The Tupolev Tu-28 'Fiddler' holds the distinction of being by far the largest interceptor to ever enter service anywhere in the world: it's length and maximum take-off weight are greater than many bombers and even approach those of various airliners! Designed by a team led by I. Nezval, it was designed to intercept enemy bombers at long ranges, long before they could reach ther targets or launch their missiles. As such, the Tu-28 featured tandem seats for both pilot and radar intercept officer, a large I-band radar known as 'Big Nose', and the ability to carry both infrared and semi active homing AA-5 air-to-air missiles; still, this did not alleviate its dependency on ground-control interception. The Tu-28 entered service during the second half of the 1960s with home defense regiments for about a quarter of a century by which time it had been mostly replaced by the smaller but more advanced MiG-31 but a trickle survived shortly after the end of the Cold War.

The Tu-102 development aircraft first flew on 18 March 1961 with deliveries beginning later in the decade as the Tu-28 'Fiddler-A' (company designation Tu-128) , these carried two missiles and a bulged fairing under the fuselage assumed to be an early warning radar. Later, the production standard Tu-28P 'Fiddler-B' had increased armament was was found in front-line service until 1992.