Hobby Master Archive

The first MiG-23 was the Soviet Union’s first “third generation” fighter aircraft and entered service in 1970. The upgrade to a Mig-23-98 was intended to extend the life of the MiG-23 until 2010. It would include new radar; new avionics, its air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities were improved by making the aircraft capable of firing R- 27 and R-77 missiles. The MiG-23-98 used systems from the MiG-29SMT aircraft. The MiG-23 was the primary multirole fighter used by the Warsaw Pact countries.