Firefox

Firefox is a thriller novel written by Craig Thomas and published in 1977. The Cold War plot involves an attempt by the CIA and MI6 to steal a highly advanced experimental Soviet fighter aircraft. The chief protagonist is fighter pilot turned spy Mitchell Gant. 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. Plot summary During the Cold War, British and American intelligence services learn of the MiG-31 aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. 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. Faced 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. Their plan involves using veteran US Air Force fighter pilot Mitchell Gant, who travels to the Soviet Union under an assumed identity. On paper, Gant is ideally trained to steal Firefox, being fluent in Russian and having already flown captured Soviet planes. 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. With the help of a network of dissidents and sympathizers, Gant reaches Bilyarsk air base where the two prototype aircraft are being developed. 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. Having escaped with the plane, Gant first heads east to the Ural Mountains, then turns south toward Turkey. The Soviets reason that Gant must escape north to the Arctic Circle or south to Turkey, a NATO member. The plane lacks fuel to reach China, and even with stealth capability would never risk the dense Moscow defences to the west. Gant intentionally encounters an Aeroflot jetliner, then vanishes north, hoping to mislead his pursuers. As a result, the Soviets concentrate their search to the south.