Curiously enough though, in the endless oddities and quirks of the MiG-23, it did have a… thumbstick mounted sight…?
The black button on the left of the stick, featured on the ML onwards, could be used to steer the seeker of the R-60. Apparently. This was how they steered the Kh-23 as well. So that’s neat.
@csla1972 - I don’t know anything about that, but I’d believe it given that the MLA was a relatively minor update of the ML. New gunsight and radar, that’s it. Although speaking of - I’m not sure about Germany ever having the MLA - to the best of my knowledge, the MLA was never exported - Germany would’ve had the MF and ML, but the only version of the MLA they would’ve had would have been the export version MiG-23MLAE-2, which is effectively identical the MLD but without the aerodynamic improvements
The german MiG-23ML is an MLA. The ML was never exported so every export ML is an MLA.
There were not a lot of “pure” MLs and those that did exists were converted to ML(A) during their life.
The actual designations are 23-12 (ML) and 23-12A (ML(A))
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If that’s the case, then what of the export versions of the MLA, MLAE (23-19) and MLAE-2 (23-22)? The MLA was in service with the USSR Air Force as well, it would be odd for an export version to be used domestically
The MLA exports were just called MLA.
23-19 and 23-22 are export versions of the MLD. As can be seen by the SPO-15 fairings. They’re ML externally but internally MLDs
Per Markovsky:
However, it’s worth
noting that the name MiG-23MLD encompassed two
different versions of the fighter, even differing in
appearance - the aforementioned export aircraft of the
factory’s production, labeled “Product 23-22,” and the
domestic ones upgraded in service following the “Product
23-18” pattern.
In 1982, another aircraft under the designation
MiG-23MLD (Product 23-19) was developed, which was
essentially a MiG-23ML with some equipment
differences. It featured the SP0-15LM warning receiver
and the A-321 short-range navigation system. The
avionics and armament remained the same, including the
N003 radar. This aircraft was recommended as a
reference for the modernization of operational MiG-23ML
aircraft in the Soviet Air Force, but eventually, a more
extensive upgrade pattern, referred to as “Product 23-18,”
was implemented
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To add on to my previous comment you can tell apart ML from MLA by looking at their HUD, their mode selector has a lot of extra options
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Yeah, that matches what I read in the research for the MLDG. I forget that the export versions of the MLD had very little in common with the MLD itself and only really had the name attached to it for… marketing purposes, I guess. MLAE is 23-22, MLAE-2 is 23-19.
In a somewhat convoluted development process, two aircraft were presented in 1982 to be the future of the MiG-23 - both based on the MLA airframe, one called Product 23-19 and the other called Product 23-35. 23-19 was selected as the reference aircraft which eventually evolved into the MLD (with production code 23-18), while 23-35 still showed some promise and eventually went on the be the first of the electronic warfare MiG-23s culminating in the MLDG. However, Product 23-19 itself was still produced as MiG-23MLAE - the export option for third world countries, while MiG-23MLAE-2 (Product 23-22) was offered to the Warsaw Pact: effectively an MLD (to the point where they even still retained the wiring for dropping Nuclear Bombs) but without the aerodynamic improvements, hence why some museums label them as MLDs, even though they lack the distinctive vortex generators that identify the MLD. To my knowledge, only Bulgaria and Germany had these “MLDs”.
See: Bulgarian MiG-23"MLDs". Interestingly enough though Bulgaria was the only Warsaw Pact state to get real MLDs as well:
Check the vortex generators in the wing root.
I saw the label “MLAE” (“E” for " Экспорт"/“Export”) while going through the Russian wikipedia page for the Flogger and a few scant places elsewhere. I’m open to the idea that “MiG-23MLAE” or “MiG-23MLAE-2” could just be internal names only used by Soviet Inventory, since 23-22 and 23-19 were usually referred to as MLDs (even though they just straight up aren’t, 23-22/MLAE is literally just an ML with a new RWR,) but, they were presented as the export options of the MLD and in a weird twist the export option was built before the domestic version. Though having two different export versions that are different from each other but etymologically identical barring the production codes is something they did with the MF, too. Warsaw Pact one was 23-11A, Third World one was 23-11B. And that’s not even taking into account the headache of countries just calling their ML/MLA/"MLD"s something else anyway.
I will say this, though, I genuinely didn’t know the MLA was exported. But I forgot the “MLAE” was marketed as “an MLD, trust”
Germany never got these MLDs, only MF, UB and MLA
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And BN, don’t forget- and one MiG-23S, apparently
So, the LSK never had the ML? Only the MLA?
I believe, ML was never exported, as all ML in use by export customers were ML(A)s
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This is wrong. ML HUD looks like this.
The previous were MLD (with one being an ML demonstrator) . but again its easy to tell apart from MLA since it has the two side light bars but no mode selector
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