DETLEF BILLIG COLLECTION
No. 9554. Mikoyan and Gurevich Ye-155P Soviet Air Force
Photograph from Mikoyan

Mikoyan and Gurevich Ye-155P

12/31/2009. In February 1961 the Council of Ministers and Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued a joint directive ordering the Mikoyan and Gurevich design bureau to develop an aircraft designated
Ye-155, that eventually led to the Mig-25. It was required in two forms, the
Ye-155P interceptor for the Protective Air Defense (disbanded 1983) and the Ye-155R reconnaissance platform for the AF. Mikoyan signed the start-work order on March 10, 1961.

The first interceptor prototype, and the second of the Ye-155 prototypes to be completed, the Ye-155P-1 left the Zenit factory in early August 1964. Reassembled at Zhukovskiy, it was first flown there by P.M. Ostapenko on September 9, 1964.

Provision was made for four under-wing pylons, only the outer pylons were installed, and on these were hung red-painted mockup K-40 missiles. A telemetry antenna was fitted under the fuselage behind the radome. The second interceptor prototype, the Ye-155P-2, was built in 1965. It lacked radar, the only visible difference being that the telemetry antenna was repositioned under the center fuselage.

Created December 31, 2009