Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

what is it?

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a single-engined, supersonic, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircraft such as the Su-17 "Fitter". It was the first Soviet fighter to field a look-down/shoot-down radar, the RP-23 Sapfir, and one of the first to be armed with beyond-visual-range missiles.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 14 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,500 km/htop speed
• range 1,900 kmwithout refuelling
• size 17.8 tmax take-off weight
• built 5,047made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 59 years ago, in 1967.
• 🏎️Top speed is 19.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 2.0 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,900 km: 11× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1967-06-10

introduced

1970

status

still flying

number built

5,047

role

fighter aircraft (m series), fighter-bomber (b series)

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG

engines

1× Khatchaturov R-35-300

crew

1

length

16.7 m

wingspan

14 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

17.8 t

top speed

2,500 km/h

range

1,900 km

ceiling

18,500 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.