![]() ![]() All featured the Tumansky R-27-300 turbojet engine with a thrust of 77 kN (17,300 lbf). Six more flight prototypes and two static-test prototypes were prepared for further flight and system testing. The maiden flight of 23–11 took place on 10 June 1967, flown by the famous MiG test pilot Aleksandr Vasilyevich Fedotov (who set the absolute altitude record in 1977 in a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25). The 23-11 featured variable-geometry wings which could be set to angles of 16, 45 and 72 degrees, and it was clearly more promising. This led Mikoyan to consider two options: 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. Manoeuvrability was not an urgent requirement. Low-level speed and handling was also to be improved over the MiG-21. The VVS demanded the new aircraft have a much shorter take-off run. A major design consideration was take-off and landing performance. The new aircraft was required to have better performance and range than the MiG-21, while carrying more capable avionics and weapons including beyond-visual-range (BVR) missiles. Work began on a replacement for the MiG-21 in the early 1960s. The MiG-23's predecessor, the MiG-21, 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 R-3/K-13 (AA-2 "Atoll") air-to-air missiles). Among many minor changes, the MiG-27 replaced the MiG-23's nose-mounted radar system with an optical panel holding a laser designator and a TV camera. The basic design was also used as the basis for the Mikoyan MiG-27, a dedicated ground-attack variant. Today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with some export customers. Production started in 1969 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built, making it the most produced variable-sweep wing aircraft in history. It was the first Soviet fighter to field a look-down/shoot-down radar, the RP-23 Sapfir, and one of the first to be armed with beyond-visual-range missiles. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircraft such as the Su-17 "Fitter". ![]() ![]() The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 ( Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23 NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. ![]()
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