Firefox Down: stealing Russia's fighter secrets

Craig Thomas's 1977 novel Firefox sees American pilot Colonel Mitchell Gant slipping into the USSR to steal the MiG-31 Firefox. Not the real MiG-31, but a 100% stealthy aircraft with ramjet engines, Mach 4 speed, and a ceiling of 120,000 feet. The pilot controls the aircraft with thoughts, and cameras on the fuselage give complete situational awareness in all directions.

The Firefox was so good that not only did the USA find it worthwhile to steal, but Hollywood made it into a movie starring Clint Eastwood. Thomas wrote a sequel, Firefox Down, that saw Gant crash land in Finland, get captured by the KGB, escape a Moscow prison, and triumphantly fly the MiG-31 to England.

A similar heist nearly played out in the Russian far east last year involving an alleged Chinese spy. The stolen goods were far grubbier, however, than a Mach 4 stealth jet. 

After a year of investigations, said Ria Novosti news agency, Russian investigators finally determined the culprit was attempting to smuggle parts for the Mig-29 and Su-27 aircraft in his trunk. The parts included "six stepping motors, two piston pumps, 54 connectors, an elapsed-time meter and other parts."

Ria Novosti adds that another Chinese man was stopped at the same checkpoint in 2009 for carrying Su-27 power supply circuits.

While not as glamorous as the Mach 4 stealth fighter stolen by Col. Gant, the case brings a glimmer of hazy light to the dubious world of Chinese copying of Russian military kit.  Over the years the Chinese have copied numerous fighter types, most recently the J-11 (Su-27) and J-15 (Su-33).  One wonders how many clandestine shipments of parts have crossed the border successfully over the last few decades - perhaps aided by a friendly envelope of cash - and how useful they have proved to China's fast developing defence aerospace sector.