Russian jet ‘intercepts’ intruding plane above mesmerizing Kamchatka landscape (SCENIC VIDEO)

Take one of the most mysterious places in Russia, Kamchatka, with its geysers and volcanoes; add roaring warplanes piercing the skies and you’ll get a video almost impossible to take your eyes off.

The epic footage was taken during the recent Pacific Fleet exercises in the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. The remote and mostly uninhabited area is often called the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’, thanks to some 160 volcanoes, 29 of them active, and it’s rough, yet rich and picturesque, nature.

It really looks like the perfect place to test military hardware to its limit. According to the drills’ script, a MiG-31 was lifted to intercept an intruding aircraft, played by an Il-38 anti-submarine plane, and persuade it to land on one of the nearby airfields.

The video, posted by the Defense Ministry, featured shots taken from both aircraft as well as from the ground. It not only shows off the planes in action, but also provides a rare bird’s eye view of the beauty of Kamchatka with its snow-covered peaks and azure waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The main star of the clip, the MiG-31 supersonic long-range interceptor jet, is a tried-and-true workhorse of the Russian Aerospace Forces. In the mid-1970s it became the first Soviet 4th generation aircraft, with over 500 units produced before 1994. And Russia has no plans to retire the plane as it still remains highly effective, which the Kamchatka drills have again proven. Last year it was announced that all of the MiG-31s in service – and there’s around 120 of them according to reports – will undergo modernization by 2023.

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