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BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Sep 6 • 11 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X

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MiG-23ML or MiG-23MLA?
A pedantic🧵

I see a lot of people use the term "MiG-23MLA" when referring to the MiG-23ML with Sapfir-23MLA/Sapfir-23MLAE radar.

To be fair, I've also noticed a lot of former Soviet pilots use this term in order to differentiate between the MiG-23ML...

...with Sapfir-23ML & MiG-23ML with Sapfir-23MLA. But I'm a snobbish MiG-23 fаnбоу, and as such, prefer to stick to nomenclature found in official documents.

First, some context. The MiG-23ML (product 23-12, product 3) with Sapfir-23MLA (product N003 or 323MLA) radar &...

& ASP-17ML optical sight (which includes the HUD). The previous MiG-23ML model had the Sapfir-23ML (product 323ML) & ASP-23DTsM. In order to differentiate between the two 23ML versions, Soviet pilots called the one equipped with Sapfir-23MLA radar the "MiG-23MLA".

The export versions of the "MiG-23MLA" were the:

▪MiG-23ML 23-12 version A - Warsaw-Pact customers,

▪MiG-23ML 23-12 version B - non Warsaw-Pact customers.

Both had the Sapfir-23MLAE (N003E, 323MLAE) and ASP-17MLE.

Now let's look at a few document issued by the socialist gods of paper&ink, to see what's actually canon:

▪MiG-23ML pilot instructions from 1980 (revised 1985). The aircraft is described as a МиГ-23МЛ with Сапфир-23МЛА, ТП-23М & АСП-17МЛ.

Capable of using Р-3С, Р-13M, Р-13M1, Р-60, Р-60М, Р-23Т, Р-24Т, Р-23Р & Р-24Р missiles.

There is also mention of the older model МиГ-23МЛ with Сапфир-23МЛ & АСП-23ДЦМ, and newer МиГ-23МЛД (изд. 23-18) with Сапфир-23МЛА-2.

No МиГ-23МЛА is mentioned however.

▪In "Практическая аэродинамика самолетов МиГ-23МЛ и МиГ-23УБ" mentions only MiG-23ML, even though the aircraft referred to is equipped with the Сапфир-23МЛАЭ and is capable of using the Р-24 according to pages 8 & 142.

Again, no "MiG-23MLA".

▪Finally, the R-24 missile employment manual. MiG-23ML with Sapfir-23MLAE radar, no mention of "MiG-23MLA".

In conclusion, I can't find any evidence of for "MiG-23MLA" being allowed by the Soviet bureaucratic gods of paper&ink.

And if someone gets the idea that MiG-23ML 23-12A can be considered "MLA" then "MiG-23MF version A" should be called MiG-23MFA.

Or:
MiG-23ML 23-12B → MiG-23MLB
MiG-23MLD 23-22A → MiG-23MLDA
MiG-23MLD 23-22B → MiG-23MLDB

All of this justifies my disdain and snobbish attitude towards those who polute proper MiG-23ML lore with their "MLA" heresy. So, Gaijin please, stop this BS!

Warthunder: BaA43A3aHy:
MiG-23MLA!

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More from @BaA43A3aHY

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Aug 29

MiG-23 pilot stories/comments🧵

Here, I'll gradually be posting various random MiG-23 themed stories, comments & opinions by pilots or maintenance people, collected by me.

MiG-23P "belly take-off".
Unknown author.

Note: I have not spoken to, or know personally, the people in question. I have not interviewed them. I am merely posting some comments & stories that I found interesting, while browsing online.

Read 5 tweets

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Aug 16

MiG-23 timeline🧵

The development of the MiG-23PD (aircraft 23-01) was decided in a goverment decree issued on 30 April, 1965. Its first flight was with P.M. Ostapenko at the controls, on 3 April, 1967.

Government approval for building the MiG-23 (23-11) aircraft with variable sweep wings, is issued to OKB-155 (MiG) on 28 February, 1966.

The first prototype, 23-11/1 (№ 231), with a R27F-300 engine, is transported for flight testing at Zhukovsky on May 26, 1967.

The first flight takes place on 10 June, 1967, with A.V. Fedotov at the controls. Factory test flights are completed in July 1968, and signed by A.I. Mikoyan on 6 November, 1968.

Both aircraft, 23-01 & 23-11, are displayed at the Domodedovo air parade on 9 July, 1967.

Read 22 tweets

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Aug 4

How fast is the MiG-23? 🧵

Probably the only thing the MiG-23 ever managed to impress with was its speed and acceleration, with the wings swept back the 72° position.

Almost every source you can read will tell you that its maximum Mach at high altitude is 2.35... which it is, but only due to a degradation in directional stability and limitations in cockpit canopy material strength. Its true, thrust limited, maximum Mach is quite a bit higher.

So let's find out what the MiG-23 can really do.

1▪In "Истребитель МиГ-23 - На защите неба Родины" by Markovsky & Prikhodchenko, we have at page 95, the flight envelope of the MiG-23M, taken from the flight manual.

Read 24 tweets

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Jul 30

Tumansky R11F-300 vs. General Electric J79 - worlds apart. 🧵

The MiG-21 & F-4 have very different layouts, & their engines are no less dissimilar. Although both engines seem alike, the R11 and J79 were designed with different priorities in mind.

The mid 1950s is, for me, one of the most interesting periods in jet engine design. Every desig team was using its own distinct solution of increasing compressor pressure ratio (PR).

Rolls-Royce was using variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) & air bleed valves obtaining a PR of 9.1 - 10 with 16 stages in the Avon Mk.301R (Volvo RM6C).

Note: the picture is of a Avon RA.29/1 Mk.524 from the Comet 4, and has a 3-stage turbine, unlike the Mk.301R with 2.

Read 19 tweets

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Jun 30

MiG-23MS, the worst MiG-23?🧵

Today I'm going to NOT complain about how crappy the MiG-23MS was. Instead, I'm going to tell you two things which it did better than the MiG-23M & MiG-23MF.

1 - Internal fuel capacity.

The MiG-23MS had the largest internal fuel capacity of any MiG-23 fighter variant. Since it didn't have the heavy and voluminous Sapfir-23D-III radar of the MiG-23M, a part of the avionics bay behind the cockpit could be used for more fuel.

The extra space was used to install fuel tank № 1a, and tank №1 is larger, same as in the MiG-23BN. This meant that the MiG-23MS had 5400 litres of usable internal fuel (again, same as on the MiG-23BN). Total internal fuel is 5626 litres.

Source: jbg37.de/html/triebwerk…

Read 4 tweets

BaA43A3aHY

@BaA43A3aHY

Jun 21

Tumansky vs. Eurojet. Short 🧵

To understand how jet engine technology has evolved from the late 50s up to the late 90s, it's useful to compare engines of similar architectures. A pair that fits this criterion is the Tumansky R13-300 (or R25-300) & the Eurojet EJ200.

Why are these engines a useful to compare? As said, because of their similar architecture.
Both have:
- twin-spool (or dual rotor) design,
- 8 compressor stages (3 Low pressure (fan in the case of EJ200) + 5 High pressure), 2 turbine stages (1 LP + 1 HP),

- casing treatments at the 1st compressor stage (axial slots for R13/25, circumferential for the EJ200),
- over-hung 1st compressor/fan stages,
- no variable stator vanes,
- roughly the same class of engine, afterburning, high-speed fighter/interceptor aircraft engines,