In September, a 76-year-old pilot named Viktor Belenko, who famously defected from the Soviet Union to Japan in a MiG-25 fighter jet, passed away in the United States. The news of his death was published a couple of weeks later by The Washington Post and on November 18, the New York Times also reported on his passing.
According to the New York Times, Belenko died on September 24 in a nursing home near the small town of Rosebud in Southern Illinois. His son, Paul, revealed that the defector passed away after a brief illness.
On September 6, 1976, during a training flight, Belenko hijacked a MiG-25 fighter jet and flew it to Japan. This act allowed the United States to study the advanced technology of the aircraft at that time. Belenko was granted political asylum and later became a US citizen. He started a family, advised authorities and defense companies, and even became a media expert.
The hijacking of the plane led to the replacement of the Soviet Union’s state identification system called “Kremlin” with a more modern and complex encryption algorithm called “Password.” The “Tornado-A” radar station was also replaced with the new “Sapphire S-25” radar system. Additionally, the aircraft was quickly prepared for export to friendly countries, many of which purchased a significant number of the planes in Asia and the Middle East. As a result, this defection backfired on the Americans themselves, as they encountered a large number of modern combat machines in almost all major theaters of military operations.
Previous studies have shown that feelings of loneliness increase the risk of premature death.
