1УИС-23В / 32-24 MiG 23BN / 32-23 ІУИВ 23ВІУІ / 3225 MiG 23BK / 32-26

In 1969 the OKB prepared the preliminary design for a light attack air­craft (shturmovik) intended to destroy either isolated or multiple, fixed or mobile targets day and night. According to the design department, this aircraft would also be able to accomplish auxiliary missions such as attacking helicopters and transport aircraft at low and medium alti­tudes. At the time the Soviet tactical air command needed an attack

The low-pressure tires for the main gear increased the wheel track The MiG-23B could carry up to three metric tons of bombs.

aircraft that could be mass-produced inexpensively and one that offered at least the same capabilities as the American Northrop F-5A, the Franco-British Jaguar, and the Italian Fiat G-91Y.

The initial plan called for a subsonic aircraft, but the concept was quickly modified because the aircraft had to be capable of supersonic speed dashes to get out of dangerous territory. It also had to be capable of attacking aircraft with its cannons and IR-guided missiles once it had dropped its bomb load. It was intended as a completely new type of air­craft; however, in the interest of production rationalization it was decided in the end that the MiG-23 airframe would be used. The new design—or izdelye 32-24—produced in 1970 the MiG-23B fighter – bomber. Externally, it differed from the MiG-23S only in the nose. Tak­ing the aircraft’s main role—attack of ground targets—into account, О KB engineers completely reshaped the aircraft’s nose section after removing the radar in order to improve the pilot’s sight forward and downward; hence that peculiar look that Soviet pilots have dubbed out – konos (duck bill).

The MiG-23B was unlike the MiG-23S in many respects:

—it was powered by the Lyulka AL-21F-300 turbojet rated at 7,840 daN

(8,000 kg st) diy and 11,270 daN (11,500 kg st) with afterburner

— the Sapfir radar was replaced by the PrNK Sokol-23S nav-attack system that could find even the smallest ground targets; the PrNK was designed for level-flight, dive, or dive-recovery bombing and for level-flight cannon fire

—the front fuselage sides were covered with armor plates to protect the pilot against enemy fire

—the fuel tanks were filled by an inert gas as fast as the fuel was emptied to prevent explosions in case of a direct hit —the aircraft was equipped with a complete array of active and pas­sive radar-jamming devices for its own defense

Besides the twin-barrel GSh-23L cannon embedded in the fuselage, the aircraft could field a powerful cluster of weaponry at six store sta­tions (four under the fuselage and two under the wing glove)—air-to – surface missiles, large-caliber rockets, automatic rocket pods, or multi­ple racks with four typical loads: eighteen 50-kg (110-pound) bombs, eighteen 100-kg (220-pound) bombs, eight 250-kg (550-pound) bombs, or six 500 kg (1,100-pound) bombs. For the first time on a Soviet fight­er-bomber, the MiG-23B could carry beneath the wing glove two UPK- 23-250 gun pods (the first figure gives the cannon’s caliber, the second the number of rounds).

The MiG-23B made its first flight on 20 August 1970 with P. M. Ostapyenko at the controls. It passed the state trials and entered pro­duction in 1971

The BN variant (32-23) used another engine—the R-29B-300 rated at 7,840 daN (8,000 kg st) diy and 11,270 daN (11,500 kg st) with after­burner—and the Sokol-23N nav-attack system, but externally the MiG – 23B and MiG-23BN were identical. The MiG-23BM (32-25) differed from the BN in its computerized PrNK-23 nav-attack unit; the MiG-23BK (32- 26) featured different equipment. Only twenty-four MiG-23Bs were built, but the aircraft’s airframe, engine, and systems were upgraded a number of times by retrofit or other means.

Specifications

Span (72° sweep), 7.779 m (25 ft 6.3 in); span (16° sweep), 13.965 m (45 ft 9.8 in); fuselage length, 15.349 m (50 ft 4.3 in); wheel track, 2.728 m (8 ft 11.4 in); wheel base, 5.991 m (19 ft 7.9 in); wing area (72° sweep), 34.16 m2 (367.7 sq ft); wing area (16° sweep), 37.35 m2 (402 sq ft); takeoff weight in clean configuration, 15,600 kg (34,380 lb); takeoff weight with three 790-1 (209-US gal) drop tanks and four UB-16-57 rocket pods, 18,600 kg (40,995 lb); max takeoff weight with six FAB – 500 bombs, 18,900 kg (41,655 lb); internal fuel, 4,500 kg (9,920 lb); max landing weight, 15,200 kg (33,500 lb); wing loading (72° sweep), 456.7-553.3 kg/m2 (93.6-113.4 Ib/sq ft); wing loading (16° sweep),

417.7-506 kg/m2 (85.6-103.7 lb/sq ft); max operating limit load factor, 7 at < Mach 0.8, 6 at > Mach 0.8.

Performance

Max speed in clean configuration (72° sweep), 1,880 km/h or Mach

I. 7 at 8,000 m (1,015 kt at 26,250 ft), max speed in clean configuration (45° sweep), 1,100 km/h or Mach 0.91 at sea level; max speed in clean configuration (16° sweep), 935 km/h or Mach 0.8 at 3,500 m (505 kt at

II, 500 ft); radius of action, lo-lo-lo, 5 min on target with four 250-kg (550-lb) bombs, 600 km (370 mi).