MIG-41 Foxfire

The MIG-41 Foxfire is my take on a planned future replacement to the MIG-31 for the Russian Air Force. It's partly based off designs put forth by United Aircraft Corp. and partly my own take. It has elements of the MIG-31, SU-57, and SU-75 in its design. I wanted this aircraft to both look Russian and look like the MIG-31 - sorta.

My mission profile and design theory is that as warfare changes in the 21st century, Russia will continue to find asymmetrical ways to counter modern western equipment and tactics. In the near future, Russia will likely need an aircraft similar to my MIG-41 that can do the following things.

• Meet or exceed flying speeds of Mach 4
• Carry at least 4 large hyper sonic munitions
• Carry between 8 to 16 long range conventional air to air missiles.
• Be able to engage long range cruise missiles or conduction anti-hypersonic weapon interception missions.
• Be adaptable to future anti-space craft missions such as shooting down satellites or early trans-atmospheric combat aircraft that will be entering low Earth orbit to deploy weapons.
  
• Making an aircraft this size stealthy is not really possible, and its heat signature would be enormous, so it would need a very powerful long range radar with its usage being an extreme long range weapons platform.

I would envision the MIG-41 being useful to Russia for a lot of reasons. Due to its speed, and extreme range weapons, it would have tremendous operational range, so more distance could be patrolled with fewer aircraft. It would also provide Russia an asymmetric response to emerging space-warfare threats with needing to develop its own trans-atmospheric aircraft as quickly.

In the coming age of hypersonic weapons - whoever has the fastest plane and the longest range weapons will win the long distance or "BVR" air war. Aircraft like this would allow Russia to establish air dominance over the north pole in the event of a conflict or to launch aircraft on combat sorties and deploy weapons many hundreds of miles away from there targets, greatly increasing aircraft/pilot survivability.

For scaling purposes - the Foxfire is roughly 21.8 meters or 71.5 feet long - and it is a two-seater aircraft. This plane is all engine - its mean - its massive - its fast.

Please note all of my aircraft are clean - as in there are no weapons mounts or weapons - this is something that has been requested - and I will keep you posted on when a weapons pack will come out.

I place this model out for free - please do not re-produce for profit or resale in anyway. If you wish to use my models in a project please credit me with creation of the model. If you have questions please reach out to me on Cults. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I have very limited experience with 3-D printer settings and I am pretty new to this.

This model has one version - a single piece print. I have complete a micro-and massive to scale size print of the model.

I printed this model "strait up 90 degrees", with an infill and support density each around 15-25% because its massive and bulky, using PLA plastic on an Creality CR-6 MAX on a goofy custom scale whereas every 21 meters = 254 mm of print space. You should be able to print the model on whatever scale you like - just be sure to adjust your printer's settings accordingly. I have found that using the "raft" base support with both support roof and floors enabled make for a print solid print.