![]() ![]() The second MiG is flown by Firefox test-pilot Tretsov, who is more experienced in the Firefox aircraft and consistently outflies Gant. Realizing that the Soviet scientists failed to destroy the second plane, Gant is forced to dogfight. Thinking that he has made good his escape, Gant finds himself under attack by the second Firefox prototype. ![]() The Americans rearm and refuel the Firefox, giving Gant the necessary range, but barely finish before the arrival of a Soviet submarine. Landing, Gant finds an American submarine bearing kerosene fuel and using the floe as an ad-hoc runway. His receiver then detects the homing signal, directing Gant to an ice floe. Gant destroys the helicopter, but he is now nearly out of fuel so he climbs to stretch out his range. A Soviet missile cruiser spots Gant and attacks, firing missiles and attempting to launch a helicopter. Gant escapes, but the Soviets are now alerted to his heading and redirect their search efforts to the Barents Sea area of the Arctic. Gant decoys the incoming infrared homing missiles by destroying a Badger aircraft that chances upon the scene. Gant hugs the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains to evade Soviet acoustical listening stations, but is spotted and fired upon by a SAM station equipped with infrared search and track sensors. As a result, the Soviets concentrate their search to the south. Gant intentionally encounters an Aeroflot jetliner, then vanishes north, hoping to mislead his pursuers. The plane lacks fuel to reach China, and even with stealth capability would never risk the dense Moscow defences to the west. ![]() The Soviets reason that Gant must escape north to the Arctic Circle or south to Turkey, a NATO member. Having escaped with the plane, Gant first heads east to the Ural Mountains, then turns south toward Turkey. Jewish dissident scientists, forced to work on the project, help Gant penetrate the base, then start a fire to destroy the second prototype and also to distract security troops while Gant steals one of the planes. With the help of a network of dissidents and sympathizers, Gant reaches Bilyarsk air base where the two prototype aircraft are being developed. Overlooked by his superiors is Gant's wartime experiences in Vietnam, including his capture by Viet Cong after being shot down, an ordeal exacerbated when the enemy guerrillas are wiped out almost immediately by napalm from an American air strike. On paper, Gant is ideally trained to steal Firefox, being fluent in Russian and having already flown captured Soviet planes. Their plan involves using veteran US Air Force fighter pilot Mitchell Gant, who travels to the Soviet Union under an assumed identity. The plane (given the NATO code name "Firefox") embodies a number of technology advances – including stealth technology, hypersonic flight above Mach 5 and a thought-guided weapons system – dramatically surpassing those of the West.įaced with an aircraft which will give the Soviet Union the ability to completely dominate the skies, the CIA and MI6 launch a joint mission to steal one of the two Firefox prototype aircraft. The book was subject to a 1982 film adaptation produced and directed by Clint Eastwood who also played the role of Gant in the film.ĭuring the Cold War, British and American intelligence services learn of the MiG-31 aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. The chief protagonist is fighter pilot turned spy Mitchell Gant. The Cold War plot involves an attempt by the CIA and MI6 to steal a highly advanced experimental Soviet fighter aircraft. Firefox is a thriller novel written by Craig Thomas and published in 1977. ![]()
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