Mig 23 Mystery

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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCENATIONAL AIR & SPACE INTELLIGENCE CENTER (AF ISR AGENCY)WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OHIO

Colonel Mark E. Hess .AUG 25 2009Vic e CommanderNational Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC)4180 Watson WayWright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-5648John Greenewald, Jr.

Dear Mr. GreenewaldThis letter is in reference to your Freedom oflnfonnation Act (FOIA) request for a copy of the

document entitled The Mystery in Soviet Skies, our case number 2009-01109-AF.After reviewing the document you requested, it was determined that it is releasable:. We have

reproduced a copy of the document for you as a result of your Freedom of Information Act request,however, the document is copyrighted and later copying oftbe document by you may be an infringementof the owner's copyright. Our reproduction for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act is a so-called"fair use" exception to copyright infringement Your later reproduction may not be subject to a fair useexception. We recommend that you receive pennission from the copyright owner prior to any furtherreproductions of this document.

Your request was processed in the "All Other" category. The document we are providing containsa total of 14 pages . All fees have been waived.

Sincerelywt I--+---MARK E. HESS, Colonel, AFAttachmentRequested Document

-Freedom Throuah Vlai/ance -


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NCLASSIFIED I LIMITED

MIG-23 - The Mystery in Soviet Skies

FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY DIV WRIGHT-PAITERSON AFB OH

11 DEC 1981

Distribution authorized to U.S. Gov't. agencies only;Proprietary Information; 18 JAN 1982. Other requests shall bereferred to Foreign Technology Div., Attn: STINFO.Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433.


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'0 FOREIGN TECHNOL OG "." DIVISION

HIC-23 - - THE MYSTERY IN SOVIET SK IESby

Jiri Hornat OTIO 819.8aU'" .,J E

Distribution limited to U.J)CovcrN:lent Agencies Only; 1" JAN 1982Proprietary (Copyright) Information;Other requests for this documentmus t be referred to FTD/STINFO.

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EDITED ntANSLATION(,;) / ij FTD-I0(RS}T-IJ95-81 , - 11 December 1981HICROFICHE NR : FTD - 81-C-002028L) MlC-2) - - nlE HYSTERY IN SOVIET SKIES

" ri"l, . HornatEnglish pages: 11Source : Leteetvi-Xo smonautika. Nr. 5, 1968, pp . 24 - 21Country of 0[1&1n: CzechoslovakiaTranslated by: LEO KANNER ASSOC!f.!SF33657-81-D-0264Requester: FTD/TQTMDi s tribution limited to U.S. Government Agencies Only; 18 JAN Proprietary (Copyright) InforaatioDi Oth er requests forthis document must be referred to FtD/STINFO.

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1M II TIUMSLATIOM IS .. RENDITION Of THE 01i11>1.MAl. fOIU]GH TU TWITHOUT AHl'AMAl YTlC.u. OltEOITOIiIAL COIUl.EHT. SYAT!W.r:lfUOR THEOltiU.DVOCATEOORIMI"LlfD,UfTHOstOFTHe: SOURCE."'000HOT " ' t c ( nU l l TREflECTTHEO'IHIOH Of THE fOIlEIC'" TECHNOLOGY DI.VISION,

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Date 1\ Doc 19 81

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HlG-23 - - tHE MYSTERY IN SOVIET SUESJir!lk>rN:t

AccessionPorItTIS ORW: 0DfIC TAB R1Unannouncea 0JusU!1oet1oB.Dlst!'lbUtlon/Availability CodesAvaH and/orDl st SpecialIE

The FactsThe great display staged by Soviet aviation on 19 July 1967 inDomodyedovo

culminated in introduction oi four prototypes of formerly absolutelY unknownheavy je t fight er aircraft . lbe almost standard feature of all Soviet supersonic aircraft up to that time was dolta wings or a t l eu t considerably swept- back vings and, thus, it rather surprising to see wine surfaceswith a relatively small sweepback and a considerable depth of profile along theentire length on an aircraft which, as the local commentator claimed. attainedspeeds on the order of Kach 3. At first sight the new fighter aircraft resembledthe heavy American fighter Viailante. Its almost square fuselageand the shape of the intake ports actually of the NorthAmerican de Sign, but i t soon became obvious that both the thickness and spanchord ratio as well as that of the vertical empennage areas of t he typevera much smaller. 1he new aircraft diff.red fro. the Vigilante also by the number of rudder tails projecting froa the upper corners of the rear part of thefuselage and deflecting outward at a relatively sharp angle.,

Nothln& except the configuration of the aircraft itself gave on indicationas to wllich Soviet design bureau Vas the origina tor of this most interesting ofall dcbutants. However, Western aviation journclistsremembercd thewords of Alexander Yokovlev, uttered in Paris at last year ' s Salon de l'Aeronoutique. The Soviet designer then stated that his newes t and also Ifst combat aircraft, ... mUitary milchine capoblc of attaining the Hach number 3. would oppe:.r atDomodycdovo (and that his design bureQu would subsequen t lyly in tlla design of e1vll transport 'thus, the lR),stery surrounding the

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new aitcr.,(t seemed

tI'Ito be solved, as Foxbat, the code nallll!; :lss1gned to this .:Iiter:lCt

by KATO , "".H, only o,11tcru(t :It the. ent irc shO'o' about which the c()C';IIcnt:ltor st.,tcdthat i t "':IS capab!e of att:lining three times the speed of sound and, finlllly, seeming to warrant meeting of such expectations. Notwithstanding, there appeared to be ,i-sa.c doubts in the circles of specilllists whether an aircraf t of such ,configuration could actually perform claimed.

let us return to the time preceding the Domodyedovo show by two yearsand .a quartt:r. In Apr1l 1965 it w.:ts announc ed in l!oscOW' that a two-engine jet air Icraft, desi&nated as -266. se t a new speed record in a 1.000 km closed circuit by .an average speed of 2,320 km/h with an on-board load of 2,000 kg. The aircraft was ip1lot.ed by Alexander Fedotov (who, arteng others, set on 7 Octobu 1961 a st i l l validrecord by flying the -166 aircraft at an average speed of 2,401 luI/h in a 100 lao IIcircuit) . seemed to conflTm the common consensus that the -266 is a version iof the two -engine delta-wing fighter introduced in prototype above 1Ushinoin 1961, bearing the !\AlO code designation Flipper and known voddwide as the MIG-23. IHowever, this Flipper failed to show up at the Domodyedovo show at all . IIIAdditional news regard ing the aircraft E-266 surfaced in autumn of last year. I ,on 5 October i t \las again Fedotov using tbis aircraft, attained analtitude of 30.010 m (vith a l oad of 2,000 kg). Undisclosed booster means wereused in take-oft. On 1 Hovember Mikhail Komarov, usins the same flewa 500 km closed at an speed of 2,930 km/h. thus topping the recordof the YF-12A of 2,644.220 km/h :lnd, three days later, the -266 again flew witha load of 2,000 kg a 1.000 km circuit. The attained average speed of 2,910 km/hrepresented


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f;ghccrwith 3 long fU$@lage terminated by cxhoust pipes of two in- l ine engines,by a lorge radar cone protruding frog the intake ports in the nose

a not toO large triangular ving carrying two lorge guided 81$5i1e5,which was demonstrated above in1961. The E- 266 Foxbat differs from it in i ts confiluracion to the point that in no case could i t be one of i ts versions." After all . th e HIG-23 is a direct, if considerably enlarged, developmental [ontinuntionof the popultlr "tveneyone" show in a t le


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l\'hat thell did beCQI:Ie of this high-pcrfot1l1.1nca aircraft which, allegedly.toccthcr \"1th 1upolcv's Fiddler (oHid:!1 dcsign:ltion allegedly TU-19) ;lndanti-aircraftmissiles 10135 [ 0 form the backbone of Soviet ant1air defense?\ias it actually replaced by iClprovcd v2ri


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"stIl l remains to be 1s how .did this 35 HIC-23

.1ctU;Jlly COllI\! nbouL. 1110 :In:.vct is much c':)!";!cr to find. I t is .sufficient to leaf through the relevantvolumes of Jane's All the "'odd'sAIrcraft . Volume1963/64 shows a view of the Flipper from sidas st i l l the designation tnC-1 . The next, 1964/65. stOltes: "It Is believed [hntHI'C-23 is usedby the Soviet air force as Do standard defensive interceptor for short ungl!S."A different alleGation is found in Jane's 1965/66: "Referrals to theFlipper DS HIG-23 appear premature." And. finally, the sul:sequent volumes f a i l to l i s t this type at all , meaning that 1f it s t i l l exists it probably does notplay any significant role. The fact re=ains thatofficialSoviet releases didnot ever refer to i t as HIG-23. ThU$, we are of the opinion that we can confirm that HIG-23 is actually E-266 (Foxbat).

HIG- 23 versusYF-l2ABreaking of the record set by theYF-12A aircraft in Hay 1965 whith Peter

Datapenko accomplished by almost 200 km/h assumes evenmora si&nificancewhenwe take into consideration the already oentioned average speed of 2,930 ka/hachieved by H. Komarov on a 500 kg circuit. The altitude record of A. Fedotovprobably does bear comparisonwith the record set by the YF-I2A (24. 450 . ) ,because theAmerican aircraft flew at that altitude horizontally, vhile in thecase of the Soviet aircraft i t was most probably the apex of relatively steepcurve begun by "zooming t1 at ful l thrust of both engines inwhich the l iftingforce of the played a minimal function.

Nevertheless, al l records set by the Foxbat represent very high and impressive performances by supposedly conventional interceptor, if we consider thatthey such 2 highly specialized and aerodynamical ly sophisticated air craft as is theAmericanYF-12A . The record set in a closed 500 km circuit i s made interestingpriaarily by tile bc t that M1G -23 was capable of maintaining .i ts averoge speed of H3Ch 2.76 even in a cross bank of 40


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, ,, A truly amnio. !indinsma4a in setting the record On It 1,000 kll dr,cuit ,,.:asthe filct that the new HtC-23 canmaintdn the "peed of Hach 2.74 for more tlHln 20minutes. 35 is well known, al.cst 20% of fuel of the take-ofr weight 1s consumed during climbing and gathering speed. Thus, it appears prob.:ablc that thefl ights s tor ted with Oldd1t10na1 pods of fuel tanks, which seeJI$ to coincidewithreports that auxiliary means were used in [ake-off.

The E-266 was announced at theair shaY as an a ll-weather interceptor. western sources describe i t as a combination interceptor/assault/reconnaissance aircraft . I ts closest design equivalent would most probably have been the twin- en aine Hawker P.1129 the dovelopment of vhich was scrapped for the benefit of the

also scrapped TSR.2.

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bulging lO(lIM edgeJ IIOUJ..llIg tile. nwWl .candill!! gc.a.'1. nit! .lC!.lii.-.imbe.dcdcomoot to(ld hnl).).t p.'wbttbflj .blJt'tUf!lt?It:tll.t(oLl I i..A ioca.ted fK...t1L'ec!'1I tftrm.

AA .uLtMUU.119 6ea.tuJLe L& Ub t tl\lO d.Vte.c.tumal. .t4.il .6U1L'acu.t\Ub tlcce6.6.iWed by .tile (lUge and luide. "box" 0 ' tJlt 6u.6e.lage.. UlIl'ltll).r eM geileM.tcd at !lutg\!. illc.idl!Jlee angtu beJt.i.nd 6udl a lMge body lIot only callcel,but. c.an evell .t.eve,/t.6e the. tU-iUCJIC!J 0' the JtuddC!Jt. 1n ,tIU! ca6e. 0& tileV.ig.i.lcllLte4UtCJUl6.t .th.i6 lOll.!. .ill 1UJ.ddell. e'&ieiencl) .i.6 e.t..im.ina.ted by m 91lea.t luugftt. Sovietdu.i.gneJl4 avu..iltd tiU!JMe.t.Ve6 06 lell4 c.onvl!J1t.i.ollitl. eve.n tJlOl.Iglt tUcd po.!oJib.i.Li.t1.e.J,4ucit tth, t . g.J .in one. vVt.6.Um 06 theHalCfzelt P. 1134 ftdLich, by tileUWj. 1Ct16 t.o a.t-,w" 6petM 06 1100" 3.51. A"" '" 0, WIs'au.x.i.U4lUJ 6""6


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i .. j,evcnH so, it just eould not hOlve been completely cUmin.:lted in the one singlemonth th.:lt elapsed between P.uis t1nd DOlllodycdovo .

Another matter needing c:l uif ieat ion ic the III!c.ord set by the -2 66 in 1965. ,,Did the speed of 2,401 km/h mean the prototype of the Foxbat did not have ati t s tJispos.:ll ther. the enaines it uses todOlY? But the &-166 used to fly \lith apower unit having a thrust of 10,000 kp already four yeOlIs ea r lIer. Did the development of an effective afterburning system take such a long time, or a lC theengines currently used by the tlIG-23 mueh stronger than has been est imted?

We do not know. one thing is certain . The same DS in space research, Soviet designers achieved results similar to those attained by Americansbut by a much less demanding. and also cheaper and more approach.While i t is true that this may not necessarily be the optimum future approach, weneed not assu that MIG-23 is the last word of the Soviet concept of design .

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Approximate sketch of three views ofthe E-266 aircraft made on basis ofpbotoaraphs

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Tho probably mos t faithful depiction by an extant sketchshowing three views of the prototype fighter aircraftbearing the dedgnation ''tIlG-23'' Flipper

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nIts not cocmonly known snapshot of the Flipper comesfrom the Dutch periodical Cockpit. I t certainly ref, placed thb high- performance interceptor, ' I f '" .. -....::.... 'ft 'J.', 1""," ...0 'I:'r , ' "1. . 'f ' "' ., 'f ', .... "'':-:_1\ (' . ' ::0.' , - , "l, .!,I "J".. .... " i \ '. . . .. '\::f , " ', ' ' . . . . . ..,. " - " , : ; : , , , : , , " ,I II, I "'. ' ., 15.,-I ....' ' ' ' '- .;ti ,or the twin-clnslno Sukhoy Su- l l?10fJtl, '----- - - - ' : : : : ;-=-:.:..= .


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, A strongly rctouched photo shows only one small surface1 under t lu: nose cone (other: aircraft had two or none) and .1 dHfcm:!nt arrangem en t of antenna heusines on the rudders

..Side-viC\' cOlllparison of the l'!lC-23 (E-266) and Lockbeed 'iF-12A which hasdrc!ady offici.lllly duonstrated i t s capability of excce:ding Nae:h-3 speeds.to Same lcalc

aSketch of the first version of Hawker P.1134was 1n developmant in 1959-1962 . The aircraft ofan everall we ight of 14,000 kg was to be powered bythe Rolls- Royce engine RB.146 with .II. of5,990/7.530 kp and two ram-jet propulSion units.Irs length wingspan were 19.65 and 9.14 m.The one-seater aircraft was to b@ us@d for aari31SUrvaillanc@ at sp@eds between H3ch 3 4nd 4,"

,"This snapshot appeared in issue 10/67 of Aviatsbi kosmonavtika. a monthly of the Soviet air force.Deserving of notiee are the small vertical surfacesat th@ vins t.ips

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