Yeah...And the Soviets got anything to match the SR-71? The MIG-25 turned out to be junk, not even a respectable 'jack-of-all-trades'. Need I go on?
You are comparing two aircraft which have comletely different roles.
The SR-71 was a reconnaisance aircraft while the MiG-25 was an interceptor. The SR-71 was developed from the YF-12 which was a prototype interceptor. The SR-71 was designed to use its raw speed advantage to escape from enemy defences and had a reduced RCS. The SR-71 was never designed to engage in combat.
The MiG-25 however was a Mach 2.83 capable fighter. Envisioned as all-weather interceptor, the MiG-25 was designed to catch up to the fastest American planes and destroy them. The development of the MiG-25 and it's performance caused panic in the west and triggered the development of the F-15. The MiG-25s are widely considered to be a failure because many had been shot down by F-15s. While I do not deny that the F-15 was and still is a capable fighter, the MiG-25s could have easily given the F-15 a run for it's money despite being a 3rd generation fighter if the MiG-25 pilot was experienced and skilled enough to use the MiG-25's speed advantage. However, due to insufficient pilot training and lack of experience, many MiG-25 pilots engaged in turning fights with the slower F-15s who had the advantage. The F-15s were able to easily pull lead and kill them. The F-15 also had the advantage of being capable of BVR combat, while the MiG-25 was never designed for BVR engagements. This lead to many MiG-25 losses which lead to the widely accepted "failure of the MiG-25s. However, many of the MiG-25's successes are not known and skilled pilots were able to turn the tides. Here are some examples:
The MiG-25 was in service with the Iraqi Air Force during the IranIraq War, but its success against Iranian fighters is largely unknown. Research by journalist Tom Cooper shows that as many as fourteen MIG-25s may have been shot down by Iranian fighters during the period spanning 1978 to 1988, although it is difficult to determine the validity of these claims. The most widely known Iraqi pilot of the war was Colonel Mohommed "Sky Falcon" Rayyan, who scored 10 kills. Eight of these were while flying the MiG-25P against the IRIAF from 1981 to 1986. This total makes him an ace and the most successful MiG-25 pilot.
During the Persian Gulf War, a US Navy F/A-18 piloted by Lt Cdr Scott Speicher was shot down on the first night of the war by a missile probably fired by a MiG-25. The kill was reportedly made with a R-40TD missile fired from a MiG-25PDS flown by Lt. Zuhair Dawood of the 84th squadron of the IrAF.
In another incident, an Iraqi MiG-25PD, after eluding eight U.S. Air Force F-15s, fired three missiles at EF-111A Raven electronic warfare aircraft, forcing them to abort their mission and leave attacking aircraft without electronic jamming support.
With most of today's engagements taking place beyond visual range, the MiG-25 is no longer a good choice for aerial engagements. However, it makes a good reconaissance platform and according to wikipedia, Russia has assigned it that role. India has also used the MiG-25s for this role.
In May 1997 an Indian Air Force MiG-25RB was detected flying faster than Mach 2 at least 65,000 ft,over Pakistani territory following a reconnaissance mission into Pakistan airspace. However, from one of PAF's Forward Operating Bases, radar traced the intruder and the F-16As scrambled, but could not match the MIG-25 ceiling. India denied the incident but Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Gohar Ayub Khan, believed that the Foxbat photographed strategic installations near the Capital, Islamabad. The MiG-25 was an important strategic asset to India until the advent of reconnaissance satellites.
As a reconaissance aircraft, the MiG-25 has much less maintainence and unit costs than the SR-71 (which are the factors which finally resulted in it's withdrawal from service) while offering comparable, performance. However, the MiG-25 does not have a reduced RCS like the SR-71.
Having said the above, I would like to conclude that the MiG-25 more than exceeded what it was originally intended to do. The myth that the MiG-25 was a failure arose because it was piloted by ill-trained and unexperienced pilots who did not know how to use the aircraft's strengths to their advantage against one of the most advanced aircraft in the time piloted by skilled and well trained pilots.
