MiG23MLDComparisonsNew1.docx

MiG23MLDComparisonsNew1.docx

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MiG23MLDComparisonsNew1

MiG-23MLDvsWesternFighters–theSovietAirForceView

AlexanderMladenovlooksattheformerSovietAirForceconcepts,datingfromthemid-1980s,fortheMiG-23MLD’semploymentintheairsuperiorityrolepittedagainsttheF-15A,F-16A,F-4EandKfirC.2

Althoughthisarticlecanberegardedasbeingofsomewhathistoricalvalue,infactitstillhasacertainpracticalvalueforthepresentday.InRussia,theotherCISrepublicsandEasternEuropetheagingFloggerwasretiredfromservicecompletelybetween1997and2002,butintheThirdWorldcountries,consideredhostiletotheWest,thetypeisregardedyetasmatureandcapableenoughdesign,performingusefulworkintheair-to-airrole,withperhapsbettermissioncapableratesthantheearly-seriesMiG-29soperatedbythosenations.Asmanyas30fighterFloggersarebelievedtobemaintainedincombat-readystatebytheIraqiAirForce;nolessthan60moreareinservicewiththeSyrianairarm（includingmorethan40highly-modifiedMiG-23MLDs）;theCubanAirForcehasonstrengthslightlylessthanthreedozensMiG-23MF/MLAs;andmorethan40Flogger-GscontinuetosoldieronwiththeNorthKoreanAirForce.SomeofthecountriesontheroguelisthavedeterminedandskilledFloggerpilotsandtounderestimatethemandtheirmountswouldbefoolish,and,incaseofwar,potentiallydangerous.

TheBekaaValleyDefeat–aStimulusforFurtherFloggerUpgrades

InJune1982,theSoviet-styleairsuperiority/airdefenceratherorthodoxdoctrine,trainingandtacticshaveprovedtobefullyinadequateandineffectivewhenemployedagainsttheIsraeliDefenceForce/AirForce（IDF/AF）.Syrianlosses–fighters,fighter-bombersandhelicoptersbetweenJune6and11-numberedsome85（between82and92accordingtosomesources）whileSyriansclaimedforsome27IDF/AFfixed-androtary-wingaircraftshootdownwhichisobviouslyabogus.ItiswellknownthatIsraelisdenylosinganyaircraftinaircombatsduringthe1982Lebanonwarthoughsuchstatementsmayalsobeconsidered,tosomeextent,asdubious.AccordingtotheauthoritativeresearcharticleEarlyMiG-23sinOperationalService,writtenbythe1960s-1980slocalconflictsresearcherTomCooper（publishedinAirEnthusiast,Vol100,July-August2002,p56-67）,theSyrianfighterFloggersplayedonlyasecondaryroleintheconflict.ConfirmedlossesduringtheclashesovertheBekaaValleybetweenJune9and11comprisedfourMiG-23MS’andsixMiG-23MFs,whiletheirpilotsclaimedatleastfiveenemyaircraftshootthoughmostifnotallofthesekillscannotbeconfirmedbyindependentsourcesandthuscouldberegardedmoreasbogusratherthanofrealisticreports.

MiG-23MLD’sprosandcons–theSovietviewofthe1980s

Themostsignificantpost-BekaaValleyundertakingoftheSovietAirForcewasthecrash-programmeupgradeofthehugeVVS-FAMiG-23ML/MLAFlogger-GfleettotheMiG-23MLDFlogger-Kstandard,alsoknownasIzdelye23-18intheinternaldesignationsystemoftheMiGDesignBureau.Intheearly1980s,theMiG-23madeupthebackboneoftheVVS（Voenno-VazdushniSili-theSovietAirForce）FrontalAviation（FA）airdefence/airsuperiorityassets.Nolessthan1,100MiG-23M/ML/MLAswereinservicewiththeSovietfront-linecombatunitsbythattimeandmorethan600ofthemusedtoequipatleast15fighterregimentsbasedinCentralEuropethatwereconsideredtobethespearheadoftheSovietairsuperiorityassetsatthemostprobabletheatreofoperationsduringtheColdWarera.

TheFlogger-K’supgradepackageisknowntohadbeenpreparedevenbeforetheLebanonwarandatotalof560VVSMiG-23ML/MLAswereupgradedwhileonly66improvedinterceptors（withonlynewavionics）arereportedbyRussiansourcesasbeingnewly-builtbetweenmid/late1982andDecember1984;theseareknownastheMiG-23MLD（Export）（Izdelie23-19orthealternativedesignationIzdelie23-22）andwereonlyexportedtoSyriaandBulgaria–50and16examplesrespectively.Interestingly,theNATOreportingnameFlogger-Gwasretained,astheseaircraftwerehardlydistinguishablefromthebasicMiG-23ML/MLA.Unlikeitsexportcounterparts,theVVS-FAMiG-23MLDsboastedmuch-improvedmaneuveringperformancethankstoahostofairframeandflightcontrolsystemupgrades.

ItwouldbeinterestingfortheWesternpublictoexamineandanalyseindetailsthecontentofaSovietAirForcesupplementaryaircombatmanual.Thisparticular32-pagemanualtitledAideMemoriefortheMiG-23PilotonAirCombatvsF-15A,F-16A,F-4EandKfirC.2waspublishednotlongaftertheBekaaValleyclashes.BythattimeboththeSovietandclientstatespilotsstilltrainedmainlyintheorthodox-andoftendescribedasinflexible-airintercepttactics,derivedfromthe1960sandmasteredtoperfectionduringtheMiG-21era.Traditionally,inthe1970sandearly1980s,theSovietandclientairarmsflewtheMiG-23M/ML/MLDliketheMiG-21–asahigh-speedpointinterceptorcloselyguidedandsupportedbytheGCI,andittooknolessthan12yearstoemploytheFlogger-G/Kasatrueairsuperiorityfighter.

AideMemoriefortheMiG-23PilotonAirCombatvsF-15A,F-16A,F-4EandKfirC.2referstotheMiG-23MLD（Export）version,poweredbytheR35-300turbojet,ratedat28,700lbs（127kNor13,000kg）infullafterburner,withouttheaerodynamicsandflightcontrolsystemimprovementsoftheVVS-FAMIG-23MLDs.Accordingtothemanual,theaircraft’smainparametersdefiningtheenergymaneuverabilityperformanceturnoutthefighterslightlybetterthantheMcDonnellDouglasF-4EPhantomIIanddefinitelybetterthantheIAIKfirC.2.However,theMiG-23MLD’saircombatperformanceaspects,asgiveninthemanual,arequotedasdefinitelyinferiortothoseoftheMcDonnellDouglasF-15AandGeneralDynamicsF-16A.ThereareonlyfewareaswithintheMiG-23MLD’senvelopewhereitcouldboastequalorslightlybetterperformanceaspectswhenpittedagainstthethirdgenerationUSfighters.

Forexample,themanual’sauthorsclaimthatcomparedthantheF-4E（notspecifiedwhethertheslatedornon-slatedsub-versionofthePhantomisconcerned）,theMiG-23MLDhassuperiorsustainedturnperformancethroughouttheentireenvelope,excludingtherangebetween377and540kts（700and1,000km/h）bellow21,000ft（7,000m）aswellasanedgeoverthePhantomIIinthezoomclimbperformanceatallaltitudesandspeeds,excludingthetrueairspeedrangebetween485and647kts（900and1,200km/h）above18,000ft（6,000m）.

PittedagainsttheF-15A,theMiG-23MLDhastheonlynotableadvantageinthezoomclimbperformanceatspeedsabove620kts（1,150km/h）whilepittedagainsttheF-16A,themanualassertsthattheSovietswing-wingfighterboastssomewhatbettersustainedturnperformanceabove15,000ft（5,000m）atspeedsclosetothemaximumaswellasbetterzoomclimbperformanceattrueairspeedsexceeding590kts（1,100km/h）.However,asreal-worldtestshaveshowninIsraelwherethedefectedinNovember1989MiG-23MLD（Export）wasflight-testedbytheIDF/AF,theswing-wingfighterdemonstrated-somewhatsurprisingly-betteraccelerationthantheescortingF-16sandthistendstoindicatethatinrealworldconditionstheMiG-23MLDwouldhaveaslightedgeovertheearlyF-16sinaccelerationandenergymaneuverability,attrueairspeedsabove485kts（900km/h）.

TheIAIKfirC.2,asassessedinthemanual,issaidtobeinferiortotheMiG-23MLDbysustainedturnperformanceatairspeedsabove540kts（1,000km/h）,byzoomclimbperformanceattrueairspeedsbellow540kts（1,000km/h）,whileataltitudesbellow12,000ft（4,0000m）theMiG-23MLDhasanedgeinenergymaneuverabilitythroughouttheentirespeedrange.

SensorandSelf-ProtectionConsiderations

Accordingtothemanual,theMiG-23MLD’sN008ESapfir-23MLAE-2pulseradarhassuperiorperformancethanthePhantom’sAPQ-120,approximatelyequalperformancecomparedtotheF-16A’sAN/APG-66anddefinitelyinferiorperformancetotheF-15A’sAN/APG-63.（SeeTable2andFigure1）.

Themanual’sauthorsclaimthatairborneradarmaximumdetectionrangealonecannotgrantanydecisivetacticaladvantageinthenon-sterileenvironmentoftherealworldaircombat.Itiswellknownthatfighterradartargetdetectionanddiscriminationperformanceare,ingeneralterms,somehowlimitedbytherelativelylowresolutionofferedbytheradarbeamwithanaveragewidthofbetween2.5and3.5degreesinazimuthandelevation.Inaddition,thegenerallylowreliabilityoftheelectronicidentification（EID）facilitiesintheearly/mid1980sisanotherfactorthatwouldpreventtheenemyfightersfromthefulluseoftheirsuperiorBeyondVisualRange（BVR）capability.However,themanualnotesthattheF-16A’sandF-15A’sradarshaveaplethoraofvaluablecloseaircombatmodeswithautomatictargetacquisitionatcloseranges（upto6-10nm[10-18km]）withmissileseekerheadsslavedtotheradar’sline-of-sightforincreasedaccuracyandmissilelock-onspeed.

BoththeF-15A’sandF-16A’sPulse-Doppler（PD）radarshavewell-knownproblemswiththeirstabilityoflocking-ontargetsflyingbellowthemonthebeam（side-on,whenin‘snap-down’attacks）.ThisparticularshortcomingcouldbeusedtoagoodeffectbytheMiG-23pilotstoescapefromattacksandgotawayastheevasionfromtheAIM-7FSparrowSARHmissile,launchedbytheF-15couldbeeasilyachievedbyperformingahigh-gbeammaneuvering.

Asarule,whileoperatinginlook-down/shoot-downmodeovermountainousterrain,theearlySpafir-23’sperformanceinthelook-down/shootdownmodeisnotablydegraded,buttheMLD’sSapfir-23MLAE-2radarhasanewlyadded,highlyusefulPulse-Dopplermode（Non-Coherent）withsomewhatimprovedultra-lowleveltarg