Operation 'Catch me if you can'

A new war on the horizon.
Russia, China and North Korea made a new coalition called Red Star, under this new flag they threaten to break the more than 50 years of peace time after the Russian-Ukrainian war ended in Russia being forced to sign a peace treaty with Ukraine and its allies. With a new war looming on the horizon, NATO forces are in a scramble to start new military projects, while the threat just grew by the days. The bygone polititians of the Red Star were hunted down in a coup which lead to the coalition becoming one state, surrounding and then assimilating Mongolia as well. While every other nations' spent their money in tank and weapons projects, Japan had a different idea in mind. The JSDAF (Japanese Self-defense Air Force) started a fighter project meant to defend cargo and logistics planes as an escort fighter with a very interesting twist on the idea. It was meant to escort the cargo planes in a 5 fighter squadron, one for triggering and evading the majority of enemy rockets and air defense while the rest dealt with the rest of the threats, including interceptors. This project made one battle ready prototype before it got cancelled due to cost and complexity.
Our protagonist served in the JSDAF for less than a year with the now considered outdated F-2 fighter when he stumbled upon this top secret project. As luck would have it, they're short on fighters due to the war starting and Japan being the first response for NATO, already lost 75% of their planes in combat. The enemy has made a lot of "missile-spammers" as they're nicknamed in NATO reports. Basically the MiG-25 on steroids, big lumbering interceptors with a lot of carrying capacity and thus a lot of hardpoints full of missiles.
Will the Red Star succeed or the war escalates into a World War? let's find out.