CW vs. Pulse-doppler

[RvETito]

The Mig-23 had a fast acceleration but according to everyone who flown against it including american pilots having captured 23's said that a well piloted F4 phamtom could keep up with it. The mig was badly outmanuevered by F-16's and 15's every time they met.

 

None of those 23s have been from the last non-export MLD(23-18 ) version.

It has much better radar(N008 ) that's has the same capabilities as the N019 of the 29A, much better EOS than 29's KOLS and highly improved maneuverability. The last is achieved by vortex generators on the pitot tube and "lambda-teeth" at the wing root, along with the new SOS-3-4 control system these improuvements have given to the 23-18 4 degrees bigger AOA than the previous versions and increased G-load up to 8.5Gs(limited to 8 in the Air Force). Here it is:

 

The Mig-23 is a stable aerodynamic confuguration and has very heavy controlls, and poor outside view. I cant see it out manuevering the 29 or the F-16 at all.

 

The 23-18 isn't superior than next generation fighters but in the hands of experienced pilot it has been capable to make them sorry for any underestimation. This has been proven in Bulgarian Air Force with when we received 5 MLDs 23-18 non-export in 1992 for returning the 3 MiG-25RBTs to Russia. In 2vs2 engagement the 23s flown by more experienced pilots have won many fights against brand new(back then) 29s. In BVR both planes are equal with slight advantage for the 23 in rear hemisphere attack because of the better IR seeker.

 

BTW, I almost haven't heard a bit about the 20 ex-moldovian 29s(incuding 6 29S) that were bought by the USAF in 1997. I only read that the Gargenya jammer and the R-73 helmet target designation and off-boresight launches have been evaluated in 1998 and nothing more. Anyone with anything about that?

[Scart]

Only the 23 crashed. All others were flown extensively. Heres some pics from my source:

AFAIK there are several russian planes in the USAF incl. MiG-29A. The crash of the MiG-23 may occur because the pilot pushed through the service limitations and made the plane to stall kr smth else. In the USSR the crash/emergency statistics for the MiG-23 - wasn't the best, but MiG-23MLD was definately improved it. So the crash of the US MiG doesn't means that it was the plane's fault I think the real case of it was that USAF was trying to find the "edge" for this plane. Also pilots who flown Flogger concerned the plane as an easy to pilot, but with poor view to the rearside.

sorry for my terrible english :doh:

[VMFA117_Poko]

Similar to those in US test made Israel with captured Syrian MiG-23. They got it even today.

 

Look:

[RvETito]

The Mig-23 doesnt even use the first stage sweep angle for close combat unlike the F-14 Tomcat for example. It uses the intermidiate position instead, wich is not optimal for manueverability. The reasons for this are not clear but the Flogger has been known to have vicious tendencies for spins at low speeds. An american pilot flying a captured Mig-23 crashed the plane and died in it for this same reason.

 

The intermediate (45') position of the wing is used from 450km/h IAS up to 1.3M and it is the most used, the 16' sweep angle is used only for take-off and landing. As for the 72' position it is only for high supersonic speed. The main problem of the folding wings(and MiG-23 in particular) is structural. The folding wing hinge works in tremendous stresses and during wind tunnel tests of natural models there have been a tendency of cracks developement in the hinge. These tests have shown that at 45 degrees sweep angle the stress is minimal. In the Bulgarian Air Force have been made tests at 35 degrees where the plane become much more maneuvarable but this has been forbiden by the manifacturer for safety reasons. Moreover during wing folding it is restristed to pull more than 3Gs, again for structural issues. As for the spin tendency- bulgarian pilots says that it's pretty stable at low speed and high AOA but once stalled in spin is hard to recover.

[MBot]

Just wanted to say in that thread are some top informations about the MiG-23 you read rarely about in most books. If you have more, keep it comming. Very interesting.

[sp0nge]

Agreed :)

[RvETito]

What is also interesting about the MiG-23MLD is that it had a nuclear bomb in it's arsenal. It is the only fighter version of the 23 that has such capability, which has been standart for the bomber versions MiG-23BN and MiG-27. It can carry one tactical nuke on the left underwing pylon. With the Warsaw pact collapse all systems that allow the use of nuclear weapons have been removed by the russians from all bulgarian aircraft. Along with the 23 such capabilies have also had the Su-22M4 and the MiG-29. The 29 has been able to drop one RN-40 tactical nuke with TNT equivalent 30kt on the strenghtened pylon №3(the inner left). Both the 23 and the 29 have used the same tactics to deploy nuclear bombs- low level high speed 1-ship approach to the target area, than climb up to an imelman, the bomb is automaticaly released when the plane is vertical, than a parachute comes out the bomb giving to the afterburning plane time to get away. This tactic is also used to drop conventional bombs and for purpose there is a dedicated mode of the EOS- mode "Kabr".

However, nuclear weapons have never been imported to my country, only the planes and the pilots have been ready to deploy them at any time. Thank God it never happened, never will.

 

I'm a big fan of the MiG-23. It's airshow performance is quiet remarkable. Without having the agility of it's successor it was even more atractive, because of the enormous noise it produces. I felt like there's an earthquake when is passes by at full afterburner. I remember once I went on a small general aviation airfield and an MiG-23MLD from the near 1st Dobroslavtzi Air Base showed up for a display. At the last fly-by the pilot lighted the afterburner still in dive and it accelerated so fast that it flew over us almost at supersonic speed. Two things happened- I(and everybody else) almost got deaf and half of the village near by lost their windows...

[nscode]

We need this mode :)

[RvETito]

Along with many other things:D