What you need to know: Developed in the late 1960s to counter American aircraft like the F-4 Phantom II and F-105 Thunderchief, the Soviet Mikoyan MiG-23 “Flogger” was designed to succeed the widely used MiG-21. It offered superior payload, range and beyond visual range interception capabilities, with advanced radar and variable swing wing geometry similar to the F-111 Aardvark.

-Despite its promising design, the MiG-23 had handling and maintenance problems, giving it a poor reputation and poor combat record.

-More than 5,000 units were produced, and although it was eventually retired by Russia in 1999, it remains in service in countries including Angola, Ethiopia, North Korea and Syria.

The rise and fall of the Soviet MiG-23 fighter jet

Developed in the late 1960s in response to the US Army’s McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Republic F-105 Thunderchief, the Mikoyan MiG-23 (NATO name “Flogger”) largely succeeded the MiG-21. used.

He offered a Increased payload, range and firepower with beyond-visual-range interception capability thanks to more powerful onboard sensors. The Model 23-11 prototype first flew in 1967 and production began two years later.

Compared to the MiG-21, the Flogger showed great promise: its advanced radar and fire control system could fire missiles at targets beyond visual range, while its variable “swing-wing” geometry, was similar to that of the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark.

MiG-23 – A bad reputation?

As the first flapping-wing fighter to enter service in the Soviet Union, the MiG-23 was not without its problems.

It was notoriously difficult to fly and expensive to maintain, while its engines had a short lifespan.

It has been suggested that these factors contributed to the Warsaw Pact countries’ decision to continue operating the older MiG-21 alongside the new MiG-23.

All this resulted in a rather bad reputationand Western observers believed it to be at best a merely “usable” and “highly utilitarian” aircraft. However, in retrospect this assessment may have been rather harsh, and the MiG-23 has in recent years gained some respect as an impressive design that could match some of the Western aircraft of the era.

It was noted that in terms of performance, the F-111 was capable of reaching a top speed of 1,650 mph while the MiG-23 topped out at 1,553 mph. Additionally, the Flogger had a range of just under 1,000 miles, while the Aardvark could go 3,660 miles without refueling.

However, the aircraft’s sturdy landing gear has allowed the MiG-23 to operate since short and distant slopes. Additionally, MiG-23 pilots could select wing sweep for low-speed takeoff and landing or for supersonic flight. It was actually a compact aircraft that was just two-thirds the size of the F-111 and used a single-seat cockpit rather than the side-by-side two-seat cockpit of the F-111.

Despite all this, many experts rightly point to its combat record and consider the MiG-23 a terrible aircraft.

As one expert said years ago in this publication:

“There is no ambiguity here: the MiG-23 has a long, well-documented and deeply embarrassing service history. The scale of his failures is too great to recount in detail, but here are some highlights. More than a dozen Syrian MiG-23 fighter jets were shot down by Israeli F-15s and F-16s during the Arab-Israeli wars. Iraqi MiG-23 fighter jets also performed even worse against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, reportedly suffering over fifty losses against Iranian F-14s, F-5s, and F-4s. Egyptian MiG-21 jet fighters regularly outperformed Libyan MiG-23s during the Libyan-Egyptian War, and two of these fighters were destroyed by two American F-14 Tomcats during the Tobruk skirmish in 1989.

And yet the Flogger was a relatively affordable aircraft, and it proved reliable in other cases. It was clearly the Soviet Union’s best combat aircraft, but it proved usable.

MiG-23 export models

Several variants of the MiG-23 had been produced, including the MiG-23MS, designed for export abroad and less capable than domestic Soviet versions. Obviously, the masters of Moscow did not want their client states to be armed with such powerful equipment as that of the Soviet Union.

The MiG-23MS was equipped with a less sophisticated radar housed in a smaller radome. First delivered in 1973, it received the NATO code name “Flogger-E”.

At the end of the Cold War, more than 5,000 MiG-23s of all types were built, and the aircraft was only withdrawn from frontline service in the Russian Air Force in 1999, while some aircraft remain in service with former Soviet partners, including Angola, Ethiopia, North Korea and Syria.

About the author

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He writes regularly on military hardware and is the author of several books on military headgear, including A gallery of military hairstylesavailable on Amazon.com. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes.