Commie Pinko

The dispensers seen in DCS: MiG-21bis are actually an experimental Yugoslav modification made to their MiGs [1] and not an ASO-2 as the module claims. Russian MiG-21s did not use the Yugoslav dispensers at all but rather dispensers of the form seen on the bottom of the ECM pod [2]. Regardless, neither of those modifications were used with the MiG-23. The spine dispensers (BVP-50-60) had specific mounts for them in the airframe from the MLD modification, and could not simply be attached at will.

At that point it is not an MLA, it is an export model MLD, and to be accurately represented should include all the other changes that come with it. It isn't just adding SPO-15 and countermeasures. This is purely speculation, which makes no sense to base any decision off of. My concern is that given the option, the vast majority of players will choose the more capable one, and that does not accurately represent the capabilities of an actual MiG-23MLA.

Alright, I'm seeing other sources that support your information as well. Regardless, can we both agree that none of these variants can properly be considered an MLA? The export variants were marketed as MLDs and the Iraqi modifications appear to be modified in a similar manner. As such, I would maintain that countermeasure dispensers and SPO-15 as options would be inaccurate for a simulation of the MiG-23MLA.

Poking around for two-seater MiG-23s with countermeasures, I found the following interesting image: For those who can't read Russian, it says "MiG-23UM of the 120th IAP, Bagram airfield, November 1988" Following up on this I looked for information on a "UM" variant and found a number of references to it as an upgrade of MiG-23UBs to incorporate ML series improvements, starting in 1984. Given that MiG-23MLDs were in production by then (in fact, the last year they were produced), it seems logical that they would add the improvements of that model, which would include the ability to mount countermeasure dispensers, as those mounts were part of the airframe modification Now, I haven't yet managed to find a real life picture of a two-seater MiG-23 with countermeasures yet (if you could post yours that may be helpful), but I believe that this would explain the seemingly contradictory information you found.

From my research and understanding, the only MiG-23MLAs that were upgraded in some similarity to how you describe were: 16 Bulgarian MiG-23MLDs (alternatively referred to as "MLAE-2" or "izdeliye 23-22"), which were MLAs upgraded to the MLD avionics fit, with upgraded H008 "Sapfir-23MLA-2" radars and SPO-10 changed to the SPO-15, but without any provision for countermeasures or dogtooth wing root leading edge modification 50 Syrian MiG-23MLDs (alternatively "MLAE" or "izdeliye 23-19"), which were MLAs upgraded to the MLD avionics fit, with H003 "Sapfir-23MLA" radars (as in the original MLA) and upgraded to the SPO-15, again without dogtooth leading edges, but with a locally designed countermeasure modification. With the exception of these two sets of aircraft, I find no evidence whatsoever, through photo or corroborating text sources, of MiG-23MLA aircraft posessing countermeasure dispensers or SPO-15 RWRs. Given that the options you have been stated in terms of allowing for modification, I would suggest that they seem to really only be reflective of the Syrian izdeliye 23-19, which is a rather small subset of all MLA production and arguably not an MLA at all but an MLD upgrade. While there are claims that Soviet MiG-23ML(A)s were fitted with countermeasure dispensers during the Soviet Afghan War, I have yet to find any evidence that this is true (and suspect it is an issue of misidentification), as all images of dispenser-carrying MiG-23s in Afghanistan are of MLDs, again distinguishable by the dogtooth wing root. If you have sources that suggest the contrary, could you provide them? I am not trying to be confrontational but would like the module to be as representative of a proper MiG-23MLA's capabilities as possible. Some sources (I understand these may be of varying reliability, however they all seem to point towards the same conclusion): [1][2][3][4][5]