MiG-23MF

In the early 60's MiG OKB started designing a successor for MiG-21, based on hyped swing-wing configuration, and in 1967 the first prototype took to the skies. It had wing sweep positions of 17/45/71 degrees Mach 2 speed. NATO codenamed it Flogger. Many different variants were produced, constantly upgrading avionics, weapons, engines and equipment. Main variants are fighter/bombers S/SM/MS/M/MF/ML/MLD/K, two seater UM and specialized ground attack MiG-23B/BN/MiG-27/27M, with redesigned nose, reinforced structure and wide variety of bombs/rockets.

First mass produced variant of the fighter was S/SM variant with small Saphire (Jay Bird) radar, followed by MS with more powerful Tumansky engine instead Lyulka and updated aerodynamics. These were exported to the Middle East. Most widely used variant is M, first all-weather interceptor with powerful High Lark radar, coupled with mid-range R-23 (AA-7) rockets. MF was the main export variant with somewhat degraded avionics.

The MiG-23 was the last real exporting success for the Soviet Union, as it equipped all its allies and Arab countries. Flogger was the backbone of the Air Defense of Warsaw Pact during the 80-ties. At its peak, there were over 1000 Floggers around Europe.

It saw extensive war usage in the Middle East and Africa, most notably in Iraq (against Iran and in Gulf), Libya and Syria (who suffered heavy losses from the Israelis). It's main pitfall was the swing-wing mechanism which was prone to failure, especially by poor maintenance and bad conditions in some countries. High loss rate caused its bad reputation and the West considered it inferior to their contemporary aircraft, but the 90-ties revealed it as quite a match for an F-16, even in a dog-fight, and it was superior in speed and climb. Most losses were due to maintenance, enemy air superiority and pilot inexperience