The upgrade of MiG-31 high-altitude fighter-interceptors will boost the efficiency of their missions, in particular to protect Russia’s northern frontiers amid other states’ growing interest in the Northern Sea Route, Merited Military Pilot of Russia, Major-General Vladimir Popov told TASS on Friday.

The pilot spoke about the modernization of MiG-31 fighters currently underway at the Sokol aviation enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod in the Volga area.

"We are planning to use MiG-31 high-altitude interceptors for protecting Russia’s sovereign airspace in the northern directions and there we are limited to airports and airfields, which are very few in that region," the pilot said.

By now, Russia has rebuilt ten airfields in the Polar region that existed in the Soviet period, he recalled.

"Several more airfields are being prepared for operation," the military pilot said, adding that other states had been showing an increasingly greater interest in the Northern Sea Route lately.

"A great number of countries has displayed interest in the Northern Sea Route. Both climatic and geographical conditions have become better there," he explained.

It was reported on March 26 that for the first time in the Russian Navy’s history two MiG-31 fighters performed a flight over the North Pole with mid-air refueling. Russia’s Defense Ministry also reported that groups of MiG-31 long-range interceptors were already on combat alert in the Arctic to keep a close watch on the region.

The Soviet engineers who developed the MiG-31 fighter incorporated huge modernization potential in the combat plane, the merited Russian military pilot stressed.

"A strong feature of our hardware, and this is recognized at the world level, is that our planes feature quite broad potential for their repair and upgrade. The hardware itself allows operating aircraft, especially combat planes, for a long period and change equipment sets," Popov pointed out.