Russian television channel Zvezda previously showed a video in which several MiG-31BM fighters from the naval aviation of the Russian Pacific Fleet are seen performing a training flight in the stratosphere.
“The pilots trained on the practical roof, that is to say at a height of approximately 20 kilometers. It is a very high indicator and few planes in the world can travel in the stratosphere,” said the expert, stressing that it is a “routine element for the Russian Aerospace Force.”
The fighters flew at a height of more than 20,000 meters at a speed of 2,500 kilometers per hour.
Murajovski said that in addition to the Russian MiG-31s, supersonic spy planes SR-71 Blackbird and U-2 from the United States can fly at that point.
In his opinion, it is already a height limit for aircraft and it is unlikely that Russian interception fighters of the next generation will be able to overcome air density to fly at higher heights.
At the same time, he noted that exercises in the stratosphere cannot be considered a flight into outer space.
“It is not about outer space, but about the stratosphere, which is the limit of space according to the Karman line [imaginary line located 100 kilometers above sea level to define the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space], and everything that goes beyond 100 kilometers is already outer space,” said the expert.
Source: Sputniknews
