R-23 (missile)

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R-23 / R-24
AA-7 Apex
MiG-23
R-24R missile
R-24T missile under a Ukrainian MiG-23MLD
R-60
(short white) missiles

The Vympel R-23 (

Vympel in the Soviet Union for fighter aircraft. An updated version with greater range, the R-24, replaced it in service. It is comparable to the American AIM-7 Sparrow
, both in terms of overall performance as well as role.

Development

Design of a new missile to arm the MiG-23 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 (SARH) and infrared (IR) guidance, but this proved unfeasible, and separate SARH and IR models (Izdeliye (Product) 340 and 360, respectively) were developed instead. Test firings were carried out in 1967, although the SARH missile's seeker head proved to be extremely problematic[citation needed].

In 1968 the Soviets acquired an AIM-7 and a Vympel team started copying it as the K-25[

Vympel R-27 design.[citation needed
]

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

radar fused warhead, which had a lethal radius of 8 m (26 ft) and could bring down bomber-sized targets.[1]
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 wings 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: known as "destabilizers", they serve to improve the rudders' efficiency at high angles of attack (the R-60 missile uses the same feature). 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.

The R-23 had a probability of kill of 0.8-0.9, though it could not hit a target maneuvering at greater than 5 G. The launching aircraft was also limited to 4 G when it wished to fire the missile. The infrared R-23T had a minimum launch range of 4 km against a target head-on, but only 1.3 km against a target in a tail-chase engagement. Its maximum range also depended on the target's facing in addition to the launcher's altitude: at low altitudes this was 11 km against head-on targets and 8-10 km against tail-chase targets; at high altitudes it was 11 km and 4 km respectively[citation needed]. The radar-guided R-23R had similar minimum launch ranges, but much greater maximum ranges: 14 km and 4 km against a head-on target at low altitudes, and 25 km and 8-10 km respectively at high altitudes.[1]

Large numbers of R-23s were built, both by Molniya (ex

OKB-134
).

Starting in 1975 an improved version of the weapon was developed to arm the MiG-23ML/MLD, entering service as the R-24 in 1981. Both SARH and IR variants were heavier at 243 and 235 kg (536 and 518 lb) and featured a larger 35 kg (77 lb) warhead with a lethal radius of 10 m (33 ft). The warhead also had a more reliable radar fuse, which greatly reduced the minimum range to 500 m (1,600 ft) for a rear-quarter engagement and 2.5 km (1.6 mi) for a head-on attack. Both could also be launched by and against fighter-sized targets maneuvering at 7 G.[1]

The SARH R-24R featured a RGS-24 seeker head with superior ECM resistance and lock-on-after-launch capability, which avoided interference from the launching aircraft's own radar as the missile passed by its nose. This feature, along with a larger rocket motor and a lengthening of the missile's inertial phase of flight, gave it a 30% longer range than its predecessor: 17 km and 4 km against a head-on and tail-chase target at low altitudes, and 35 km and 20 km respectively at high altitudes.[1][2] The missile could hit targets at altitudes of 40 to 25,000 m (130 to 82,020 ft) and even glide into helicopters which were hovering. The IR R-24T had a much improved TGS-23T4 seeker with greater sensitivity, but still required lock-on before it could be launched. At low altitudes its maximum range was similar to the R-23, but at high altitudes it could be used against a tail-chase target from 20 km and a head-on target from 12 km.[1] 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-23/24 was also produced under license in Romania as the A-911/A901.

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

Combat record

Syria

The R-23 was used in the

BQM-34 drone.[3]

During the

MiG-23s used R-24R missiles to shoot down 2 Jordanian Selex ES Falcos in the vicinity of Daraa province on 15-16 June 2017.[4]

Iraq

Many R-23 / R-24 kills are reported in the war between Iran and Iraq when Iraqi MiG-23s fired them at Iranian F-14As, F-4D/Es and F-5Es.[5]

Angola

On 27 September

R-60 AAM fired head-on by Major Alberto Ley Rivas. The explosion destroyed the aircraft's drag chute 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.[6][7]

Soviet Union

On 28 September 1988, two Soviet MiG-23MLDs piloted by Vladmir Astakhov and Boris Gavrilov shot down two Iranian AH-1J Cobras that had trespassed into Afghan airspace using R-23s.[8]

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
  • 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
    ; (R-23T, R-24T), infrared-homing
  • Warhead: expanding-rod high explosive with proximity fuze, 25 kg (55 lb) (R-23) or 35 kg (77 lb) (R-24)

Operators

Current operators

Former operators

References

Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e Mladenov (2016), Third Generation - 'Flogger' Air-to-Air Missiles
  2. ^ "AA-7 APEX R-23 / R-24". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. ^ Sander Peeters. "Syrian Air-to-Air Victories since 1948 - www.acig.org". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Drones Are Dropping Like Flies From the Sky Over Syria". June 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Boring, War Is (22 March 2017). "Iraq Did All It Could to Kill Hashem All-e-Agha, Iran's Top F-14 Pilot". medium.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  6. ISBN 0-620-24116-0
    .
  7. ^ "Piloto SAAF derribado por MiG-23 cubano". Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  8. ^ "Aircraft Downed During the Cold War and Thereafter". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Trade Registers". armstrade.sipri.org.
  10. ^ Cooper 2018, p. 60
  11. ^ Cooper 2018, p. 66
  12. ^ Gordon & Komissarov 2019, p. 372
  13. ^ Gordon & Komissarov 2019, p. 446
  14. ^ "A (Indian) MiG-23MF launching an R23". www.bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  15. ^ Cooper 2018, p. 23
  16. ^ Gordon & Komissarov 2019, p. 489
  17. ^ Gordon & Komissarov 2019, p. 223
Bibliography

External links

Media related to Vympel R-23/R-24 at Wikimedia Commons

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