Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

MiG-23
MiG-23MLD Flogger-K
Role Fighter-Bomber
Manufacturer Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB
First flight 10 June 1967
Introduced 1970
Status In service with foreign users
Primary users Soviet Air Force
Russian Air Force
Libyan Air Force
Syrian Air Force
Produced 1967–1985
Number built 5,047 (MiG-23) and
Unit cost US$3.6 million/$6.6 million depending on the customer
Variants Mikoyan MiG-27

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a swing-wing fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet "Third Generation" aircraft category along with similar-aged Russian-produced fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat". It was the first Soviet fighter with a look-down/shoot-down radar and beyond visual range missiles, and the first MiG production fighter plane to have intakes at the sides of the fuselage. Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built. Today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with various export customers.

Contents

Design and development

MiG-23 on display at Le Bourget.
Polish MiG-23

The MiG-23's predecessor, the MiG-21 (NATO reporting name 'Fishbed'), was fast and agile, but limited in its operational capabilities by its primitive radar, short range, and limited weapons load (restricted in some aircraft to a pair of short-range air-to-air missiles). The MiG-23 was to be a heavier, more powerful machine designed to remedy these deficiencies, and rival Western aircraft like the F-4 Phantom. The new fighter was to feature a totally new S-23 sensor and weapon system suite capable of firing beyond-visual-range (BVR) missiles.

A major design consideration was take-off and landing performance. Existing Soviet fast jets required very long runways, which combined with their limited range, limited their tactical usefulness. The Soviet Air Force demanded the new aircraft have a much shorter take-off run. Low-level speed and handling was also to be improved over the MiG-21. This led Mikoyan to consider two alternatives: lift jets, to provide an additional lift component, and variable-geometry wings, which had been developed by TsAGI for both "clean-sheet" aircraft designs and adaptations of existing designs.

The first prototype, called "23-01" but also known as the MiG-23PD, was a tailed delta similar to the MiG-21 but with two lift jets in the fuselage. However, it became apparent very early that this configuration was unsatisfactory, as the lift jets became useless dead weight once airborne. The second prototype, known as "23-11", featured variable-geometry wings which could be set to angles of 16, 45 and 72 degrees, and it was clearly more promising. The maiden flight of 23-11 took place on 10 June 1967, and three more prototypes were prepared for further flight and system testing. All featured the Tumansky R-27-300 turbojet engine with a thrust of 7850 kp. The order to start series production of the MiG-23 was given in December 1967.

The General Dynamics F-111 and F-4 Phantom were the main Western influences on the MiG-23. The Russians, however, wanted a much lighter, single-engine fighter to maximize agility. Both the F-111 and the MiG-23 were designed as fighters, but the heavy weight of the F-111 turned it into a long-range interdictor and kept it out of the fighter role. The MiG-23's designers kept the MiG-23 light enough to dogfight with enemy fighters.

The U.S. Air Force operated a small number of MiG-23s, officially designated YF-113, as both test and evaluation aircraft and in an aggressor role for fighter pilot training, from 1977 through 1988 in a program codenamed "Constant Peg".[1]

First-generation

MiG-23M Flogger-B on display at the Museum of the Great Patriotic war in Kiev.
The infrared system had a detection range of around 30 km against high-flying bombers, but less for fighter-sized targets. The aircraft was also equipped with a Lasur-SMA datalink. The standard armament consisted of two radar- or infrared-guided Vympel R-23 (NATO: AA-7 'Apex') BVR missiles and two Molniya R-60 (NATO: AA-8 'Aphid') short-ranged infrared missiles. From 1974 onwards, double pylons were installed for the R-60s, enabling up to four missiles to be carried. Bombs, rockets and missiles could be carried for ground attack. Later, compatibility for the radio-guided Kh-23 (NATO: AS-7 'Kerry') ground-attack missile was added. Most Soviet MiGs were also wired to carry tactical nuclear weapons. Some 1300 MiG-23Ms were produced for the Soviet Air Force (VVS) and Soviet Air Defense Forces (PVO Strany) between 1972 and 1978. It was the most important Soviet fighter type from the mid-to-late 1970s.

Second-generation

Soviet MiG-23MLA Flogger-G
Soviet MiG-23MLD Flogger-K

Ground-attack variants

Proposed variants and upgrades

Price

The MiG-23 had the advantage of being quite cheap in the early 1980s. For example, the MiG-23MS was priced between US$3.6 million and US$6.6 million depending on the customer; on the other hand in 1980, the F-16 Fighting Falcon was priced at US$14 million, and the Flogger's closest Western competitor was the Israeli $4.5 million Kfir C2.

Armament

MiG-23M Flogger-B armed with AA-7 and AA-8 missiles

The MiG-23's armament evolved as the type's avionics were upgraded and new variants were deployed. The earliest versions, which were equipped with the MiG-21's fire control system, were limited to firing variants of R-3 (AA-2 'Atoll'). The R-60 (AA-8 'Aphid') replaced the R-3 during the '70s, and from the MiG-23M onwards the R-23/R-24 (AA-7 'Apex') was carried. The MiG-23MLD Flogger is capable of firing R-73 (AA-11 'Archer') when it became available, but this missile was not exported until the MiG-29 was released for export. The helmet-mounted sight associated with the AA-11 'Archer' (R-73) was fitted on the MiG-23MLDG and other experimental MiG-23MLD subvariants that never entered production as had been originally planned. The reason was that these MiG-23MLD subvariants had less priority than the then ongoing MiG-29 program, and the Mikoyan bureau therefore decided to concentrate all their efforts on the MiG-29 program and halted further work on the MiG-23s. Nevertheless, a helmet-mounted sight is now offered as part of the MiG-23-98 upgrade. There were reports about the MiG-23MLD being capable of firing the AA-10 'Alamo' (R-27) beyond its firing experimental tests; however, it seems only Angola's MiG-23-98 are capable of doing so. A MiG-23 was used to test and fire the AA-10, AA-11 and AA-12 air-to-air missiles during their early flight and firing trials. Ground-attack armament included 57 mm rocket pods, general purpose bombs up to 500 kg in size, gun pods, and Kh-23 (AS-7 'Kerry') radio-guided missiles. Up to four external fuel tanks could be carried.

Operational history

Captured MiG-23 on display in Israel

Western and Russian aviation historians usually differ in respect to the MiG-23's combat record, in part due to the bias in favor of their respective national aircraft industries. They also usually accept claims going along with their respective political views since usually many conflicting and contradictory reports are written and accepted by their respective historians.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Little pictorial evidence has been published confirming MiG-23 air to air losses and victories[10], with the exception of a SAAF Mirage F1 shot down by a Cuban MiG-23ML, the Libyan MiG-23s shot down by U.S. Navy F-14s and two pictures of Syrian MiG-23s shot down in 1982 by Israeli forces.

Russians and Syrian claim numerous successes for MiG-23s, which are not confirmed by Israeli sources:

The first MiG-23s to see combat were export variants with many limitations. For example, the MiG-23MS lacked a radar warning receiver. In addition, compared to the MiG-21, the aircraft was mechanically complex and expensive. Early export variants also lacked many "war reserve modes" in their radars, making them vulnerable against electronic countermeasures (ECM), at which the Israelis were especially proficient. Israel claims that during the period of 1982–1985 no Israeli aircraft was lost to enemy aircraft and that Israel only lost five aircraft shot down by Syrian SAMs.[13] Israeli reports (which have been endorsed by the majority of Western historians) claim that during the period of intense fighting from 6–11 June 1982, 85 Syrian aircraft were shot down in air combat. At least 30 of these aircraft were reported by Israeli sources to be MiG-23s, but mainly the specialized ground attack version, the MiG-23BN.

The Israelis also claim that their F-15s downed two MiG-23MLs in 1985. According to Soviet/Russian historians, the MiG-23MS did achieve kills in this war also. One of these victories was achieved on 11 June 1982, when a pair of MiG-23MS pilots, named Heyrat and Zabi, brought down an Israeli F-4 with two AA-2s. Both MiG-23MS pilots were then shot down.[14]

Line of Cuban MiG-23s.

This Soviet/Russian source also states the Syrians lost 24 MiG-23s, including six MiG-23MFs, four export MiG-23MSs and fourteen MiG-23BN ground-attack variants. At the same time, Syrian MiG-23s managed to shoot down at least five F-16s, two F-4Es, and a BQM-34 unmanned reconnaissance plane. These are some of the Syrian MiG-23 kills as described in a Soviet/Russian source:[14]

Soviet/Russian source further states that three Israeli F-15s and one F-4 were shot down in October 1983 by the newly delivered MiG-23MLs, with no Syrian losses since.[14] According to other Soviet/Russian sources, it happened in October 1982[15] or in December 1982[16].

The MiG-23 took part in the Iran–Iraq War and was used in both air-to-air and air-to-ground roles. The reports about performance in air combat are mixed - some authors claim that Iraqi MiG-23s had some victories and several losses against Iranian F-14s and F-4s. For example it is said that Colonel Mohammed-Hashem All-e-Agha was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-23 while flying his F-14 on 11 August 1984. Furthermore, Capt. Bahram Ghaneii was shot down by a MiG-23ML on 17 January 1987.[17][18] According to Iranian sources, four MiG-23s were shot down by F-14s on 29 October 1980.[19]

Cuban MiG-23MLs and South African Mirage F1s had several encounters during Angolan War, one of which resulted in a Mirage being lost after it was damaged by a Cuban MiG-23ML. Surprising a pair of Mirages, two MiG-23s fired missiles: one MiG engaged a Mirage flown by Capt Arthur Piercey with a pair of R-23Rs, while the other fired a single R-60 at Captain Carlo Gagiano's Mirage. The missiles homed on the Mirages, but only one R-23R fuzed close enough to cause damage. Unfortunately this was enough to damage the hydraulics systems of Capt Piercey's Mirage, and the damage probably contributed to the Mirage veering off the runway on landing. The nose gear collapsed on coming off the runway, which in turn slammed the nose down so hard that Piercey's ejection seat fired. The nose gear failure eventually left Capt Piercey paralyzed and the aircraft a write-off.

Soviet MiG-23s and Pakistani F-16s clashed a few times during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. One F-16 was lost in 1987. Pakistan insists it was a friendly fire incident, however at first the F-16 was reported as shot down in air to air combat with MiGs by the Washington Post and the New York Times.[20][21] and only later the Pakistani side recanted the event. According to the Russian version of the event, the F-16 was shot down when Pakistani F-16s encountered Soviet MiG-23MLDs. Soviet TASS originally reported the event as the F-16 being shot down by Afghan air defenses. Soviet MiG-23MLD pilots, while on a bombing raid, reported being attacked by F-16s and then seeing one F-16 explode. It could have been downed by gunfire from a MiG whose pilot did not report the kill in fear of punishment, since this would had complicated the political situation for the former USSR, .[22] According to Pakistani sources, the F-16 piloted by Flt.Lt. Shahid Sikander was shot down in a friendly fire incident, after he flew directly in front of his flight leader and was hit by an AIM-9 Sidewinder fired at the Mig-23's. This version has been cited with more credibility by western sources claiming the MiG-23MLD were on a ground attack mission and therefore not equipped with air to air missiles, however this does not mean the MiG-23 could not have outflown and outsmart the F-16s pilots as sometimes have been suggested since the AIM-9 was aimed at a MiG-23 and not to an F-16.[23]

A year later, Soviet MiG-23MLDs using R-24s (NATO: AA-7 "Apex") downed two Iranian AH-1J Cobras that had intruded into Afghani airspace. In a similar incident a decade earlier, on 21 June 1978, a PVO MiG-23M flown by Pilot Captain V. Shkinder shot down two Iranian Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters that had trespassed into Soviet airspace, one helicopter being dispatched by two R-60 missiles and the other by cannon fire.

At least one Libyan MiG-23MS was shot down by an Egyptian fighter during and immediately after the Libyan–Egyptian War in 1977. In one skirmish, two LARAF MiG-23MS engaged two EAF MiG-21MF which had been upgraded to carry western weaponry. The Libyan pilots made the mistake of trying to out-maneuver more nimble Egyptian fighters, and one MiG-23MS was shot down by Maj. Sal Mohammad with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, while the other used its superior speed advantage to escape. [24] Two Libyan MiG-23MS fighters were shot down by U.S. Navy F-14s in the Gulf of Sidra incident in 1989.

During the Persian Gulf War, the USAF reported downing eight Iraqi MiG-23s with F-15s.[25] Some Russian sources claim that a U.S. F-16 and an Italian Tornado were shot down by Iraqi MiG-23 in this war; however the Italian Air Force maintained that the only Tornado lost during the war (pilots: Bellini and Cocciolone) was shot down by a surface-to-air missile

Other claims include the story about an Iraqi pilot named Hassan, flying a MIG-23 having supposedly damaged an F-111 with and R-24T missile at 4:30 somewhere south of Balad airbase, and at 5:10 another F-111 (tail number 70-2384) being damaged by another R-24T missile fired by a MiG-23.[26]. But in a similar fashion to the Italian Tornado and Israeli F-16 claimed shot down by MiG-23 as the Russians historians affirm, the USAF sustains that while an unidentified F-111F was indeed damaged near Balad airbase, and F-111F with tail number 70-2384 also did not return intact, neither damage had anything to do with missile hits: an F-111F was hit by Iraqi anti-aircraft cannon fire south of the airbase in question, while the F-111F with tail number 70-2384 suffered a mid-air collision with a KC-135 tanker.[27]

An Iraqi MiG-23 was shot down by a USAF F-16 using an AMRAAM missile in January 1993, during skirmishes in the No-Fly-Zones.

In Eritrea in 1999 3 Ethiopian MiG-23BNs were shot down by Eritrean MiG-29s in a small border war in 1999. The type also saw extensive use as a bomber.

Soviet and Warsaw Pact service

Because of its distinctive appearance with large air intakes on both sides of the fuselage the aircraft was nicknamed "Cheburashka" by some Soviet pilots after a popular Russian cartoon character representing a fictional animal with big ears. The nickname did not stick and was later firmly assigned to Antonov An-72/74, although to this day it is sometimes applied to different aircraft with similar exterior features, including the USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II.

The aircraft was not used in large numbers by the non-Soviet air forces of the Warsaw Pact as originally envisioned. When the MiG-23s were initially deployed, they were considered the elites of the Eastern Bloc air forces. However, very quickly the disadvantages became evident and the MiG-23 did not replace the MiG-21 as initially intended. The aircraft had some deficiencies that limited its operational serviceability and its hourly operating cost was thus higher than the MiG-21’s. The Eastern Bloc air forces used their MiG-23s to replace MiG-17s and MiG-19s still in service.

Ukrainian decommissioned MiG-23.

By 1990, over 1,500 MiG-23s of different models were in service with VVS and PVO. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Air Force began to cut back its fighter force, and it was decided the MiG-23s and MiG-27s were among the types which were to be retired to operational storage. The last model to serve was the MiG-23P, which was retired in 1998.

When East and West Germany unified, no MiG-23s were transferred to the Luftwaffe, but twelve former East German MiG-23s were supplied to the U.S. When Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Czechs received all the MiG-23s, which were retired in 1998. Hungary retired their MiG-23s in 1996, Poland in 1999, Romania in 2000, and Bulgaria in 2004.

The MiG-23 was the Soviet Air Force's "Top Gun"-equivalent aggressor aircraft from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. It proved a difficult opponent for early MiG-29 variants flown by inexperienced pilots. Exercises showed when well-flown, a MiG-23MLD could achieve favorable kill ratios against the MiG-29 in mock combat by using hit-and-run tactics and not engaging the MiG-29s in dogfights. Usually the aggressor MiG-23MLDs had a shark mouth painted on the nose just aft of the radome, and many were piloted by Soviet-Afghan War veterans. In the late 1980s, these aggressor MiG-23s were replaced by MiG-29s, also featuring shark mouths[28][29].

Performance tests

Many potential enemies of the USSR and its client states had a chance to evaluate the MiG-23’s performance. In the 1970s, after a political realignment by the Egyptian government, Egypt gave their MiG-23MS to the United States and the People's Republic of China in exchange for military hardware. In the US, these MiG-23MS and other variants acquired later from Germany were used as part of the evaluation program of Soviet military hardware. Dutch pilot Leon Van Maurer, who had more than 1200 hours flying F-16s, flew against MiG-23ML Flogger-Gs from air bases in Germany and the U.S. as part of NATO's aerial mock combat training with Soviet equipment. He concluded the MiG-23ML was superior in the vertical to early F-16 variants, just slightly inferior to the F-16A in the horizontal, and has superior beyond visual range (BVR) capability.[30]

The Israelis tested a MiG-23MLD that defected from Syria and found it had better acceleration than the F-16 and F/A-18.

Another MiG-23 evaluation finding in the US and Israel reports was that the MiG-23 has a Head-Up Display (HUD) that doubles as a radarscope, allowing the pilot to keep his eyes focused at infinity and work with his radar. It also allowed the Soviets to dispense with the radarscope on the MiG-23. This feature was carried over into the MiG-29, though in that aircraft a cathode ray tube (CRT) was carried on the upper right corner to double as a radarscope. Western opinions about this "head-up radarscope" are mixed. The Israelis were impressed, but an American F-16 pilot criticizes it as "sticking a transparent map in front of the HUD" and not providing a three-dimensional presentation that will accurately cue a pilot's eyes to look for a fighter as it appears in a particular direction.

Besides the Syrian defection, a Cuban pilot[31] flew a MiG-23BN to the US in 1991 and a Libyan MiG-23 pilot also defected to Greece in 1981. In both cases, the aircraft were later returned to their countries.

The early MiG-23M series was also used to test the American F-5s captured by the North Vietnamese and sent to the former USSR for evaluation, however the Russians acknowledged the F-5 was a very agile aircraft and at some speeds and altitudes better than the MiG-23M, this was one of the main reasons the MiG-23MLD and MiG-29 developments were started. These tests of the F-5 allowed the Russians to make modifications to several of their 4th generation aircraft, however despite the MiG-23 was not designed to combat F-5s, it showed the weaknesses of the early MiG-23 variants .[32]

Early western reports claimed that the aircraft also had poor dogfighting capability, due to being designed to out-accelerate the F-111 Aardvark.[33] however later analysis showed it was a F-4 equivalent and it was only surpassed by newer fighters like the F-15 and F-16 of the fourth generation, the MiG-23 is a third generation fighter like the Mirage F1 and AJ-37 Viggen, the Soviet combat manual for MiG-23MLD pilots says the MiG-23MLD has some slight superiority over the F-4 and Kfir but is not a match for the F-15 and F-16 in most combat parameters, it also recommends the tactics to be used against these fighters [34] [35] [36]

Operators

Current operators

MiG-23 operators (former operators in red)
 Angola
National Air Force of Angola. 32 MiG-23M/UB in service
 Côte d'Ivoire
Cote d'Ivoire Air Force. Received two MiG-23MLD from Bulgaria in the late 1990s. [5]
 Cuba
Cuban Air Force. 69 MiG-23MF/ML/UB in service (most grounded)
 Ethiopia
Ethiopian Air Force. 32 MiG-23BN/UB in service for ground attack role. The interceptor variant, MIG-23ML, was withdrawn from service.
 Libya
Libyan Air Force. 130 MiG-23MS/ML/BN/UB in service (most in storage), Libyan Air Force will operate them until 2011.
 Namibia
Namibian Air Force 2 MiG-23 aircraft in service.
 North Korea
North Korean Air Force. 66 MiG-23ML/UB in service
 Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Air Force. One MiG-23UB trainer used only for training purposes for their MiG-27 fleet
 Syria
Syrian Air Force. 146 MiG-23MS/MF/ML/MLD/BN/UB in service
 Yemen
Yemen Air Force. 44 MiG-23BN/UB in service
 Vietnam
Vietnam People's Air Force. 36 Mig-23ML/UB in service[37]
 Zimbabwe
Air Force of Zimbabwe. 3 MiG-23M/UB were seen in a fly past in 2003[38]

Former operators

 Armenia
 Afghanistan
Afghan Air Force. MiG-23BN/UB may have served with the Afghan Air Force from 1984. It is unclear whether these were merely Soviet aircraft wearing Afghan colors.
 Algeria
Algerian Air Force.
 Belarus
Belarus Air Force.
 Bulgaria
Bulgarian Air Force. A total of 90 MiG-23s served the Bulgarian Air Force from 1976 to their withdrawal from service in 2002. The exact count is: 33 MiG-23BN, 12 MiG-23MF, 1 MiG-23ML, 8 MiG-23MLA, 21 MiG-23MLD and 15 MiG-23UB.
 Czech Republic
Czech Air Force. MiGs were retired in 1994 (BN,MF version) and 1998 (ML, UB variant).
 Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakian Air Force. MiG-23s were transferred to the Czech Republic.
 East Germany
East German Air Force. Transferred to (West) German Luftwaffe. The German Luftwaffe gave two MiG-23s to USAF and one to a museum in Florida, the others were given away to others states or scrapped.
 Egypt
Egyptian Air Force. Six MiG-23BN/MS/U were sent to China in exchange for military hardware; China used them to reverse engineer the MiG-23 as the Q-6 but since the Chinese could not reverse engineer the R-29 and build a reliable turbofan the only MiG-23 elements that were used ended in the J-8II. At least 8 were transferred to USA for evaluation.
 Georgia
Georgian Air Force
 Hungary
Hungarian Air Force. 16 MiG-23 served and were withdrawn in 1997; the exact count is: 12 MiG-23MF and 4 MiG-23 UB (one of them was purchased in 1990 from the Soviet Air Force).
 India
Indian Air force. MiG-23BN ground attack aircraft phased out on 6 March 2009 & MiG-23MF air defence interceptor phased out on 2007. A total of 95 MiG-23BN had been obtained.[39][40]
 Iran
9 flown over from Iraq in 1991 in storage.
 Iraq
Iraqi Air Force. Some Iraqi MiG-23s were sent to Yugoslavia for upgrades when Gulf war started. 1 known example remains in Serbia at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.
 Kazakhstan
Military of Kazakhstan. 100 MiG-23M/UB were in service
Polish Air Force MiG-23
Ukrainian MiG-23 on display at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
 Poland
Polish Air Force. 36 MiG-23MF single-seaters and six MiG-23UB trainers were delivered to the Polish Air Force between 1979 and 1982. Last of them were withdrawn in September 1999.
 Romania
Romanian Air Force. 46 MiG-23 served from 1979 until 2001 and were withdrawn in 2003; the exact count is: 36 MiG-23MF and 10 MiG-23 UB.
 Russia
Russian Air Force. Approx 500, all in reserve.
 Sudan
Sudanese Air Force.
 Turkmenistan
Military of Turkmenistan.
 Soviet Union
Passed on to successor states.
 Ukraine
Ukrainian Air Force
 Uzbekistan
Military of Uzbekistan 31 in service.
 Zambia
Military of Zambia.

Evaluation only users

 China
MiG-23 on display at the Minsk World theme park in Shenzhen, PRC.
 Israel
 United States
Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaFederal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia

The Albanian Air Force never flew the MiG-23.[43]

Civilian operators

 United States

Notable incidents and accidents

Specifications (MiG-23MLD Flogger-K)

MiG-23MF.svg

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

According to the MiG-23ML manual, the MiG-23ML has a maximun sustained turn rate of 14.1 deg/sec and a maximum instantaneous turn rate of 16.7 deg/sec. The MiG-23ML accelerates from 600 km/h (373 mph) to 900 km/h (559 mph) in just 12 seconds at the altitude of 1000 meters. The MiG-23 accelerates at the altitude of 1 km from the speed of 630 km/h (391 mph) to 1300 km/h (808 mph) in just 30 seconds and at the altitude of 10–12 km will accelerate from Mach 1 to Mach 2 in just 160 seconds.

See also

Related development

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

References

  1. ↑ Fulghum, David A., "MiGs in Nevada", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 27 November 2006
  2. ↑ http://www.testpilot.ru/review/war/syria.htm
  3. ↑ http://d-pankratov.livejournal.com/752430.html
  4. ↑ http://www.airwar.ru/history/locwar/bv/migs/mig23.html
  5. ↑ http://www.airwar.ru/history/locwar/bv/mig23mf/mig23mf.html
  6. ↑ http://www.soldiering.ru/avia/airplane/23arabian.php
  7. ↑ http://www.airforce.ru/history/localwars/lokalwar4.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.waronline.org/IDF/Articles/lebanon-losses.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj89/win89/hurley.html
  10. ↑ http://backfiretu-22m.tripod.com/id11.html
  11. ↑ http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_273.shtml
  12. ↑ http://s188567700.online.de/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=183&Itemid=47
  13. ↑ [1]
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 МиГ-23 на Ближнем Востоке
  15. ↑ F-15A/B Eagle
  16. ↑ МиГ-23МЛ
  17. ↑ Chronological Listing of Iranian Air Force Grumman F-14 Tomcat Losses & Ejections
  18. ↑ [2]
  19. ↑ Tom Cooper, Farzad Bishop. Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat. Oprey Publishing, 2004, p. 27—34.
  20. ↑ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1319966.html Article: Afghanistan Says It Downed F16 Fighter From Pakistan;U.S. Officials Say Soviet Pilots Involved ]
  21. ↑ AFGHANS DOWN A PAKISTANI F-16, SAYING FIGHTER JET CROSSED BORDER
  22. ↑ Афганистан. Жаркое небо Афганистана
  23. ↑ http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_337.shtml
  24. ↑ Libya & Egypt, 1971-1979
  25. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsbFBHxUCAw&feature=player_embedded
  26. ↑ "Iraqi air-air victories during the Gulf War 1991". safarikovi.org.com. 2004. http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/victories-iraq-gulf.war.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-07. 
  27. ↑ "Gulf War Chronology: Fixed-Wing Aircraft Combat Attrition". J Lindberg / Fighter Tactics Academy. 2004. http://www.sci.fi/~fta/atrition.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-29. 
  28. ↑ http://www.airforce.ru/awm/agressor/index.htm
  29. ↑ http://crimso.msk.ru/Site/Arts/Art3714.htm
  30. ↑ http://www.airwar.ru/history/locwar/africa/mig23/mig23.html
  31. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19940717&id=3eURAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fOoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3112,5023932
  32. ↑ [3]
  33. ↑ [4] Google Books, F-15 Eagle Engaged: The World's Most Successful Jet Fighter; Davies, Steve and Dildy, Doug
  34. ↑ http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fighter/mig23m.html
  35. ↑ http://www.xairforces.com/analyses/mig-23.html
  36. ↑ http://krilebg.net/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=34
  37. ↑ MiG-23/27 by Yefim Gorden and Keith Dexter
  38. ↑ Target&Зво
  39. ↑ http://en.rian.ru/world/20090306/120459251.html
  40. ↑ http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Images/Special/PRO/2009/LastFlight_MIG_23.jpg.html
  41. ↑ Brinkley, Joel (12 October 1989). "Syrian Pilot of MIG-23 Is Said to Defect to Israel". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/12/world/syrian-pilot-of-mig-23-is-said-to-defect-to-israel.html. Retrieved 12 May 2010. 
  42. ↑ U.S. FAA - Registry of Aircraft - MiG-23
  43. ↑ Albanian Air Force Aircraft Types Not Used
  44. ↑ Warbirds of Delaware: MiG-23

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