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| One of the most important tactical war-planes of the Soviet Union, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (NATO
reporting name 'Flogger') was first flown in prototype form during 1966, entering service for evaluation some four years later. This air comabt fighter, and its ground-attack MiG-27 derivative, was in large-scale production between 1969 and 1984.
Designed to provide Frontal Aviation with a tactical fighter offering secondary ground-attack capability, and capable of meeting contemporary Western fighters on more than equal terms, the MiG-23 was designed around the primary aim of an aircraft that could operate effectively without being tied to massive concrete runways. The Mikoyan bureau is known to have adopted two approaches to this requirement: first was the Ye-23 (or Ye-230) prototype, which was of tailed-delta configuration and incorporated high-lift .devices to give STOL capability, powered by a single turbofan engine supplemented by a battery of Kolesov lift-jets amidships for VTOL operations; the alternative prototype was the Ye-231, which deleted the lift-jets and replaced the delta wing by a variable-geometry wing very similar to that of the General Dynamics F-111. The prototypes were evaluated during 1966-67, with a decision to develop the swing-wing Ye-231 finalised probably during 1968, resulting in the pre-production MiG-23S 'Flogger-A' which, powered by a Tumansky R-27 turbojet with an afterburning thrust of 10200kg, first entered service for operational evaluation in 1970-71. At about this time it must have been decided to optmise the MiG-23 as an air-combat fighter, and to develop a dedicated ground-attack parallel version, which was allocated the designation MiG-27. In consequence, aerodynamic changes were made to the MiG-23, the fuselage structure being lightened and more advanced avionics being introduced by the time the initial MiG-23M version entered service in 1973. More or less simultaneously the dedicated attack variant was developed and, while having much in common with the MiG-23, this was sufficiently different to warrant the allocation of the separate designation MiG-27. This differs primarily by having a completely redesigned forward fuselage, providing a betterfield of viewforthe pilot, increased armour protection, terrain-avoidance radar and provision to deploy a wide variety of air-to-surface weapons. There appear to be only two versions of the MiG-27, differing in the shape of the nose, avionics and aerodynamics, and these have the NATO reporting names 'Fiogger-D' and 'Flogger-J'
Both the MiG-23 and MiG-27 are in large-scale use with the former Soviet air force, an estimated 3,000 reported being operational. They served with the Warsaw Pact air forces, and were exported to t'he air arms of Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Poland, South Yemen, Syria and Vietnam. The MiG-23M/K 'Flogger J' is also currently in production in India.
| CREW | 1 |
| ENGINE | 1 x R-29B, 120.2kN |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 18000 kg | 39683 lb |
| Empty weight | 11000 kg | 24251 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 8.2-14.3 m | 27 ft 11 in - 47 ft 11 in |
| Length | 16.8 m | 55 ft 1 in |
| Height | 5.5 m | 18 ft 1 in |
| Wing area | 27.3 m2 | 293.85 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 2500 km/h | 1553 mph |
| Ceiling | 18600 m | 61000 ft |
| Range w/max.fuel | 3000 km | 1864 miles |
| Range w/max payload | 960 km | 597 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 1 x 23mm cannon, 2000kg of weapons |
| Brad Daft, e-mail, 10.07.2010 21:16 And like the mighty Flogger the Soviet T-62 tank my favorite tank,was given a bad undeserved rep.The T-62 was a great tank in it's day.The Arabs would have been succesful in 1973 if they had had more T-62s at their disposal.Just ask the Israelies who had the bad luck of being on the recieving end of the powerful 115 mm main gun somewhere i would never want to be! reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 10.07.2010 21:03 I can't stay away i love the Flogger so much,i want to thank the people who run this site letting a Flogger nut like myself express himself.Yes the Mig-23 was a great interceptor,it would have done it's job superbly over Soviet territory blasting American and NATO bombers out of the sky. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 11.07.2010 21:53 Remember that for a long time Soviet clients only had two warplanes to fight with,the Mig-21 a dedicated dogfighter and a superb one although it was getting on in years,and the Mig-23 which was of course a interceptor,not a dogfighter.The Mig-17,Mig-19 was subsonic so they don't really count when you compare them with supersonic hightech western aircraft,although the Mig-17 did give American pilots a rough time over Vietnam.Remember that America had the F-4 Phantom 2,the F-15,F-16 and F-14.This while Soviet clients really only had two viable contenders the Mig-21 and Mig-23 and one was a interceptor!!!The Mig-29 Fulcrum and Sukoi 27 did not come along until much later and they were more like western hightech types than Soviet rough and tumble types anyway. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 12.07.2010 06:52 The mighty Flogger is the greatest! reply | |
| | Brad Daft, e-mail, 14.07.2010 01:43 Nay im just jerking you around my favorite aircraft is the F-4 Phantom 2.I just wrote all that stuff well i don't really know why i did.But the Phantom is my favorite military aircraft of the post war world.The F4E is better than the Mig-23.The F-4 Phantom 2 was a great aircraft. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 13.07.2010 05:39 The Mig-23 would have played a crucial role in any world war.Like the Panzers 1 and 2 in World War 2 did.These blistering fast highly manueverable tanks conqurered Poland France & the low countries.These two bozos who wrote the book Panzerkrieg said the Panzer 3 and 4 was the conquerers.No this is wrong,the 3 and 4 were to few in number to make a signifigant impact on the early blitzkriegs.The Panzer 1 & 2 were the backbone of the early German blitzkriegs,they tore apart Europe's predominantly infantry armies. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 14.07.2010 01:56 The American Vietnam era jets was the greatest,the F-4 the F-8 Crusader,and the THUD the F-105 Thunderchief.These great jets ruled the skies over Vietnam and would have over the Soviet Union. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 21.07.2010 05:36 No the Mig-23 was a superb interceptor and luckily for the Israelies in 1981 didn't challenge them over Iraq when they bombed Hussien's nuclear reactor.President Carter warned us about nuclear proliferation,reagan the dumby did nothing about it.reagan was so stupid,he wasted billions of dollars on the military when it was already strong.President Carter made our military tough there was no reason for pouring billions of dollars into it but dumby did it anyway. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 21.07.2010 05:02 Nah im kidding i love the Mig-23,I read where the Soviets invested 30 percent in submarines and the rst in land based ICBMS,i would have invested 100 percent in submarines.Becouse submarines are stealthy & very difficult to track where land based ICBMS are stationary.Imagine if the Soviets had invested 100 percent in submarines,the world's oceans would have been infested with them and America would have had a hell of a time keeping track of all of these submarines with their nuclear missiles capable of wiping out everyone of our cities.Submarines are very effective weapons. reply | | Brad Daft, e-mail, 13.08.2010 06:44 The Soviets would have won World War 3,with missiles like the SS-16 Sinner and SS-18 Satan they could have destroyed the American Minuteman 3 silos, reply | | Ta-183, 15.05.2010 16:57 MiG-23s burn BABY! THey are awesome! Six AA-4 Missiles, and 23mm cannon! yeah! reply | | Kiril, e-mail, 05.04.2010 01:27 I am able to offer demilitarized MiG-23s for sale to civil buyers. Contact me for more information.
E-mail: chochkov@aero-x.eu reply | | Kiril, e-mail, 04.10.2009 18:08 I can supply Russian demilitarized Mig-23 for sale to civil buyers. Contact me for more information. reply | | tom, e-mail, 29.06.2009 01:57 it's a bit misleading to say that the mig-23 is "in large-scale use with the former Soviet air force", when the russian air force, which comprises the bulk of the "former soviet air force", has retired all of its mig-23s. reply |
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