The Vympel R-23 is a medium-range air-to-air missile

Air-to-air missile

An air-to-air missile is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fuelled but sometimes liquid fuelled...

 developed by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 for fighter aircraft

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

. An updated version with greater range, the R-24, replaced it in service. It is comparable to the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 AIM-7 Sparrow

AIM-7 Sparrow

The AIM-7 Sparrow is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, as well as various allied air forces and navies. Sparrow and its derivatives were the West's principal beyond visual...

, both in terms of overall performance as well as role.

Development

Design of a new missile to arm the MiG-23

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third generation jet fighter category, along with similarly aged Soviet fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat"...

 fighter started in the mid-1960s under the direction of V.A. Pustyakov's design team. Known as the K-23 during its design, the new weapon was intended for use against bomber-sized targets, with "snap-up" capability to attack targets at higher altitude than the launch aircraft. It originally was intended to have a dual-mode seeker using both semi-active radar homing

Semi-active radar homing

Semi-active radar homing, or SARH, is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive detector of a radar signal – provided by an external ...

 and infrared

Infrared

Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...

 guidance, but this proved unfeasible, and separate SARH and IR models (zdeliye (Product) 340 and 360, respectively) were developed instead. Test firings were carried out in 1967

1967 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1967:- Events :* The Canadian Golden Centennaires aerobatic team is formed and performs all year to celebrate the Canadian centennial year....

, although the SARH missile's seeker head proved to be extremely problematic.

In 1968 the Soviets acquired an AIM-7 and a Vympel team started copying it as the K-25. A comparison of the two led to the K-23 entering production, based largely on its better range and countermeasures resistance. The K-25 work ended in 1971. Nevertheless, several features of the Sparrow were later used in the Vympel R-27 design.

The missile, designated R-23, entered service in January 1974

1974 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974:-January:* January 26 – The Turkish Airlines Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship Van stalls shortly after after takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport in Izmir, Turkey, crashes, and catches fire, killing 66 of the 73 people on board.* January 30...

, the SARH version as the R-23R, the IR version R-23T. Both versions used the same motor and warhead, which had a lethal radius of 8 m (26 ft). In the west these were known as the AA-7A and AA-7B, respectively. An inert training round, the R-23UT, was also developed.

The airframe featured four delta wing

Delta wing

The delta wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta .-Delta-shaped stabilizers:...

s arranged cruciform just behind the midpoint of the fuselage, and cropped-delta control surfaces at the extreme rear in-line with the wings. Smaller cropped-triangular surfaces are mounted in-line near the nose (their purpose is unclear). The only external difference between the two versions was the nose cone, which was an ogive for the SARH seeker, and shorter (by 30 cm) and more rounded for the IR version.

Maximum effective range for the R-23R was about 14 km (8.8 mi) at low level and 25 km (15.6 mi) at high altitude. The range for the R-23T was about 11 km (6.9 mi), limited by the visual-range needs of its seeker, not the motor. Both could be launched with the aircraft maneuvering at up to 4g

G-force

The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...

 against a target maneuvering at up to 5g. One of its greatest tactical limitations was its lengthy minimum range, which was 1,300 m (4,160 ft) for a rear engagement, and up to 2 km for the SARH version.

Large numbers of R-23s were built., both by Molniya (ex OKB-4) as well as Vympel (ex OKB-134). The R-23 was also produced under license in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 as the A-911.

Starting in 1975 an improved version of the weapon was developed to arm the MiG-23ML/MLD. The resultant SARH R-24R had lock-on after launch capability and expanded range (up to 50 km) and altitude capability (up to 25,000 m/82,000 ft), while the IR R-24T had a much improved seeker with greater sensitivity. Both versions had a larger motor, a heavier warhead, and a greatly reduced minimum range of 500 m (1,600 ft) for a rear-quarter engagement. They also could be used by or against aircraft maneuvering at up to 7g. The missiles were known officially as izdeliye (Product) 140 and 160 in the USSR, and AA-7C and AA-7D in the west.

The R-24 remained in at least limited Russian service until the withdrawal of the last Russian MiG-23s in 1997

1997 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1997:-Events:* British Airways adopts a new livery which consists of a revised logo and around 20 different ethnic tailfins featuring art and designs representing many countries around the world.-January:...

.

Syria

The R-23 was used in the Beqaa Valley

Beqaa Valley

The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...

 in June 1982, during the 1982 Lebanon War

1982 Lebanon War

The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...

. However, it is hard to judge its success. Soviet and Syrian sources claim that it achieved a few kills while the Israelis deny this.

Iraq

Many R-23 kills are reported in the war between Iran and Iraq when Iraqi MiG-23s fired them at Iranian F-14A, F-4D/Es and F-5Es.

Cuba

On 27 September 1987

1987 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1987:-January:* January 1 – United States Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphins and US Navy H-3 Sea Kings help rescue people trapped inside the Dupont Plaza hotel in Puerto Rico after a fire breaks out there late on December 31, 1986.* January 3 –...

, during Operation Moduler

Operation Modular

Operation Modular was a military operation by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War. It formed part of what has come to be called the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale....

, an attempt was mounted to intercept two Cuban FAR MiG-23ML

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third generation jet fighter category, along with similarly aged Soviet fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat"...

s. Captain Arthur Piercy's F1CZ was damaged by either an AA-7 Apex or AA-8 Aphid

Molniya R-60

The Molniya R-60 is a lightweight air-to-air missile designed for use by Soviet fighter aircraft. It has been widely exported, and remains in service with the CIS and many other nations....

 AAM fired head-on by Major Alberto Ley Rivas. The explosion destroyed the aircraft's drag chute

Drogue parachute

A drogue parachute is a parachute designed to be deployed from a rapidly moving object in order to slow the object, or to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute...

 and damaged the hydraulics. Piercy was able to recover to AFB Rundu, but the aircraft overshot the runway. The impact with the rough terrain caused Piercy's ejection seat to fire, but he failed to separate from the seat and suffered major spinal injuries.

Soviet Union

In 1988 Soviet MiG-23MLDs using R-24s downed two Iranian AH-1J Cobras that had intruded into Afghan airspace.

Specifications

• Length: (R-23R, R-24R) 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in); (R-23T, R-24T) 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
• Wingspan: 1 m (3 ft 5 in)
• Diameter: 223 mm (8.8 in)
• Launch weight: (R-23R, R-24R) 222 kg (489 lb), 243 kg (536 lb); (R-23T, R-24T) 215 kg (474 lb), 235 kg (518 lb)
• Speed: Mach 3
  Mach number
  Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
  
  
• Range: (R-23R) 35 km (22 mi); (R-24R) 50 km (31 mi); (R-23T, R-24T) 15 km (9.4 mi)
• Guidance: (R-23R, R-24R) SARH
  Sarh
  Sarh is the third largest city in Chad, after N'Djamena and Moundou. It is the capital of Moyen-Chari region and the department of Barh Köh. It lies 350 miles south-east of the capital Ndjamena on the Chari River...
  
  ; (R-23T, R-24T), infrared-homing
• Warhead: expanding-rod high explosive with proximity fuze
  Proximity fuze
  A proximity fuze is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive device automatically when the distance to target becomes smaller than a predetermined value or when the target passes through a given plane...
  
  , 25 kg (55 lb) (R-23) or 35 kg (77 lb) (R-24)