The Cold War plot involves an attempt by the CIA and MI6 to steal a highly advanced experimental Soviet fighter aircraft.

Their plan involves using veteran US Air Force fighter pilot Mitchell Gant, who travels to the Soviet Union under an assumed identity.

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.

The plane lacks fuel to reach China, and even with stealth capability would never risk the dense Moscow defences to the west.

By the time Thomas began writing Firefox the Soviets had introduced into operational service the MiG-25 Foxbat, the fastest interceptor aircraft in the world, with a top speed of Mach 2.8.

Its appearance in the USSR and the Near East (overflying Israel with impunity)[1][2] caused a stir in Western aviation and intelligence communities.

The publisher of the book's first paperback edition, Sphere, gambled on real-life events such as the 1976 defection of the Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko, to risk a 250,000-copy printing.

The background material for Firefox was a result of meticulous research, and provided by friends formerly with the RAF, and the Russian setting was derived from guidebooks as he could not afford to visit Moscow.