street in the 90s, he has changed his name, and the city where he was met was in Moscow.

It was later declassified that this defection was a defection carefully arranged by the KGB, the purpose of which was to see the selfishness of the United States and Japan, and let them make the most effective advertising for the Soviet Union to export aircraft for free. After many years, the United States and Japan regretted it after learning the truth, so they had to knock out their teeth and swallow them in their stomachs. (To be continued.) )