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There had to be a way to increase the efficiency and power of the engines while keeping them within the same footprint of the current R-15BD-300 design. The result was an aircraft that could achieve Mach 3.2 for a short burst of time, but the engines would have to be replaced entirely if they hadn't already torn themselves apart. Overspeeding of the engines had been a major problem with the Foxbat because their methods of controlling the fuel/air ratio were less advanced at the time, resulting in uncontrollable engine RPM at high-mach speeds. The inherent problems Russian designers faced with the R-15BD-300's used in the MiG-25 had been overcome.

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Russian engineers took what they learned from high~mach turbojet engine technology and applied acquired US engine manufacturing technology to the Tumansky 600 series engines, built specifically for the MiG-31. These were heavily modified, uprated turbojets based upon the engines from the Mig-25 Foxbat programme. The MiG-31 used two Tumansky RJ-15BD-600 high-bypass afterburning turbojets capable of producing 50,000 lbs. The MiG-31 was to be the ultimate advanced interceptor aircraft. They were not to be outdone by anyone, and they certainly would not allow the American's to overfly their airspace unchallenged any longer. The titanium manufacturing process alone was already far beyond the initial budget for the program, but officials pushed regardless. The budget kept getting larger and the hopes of building more than two prototypes began to diminish quickly. The Firefox was at the forefront of aviation technology and the United States recognized this.

Much of what they had learned from the MiG-25 Foxbat programme was applied to create one of the most advanced aircraft to ever take to the skies.

The Americans already had several successful launches and recoveries of the unmanned aircraft, and with its penetration speed of Mach 5 at an altitude of well over 100,000 feet, Mikoyan-Gurevich needed to make this their primary target. Thus, the Mach 5 Lockheed D-21 drone launched from a 'mother-ship' SR-71 was the only real concern Russia had in 1982, a very real one nonetheless. The fundamental purpose behind the MiG-31 program was to develop an aircraft capable of intercepting anything the West currently had, due to overflights of Russia with spyplanes.