milosh wrote:Iranians done lot of propaganda BS about war, one of those it three MiG-23 down by one AIM-54
I think even Tom Copper start doubting in what he wrote after he talked with iraq's pilots.
That may be true. But it speaks volumes Mig-23's (and other aircraft) would bug out when painted by the AWG-9. You can also look at the remaining stock of F-14's in Iran and Mig's in Iraq after the war.
If I'm not mistaken, Mig-23's have fallen to F-4's, F-14's, F-15's and F-16's. I'm not aware of any F-18's with MIg-23 kills. Only those 2 Mig-21's in ODS. I would certainly hope if presented the opportunity, they could finish off Mig-23's if necessary.
It did some things well (acceleration), but too many things were sub-par to make it an effective combat aircraft. Perhaps as this thread says, the worst post 70's ACM platform there is/was. Also, I think it speaks volumes the Chinese never sprang for the type. At the time, China went all in on Mig-21's and the Chinese derivative (F-6?). I would have thought the Mig-23 was enviable, at least in terms of range. The reason I speculate they never bought the Mig-29 either, as the Flanker is much better suited to the SCS theater.