Russian Knights, Swifts practice intercepting MiG-31BM

The pilots of Russian Knights and Swifts had to demonstrate their combat skills as part of an audit of both teams by intercepting a MiG-31BM.

Russian Knights in Belgorod 2017 (3)
Mil.ru [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The MiG-31 was launched from Nizhny Novgorod and the two crews from the teams launched from Kubinka to intercept the mock intruder.