On September 6, 1976 both the Japanese and the world were astonished to see a product of Soviet technology fall right into the hands of the West when Lt. Viktor Bleneko landed his MiG-25 Foxbat in Japan at Hakodate Airport. He overran the runway on a blown tire, but the prize was intact and Belenko eventually defected to the US. The Soviets had searched for the plane in the belief that it had gone down- a loss. But they soon realized that Belenko had defected and threatened Japan over the plane's return as well as threatening Belenko himself, using his family to seduce him back to the USSR, and even claiming that he had been drugged into requesting asylum. Regardless, the technology of the Mach 3 (technically, Mach 2.8) MiG-25 interceptor was inspected for 67 days and then allowed to be removed by a Soviet container ship at Hitachi Port in 33 containers. The plane was a goldmine of information... Belenko having even brought the pilot's manual!!!

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