interesante que se ha puesto en acig.org:
Cita:
In 1982 the first Mig-23MFs were delivered to Iraq, with them came the R-23R/T missiles. Iraqi MF carried both R-23R/T at the same time. Iraqi MF were equipped with Saphir-23 radar which was generations ahead of the radar onboard the Mig-21bis/Mig-23MS. In 1983, the Mig-23MFs were participating in the air war with Iran on the southern front. They locked on Iranian fighthers from ranges of 30-35 kilometers. 1983 was not a busy year for the air war, so few air clashes between Iraqi and Iranian aircraft occured, very few, maybe less than 5 R-23s were fired claiming 2-3 Iranian F-4s and F-5s. The Iranian fighters tended to withdraw when locked upon by Iraqi Mig-23MF radar.
Iranian F-4 RWR were not capable of distinguishing the Mig-23MF radar charachteristics, niether were the AN/ALQ-101 and AN/ALQ-119 pods equipping it. No jamming was ever reported by Iraqi Mig-23MF pilots
In July 1984 the 63 squadron was equipped with Mig-23ML and In August 1984 one of its airplanes managed to shoot down an F-14 about 80 km deep over Iranian territory. During various skirmishes over Iranian territory and waters 1984-1988 the Mig-23ML managed to shoot down several F-4 Phantoms using R-24Rs. Iranian GCI usually never let their aircraft reach to a distance less than 30Km from Iraqi fighters. Total Iraqi R-24 fired would not exceed 50 by any meassure.
Constant maneovering were adopted by Iranian fighters mainly F-4s and F-14s to avoid the clash with Iraqi Mig-23MLs. Iraqi Mig-23s became the backbone of the Iraqi interceptor force after 1984, however they were late comers to the show, by 1984 the backbone of the IRIAF was broken, air superiority was gained. Iraqi Mig-23 were conducting routine CAP over the northern part of the Gulf, and over the Iranian cities of Ahvaz, Dezful and Kermanshah with no chalange from either the Iranian jets or air defence. To attest to their capabilities during 1983-1988 only one Mig-23MF and another Mig-23ML were lost to various Iranian assets.
One cannot compare the Iraqi experience with that of the Angolan just because there is no way to compare the South Africans pilots with the Iranian ones.
R-24T were used to a lesser extent because they were second options to Iraqi pilots and their lock on ranges were sometimes 60% from that of the R-24R. However the R-24R could lock-on a 10sq meter RCS from a range exceeding 50 km. The R-24T could lock on an SR-71 from 98km head-on and against a single piston engine aircraft the range drops to 8 km which was obvious. During various experimintation with these numbers, IrAF managed to verify some of them using Mig-21 as a known target and performing various lock on using both R-24R and T at different altitudes.
The Iraqi experience with Saphir radar was a reliable one and never there was a case when the radar failed during engagement. Iraqi R-24 R had no Inertial systems with radio corrections, R-27R supplied to Iraq had this capability.
It is important to analyse the Syrian experience carefully and draw the correct conclusions, maybe in that particular incident the Syrian pilot was trying to lock on an RPV with a reduced RCS, which caused big trouble not for Syrian pilots, but for Egyptians and Iraqis as well. An Iraqi Mig-23ML pilot tried to lock an Israeli RPV with his R-24R but that was useless so he maneovered and blasted it using an R-24T. Trying to lock-on Predators using R-24R/T,Magic from the same flight level was a waste of time. Only the Mig-25 locked on it in a LD mode using R-40RD.
Iraq was looking forward to replace its MIg-21/23 with SU-27 series and the Mig-25 with Mig 31 aircrafts. By summer 1990 these plans were hard to implement with the UN embargo.
The Saphir radar used a monopulse on recieve system which is a very powerful ECCM technique and I am not aware of any radar of this type that was effectively jammed even by the Americans to te extent that the screen is white. However AN/ALQ-131 jammers used VGPO techniques to prevent lock-on by R-24R on the aircraft carrying it be it an F-16 or an F-111.
Some of the information presented on this thred as based on "Iraqi experience" need to be corrected. The Mig-23MF/ML experience was a succesful one in Iraq. I really dont know the basis of the conclusions made on this experience. Iraq had 2 squadrons of Mig-23MLs and an OCU squadron of Mig-23MF, when needed it could be turned into a operational fighter squadron. the maximum number of Mig-23ML participting in any air battle during the war with Iran was four aircrafts, to say that more than that was shear fantsy by Iranian sources.
As for the battle that occured on Augus 11th 1984, the whole battle occured at an altitude of 4 kms. The first Iranian F-4E started maneovering before the firing of the first R-24R and the second F-4E was also maneovering before the launch of the R-24T and continued to do so after that. Analysis of the data after the battle that the Iraqi Mig-23ML should have chased the Iranian F-4E and that would have been the end of both F-4s, however the Iraqis were operating under strict GCI and they had already shot down an F-14, A senior Iraqi officer present in the GCI thought that they shouldnt continue their persuit.
Cita:
In April 1991,the Iraqi Air Force formed a committee to draw the necessary lessons from the 1991 Air war with the United States. In the field of Air to Air war it selected the Mig-23ML and Mig-25 PDS as the two fighters that would encounter the US aircrafts. The Iraqi Mig-29 had trouble with their engines and they were no longer in flying conditions for sustained periods. The Mirage F-1 was a good aircraft with modern equipment but the Matra Super 530 was no longer a match to modern US weapons and was very much susceptible to jamming.
Among many things that needed improvement were the situational awareness and the ECM equipment of the Mig-23ML. Iraq received its Mig-23ML in 1983 and used it for the first time in August 1984 against the Iranians. The Aircraft had a good radar and good armament but it had a miserable Radar Warning Reciever, the Sirena III. This RWR was capable of detecting late 1950s airborne radar only. In 1993-1996 there was a tremendous effort to modernise the Mig-23ML by equipping it with SPO-15 RWR. This was the best the Iraqis had. SU-22 M4 were stripped of their SPO-15 and the system was installed on the Mig-23ML. Chaff and Flare system of the KDS type were also taken from the same aircrafts and again installed on the Mig-23ML. To protect the Mig-23ML from newly introduced AIM-120 Amraam the Iraqi Mig-23ML were equipped with French manufactured Remora Active Self protection Jamming pods. These pods were originally received in 1984 along with the Mirage F-1 batch of that year. The Remora was successfully used against all types of Iranian aircraft. In 1988 the Iraqi air force EW department modified the Remora pod to make it capable of breaking the lock by F-15, F-16 radars. The French experts on this pod who worked in Iraq were aware of this modification but decided not to raise any complaint.The remora pod is a self contained jammer which doesn’t need any interface with the aircraft avionics. In the mid 1990s there were several experiments with the adaptation of that pod on the Mig-23ML. The same pod was also modified to be carried on the Iraqi Mig-29 which had its engine partially rehabilated by russian experts who visited Iraq for a small period.
The Remora pod proved itself several times when the aircrafts carrying it defeated AIM-120 launched by US F-16s. Iraqi radio intercepts of US pilot communication has clearly shown that they were aware of the presence of some sort of jamming . he told the AWACS controller that there were some pulses visible on his radar screen (in the F-16 cockpit) and that he doesn’t think the AMRAAM he has launched is going to find its target.
After Operation Desert Fox December 16-19, 1998 and during all air skirmishes occuring in the skies of Iraq. The Mig-23ML was carrying the remora pod always. In the year 2000, the Mig-23ML was equipped with US GPS system (Civilian code) and that system was linked to the navigation and guidance of that plane so it can guide it in an automatic pre programmed flight.
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