Firefox movie movie#

“Note that it’s all pulled from the movie and/or made-up by me and not meant to be taken seriously, it’s just for fun. Kurt has also produced a technical “ whitepaper” to accompany the illustration that you can find at the top of this article. He has also launched a website that acts as an online resource of information about the Firefox and its special effects. Graphic designer Kurt Beswick (who has also illustrated the Northrop Low Altitude Penetrator concept for our site) has been researching and studying the aircraft featured in the 1982. “ Firefox Down” did not become a feature film even though the cover of book depicts the MiG-31 as it was in the movie. The subsequent, long dogfight is (needless to say) won by Gant.Ī second novel was written by Craig Thomas in 1983.

The second prototype is launched to intercept the stolen Firefox. The first prototype was stolen by Major Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood) who evades the Soviets’ attempts to stop him, reaches the Arctic ice pack where it lands to be refueled and rearmed by the crew of a submarine. Two prototypes of the MiG-31 were built (according to the fictional story). The aircraft was fitted with a camera system that allowed the pilot to see images from his “6 o’clock”. Indeed, the aircraft seems to have been influenced by the speculation about what the soon-to-be-revealed “ stealth fighter” might have looked like.Īlthough the whole story is hardly plausible, what’s really interesting about the movie is the MiG-31 and some of its capabilities (some of those were not available at the time the novel was written or the movie released, but became available in the following decades): along with its ability to evade enemy radars and fly at hypersonic speeds, the Firefox featured a Thought-Controlled Weapons System, uses signals from the pilot’s brain to target enemies and fire weapons however, it only responds to commands thought in Russian. The movie version is a more futuristic design, unlike any other planes of the 1970s or 1980s.

The version in the novel resembles a MiG-25 “Foxbat”, much like the real Mikoyan MiG-31 “Foxhound”. The shape of the Firefox differs a lot between the first novel and film. The movie focuses on a plot to steal a Soviet MiG-31 (МиГ-31 in Cyrillic script), NATO reporting name “Firefox”, a stealth interceptor aircraft, capable of Mach 6 and bring it back to a friendly base where it can be analysed. Most (if not all) the aviation geeks have probably seen the movie at least once. After starring in iconic movies for four decades, Clint Eastwood has proved himself to be the longest-running movie star.If you thought you knew everything about the MiG-31, you were wrong!īased upon a 1977 novel of the same name by Craig Thomas, “Firefox” is a techno-thriller action film produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, released in 1982. This film grossed $30 million during its opening weekend in January 2009, making him the oldest leading man to reach #1 at the box office. After this he took a four-year acting hiatus before starring in Gran Torino (2008). A critical and commercial triumph, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as earning Eastwood a second nomination for Best Actor and win for Best Director. Eastwood rose to prominence once again, starring opposite Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman in what is arguably the best film of his career: Million Dollar Baby (2004). First with his western, Unforgiven (1992), which garnered him his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor, as well as wins as Best Director and producer of the Best Picture. He directed his first movie, the thriller Play Misty for Me (1971. Perhaps the icon of macho movie stars, Clint Eastwood has become a standard in international cinema.1971 proved to be a turning point in his career.

Firefox movie