firebarMig the beam maneuver is obsolete against any TWS radar mode. It can only counter velocity seach (VS) mode. The F-15 has TWS.
The TWS is a Doppler mode. As such it can be beaten by radial, beam maneuvers.
That is why the F-14 crew used plain pulse mode against such targets.
firebarWhat fairy tales. Both the F-104 and F-4 could go faster than that.
Says who?
Both F-4E and F-104 Manuals say 2.15 Mach is engine limit, caused by 127 degrees C limit compressor inlet temperature.
Refers to Standard atmosphere.
firebarNothing can escape MiG-25/31:
DAILY EXPRESS:
firebarR-27 was a unreliable crappy missile (just check its performace in Etiopian theater)
It is better than any Sparrow. It has Inertial mid course guidance with monopulse seeker, and has far more range (Total Impulse, if you know what it is).
R-60 was a poor attempt of a maneuverable missile .. it lacked the IR seeker to be all-aspect missile
There is a few fighters which can evade it, it is too maneuverable. And R-60M is all-aspect.
R-73 missile was not available to service use until 87-88
The super missile R-73 entered in 1985, and was 20 years ahead of its west counterparts.
Its advantages even compared to any present IR A-A missiles are TVC combined with large diameter high energy rocket engine.
And about Mig-25 it was a maintenace nightmare.
What?
The MiG-25 was built to be maintenance free. See “Mig pilot” by John Barron.
Just face it Russia and USSR can’;t compare with West in R&D and Electronics.
Ha,ha,ha. That was good.
-Ask Isrealis about SAM-6 radar. It was monopulse, with fast frequency changing, doppler, CW. Could not be jammed. For decades there were nothing similar in the west.
-Look at Smerch radar of MiG-25. It works in 2 different frequencies, so can hardly be jammed. No west equivalent.
-Look at Zaslon phased array radar of MiG-31. Again no west equivalent for decades. It enabled to scann full radar area (70×70 degrees) measured in miliseconds, compared to, say APG-71 of F-15E, 14 seconds. !!!
It also enabled MiG-31 to use Track-While-Scann mode in full 70×70 degrees area, compared to the pathetic 20×15 degrees of the best west fighters, until F-22.
-Look at large off-bore sight R-73. Nothing could escape it. More that 15 years ahead of any similar seeker in the west.
-Look at Helmet Mounted Sights. Again Russians perfected it. A decades ahead of the West.
I am talking of fully developed, service equipment. Not of testing effort failures, as has been in the west.
firebarThe MiG-23ML can do all maneuvers at 28 degrees AoA: the loops,turns, split-s, etc.
It speaks of its very good maneuverability at high Alpha.
The F-4 or F-14 would depart at these high AoA, in maneuvers.
And the F-16 can’t achieve these AoA at all. It is electronically limited to 25 degrees because it departs at about 28 degrees, even in 1G !!!
The Mig-23 ML can do all maneuvers up to 8.5 G and, what is more important, it can do 8.5 G maneuvers at 28 degrees AoA.
For comparison, the F-14 ( both A and D) have G limit of 5.2 in roll maneuvers and 6.5 G limit for 1G. !!! Patheticaly low. Sorry, Manual.
Also, the F-14 was prone to nasty flat spin, from which it could not recover.
The Mig-23 don’t suffer from this controllability problems.
firebar“MiG a/c since 1937”:
-“MiG-23 MLD: a new missiles introduced during their service were R-73 and R-27.”
I can’t imagine the F-14 survive the encounter with this. Even R-60M was too much for the F-14.
firebar“MiG a/c sinnce 1937”- Gunston, Yefim Gordon:
-“The MiG-23ML is considered an excellent fighter with acceleration better that F-18.”
-“The MiG-23 MLD version is capable of beating the F-16 and F-18.”
The Israeli sources say that it has better acceleration than F-16, which is understandable considering the engines.
firebarThe Kfir has a nominal max of Mach 2,3 and was flown to Mach 2,4.
The initial climb rate is 233 m/s.
What fairy tales.
The J-79 engine is limited to 2.15 Mach, no matter is it in F-4 or Kfir.
Sorry, the F-4E Manual.
The USN did use Kfir C1 to simulate MiG-23 attacks, because it showed similar high speed and and agility behavior.
Just as they use Talon to simulate MiG-21 speed. !!!
So the Kfir could be compared with a MiG-23BN or MiG-27 at best, the main mission in mind.
The Kfir has one really big drawback, comparred to MiG-23. The enormous induced drag in the turn.
It is limited to mere 22 degres AoA.
Not to speak of much lower combat T/W ratio (which effects the acceleration and climb), no effective radar, no medium range missiles,…
firebarI guess what you wrote is not what you meant….;)..
And as you state it helps in low speed, high alpha flight.. not sure how its relevant to M3 flight.
Yes, I ment what I said.
The MiG-25 has movable lower intake lip, which helps inlet optimal operation at low airspeed and high AoA.
There is no west equivalent to this feature.
These are very complex, electronically controlled inlets, by RRD-15B system, sensitive to IAS, AoA and the position of the pilots throttles.
The Blackbird had no such complex and integrated inlet controls.
For example, its engine’s spike movements were not sensitive to the pilots throttles and AoA. Only to the speed.
firebarYou do realise that it was prepared prototype and not a serial aircraft, and that data is not valid for serial planes?
These MiG-25 records were set by the aircraft with service engines, except that of E-266M which were set by higher thrust engines.
But look at YF-12 records. They are lower than that of MiG-25’s, over 500km and 1000 km closed circuits, even that this was purely experimental aircraft.
Anyway, the fact is that there is no a/c in existence, or in foreseeable future, which could beat Absolute height world record of MiG-25, along with the world speed records over closed circits od 100, 500 and 1000 km.
Or climb records obove 20 km altitudes.
firebar[QUOTE]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-14_Tomcat
-The overall thrust-to-weight ratio at maximum load is around 0.56, which does not compare favorably with the F-15A’s ratio of 0.85.[15] Even so, the aircraft itself is able to reach Mach 2.4, and the maximum speed is officially Mach 2.34.
For a fighter, a combat T/W ratio is important, regarding 50% int fuel and normal load of A-A missiles.
Your figures for T/W ratio are non relevant.
The combat T/W for MiG-23ML is about 1:1 and for F-14A was a mere 0.82 (at sea level).At higher altitudes the difference is very high, because of Tomcats bad engine chracteristics at higher altitudes.
As for max speed:
The F-14A Manual says 1.88 M clean or with 2x AIM-9.
The higher speed are achieved only on tests and in slight dive.
People, do not deceive yourself.
firebarWhat it means its that this was the only aircraft that did make it to operational status that combined the speed/ altitude/ fighter performance.
That is its real strength.
You said that there are plenty of western inlets with upper and lower ramps.
Note that I said that there was no west a/c inlet with movable lower lip, as in the MiG-25. It greatly helps flight at higher Angles of Attack, at slower speeds.
As for Concorde inlet, and other Mach 2 inlets, it is true that there are some shock waves which enter inlet duct, but note that there are oblique (weak)shock waves, not normal shoch wave.
In such, ordinary, external compression inlets, the normal shock wave never enters inlet duct, so unstarts can not occur.
firebarWhat it means its that this was the only aircraft that did make it to operational status that combined the speed/ altitude/ fighter performance.
It was not the fastest, nor the highest flying, nor the most manoeuvrable….but it took dedicated airframes to exceed its performance.
That is its real strength.
I agree with this generaly, but note that, besides the fact that the MiG-25 has unsurpassed Speed/Altitude/Maneuverability combination, it also has unsurpassed altitude capability.
It still holds world speed records:
-over 100 km closed circuit
-over 500 km closed circuit.
-over 1000 km closed circiut, with 2 t payload.
It also still holds climb records to over 20 km heights.
And it still holds max altitude absolute record.
So, while it is true that it represents unsurpassed combination of Speed/Climb/Altitude/Maneuverability, it also holds records in these particular issues.
firebarWhy the F-14 can not survive the fight with MiG-23 MLD (without help from AWACS-es and all sort of Jammer a/c):
See the F-14A Manual:
-Max speed =1.88 M clean or with 2x Aim-9 (page 4-7)
-Max G load= 6.5 (page 4-10, so it is not true that this limit was imposed only in later years).
-Subsonic maneuvering limit =15 units (about 10 degrees). Pathetic!!! (page 4-16, 11-2)
-With Slats extended the max allovable G = 5.2. (page 4-16)
-The combat Thrust/weight ratio: 0.82 static, sea level. At higher altitudes it falls rapidly.
-Its engines were not designed for speed and altitude. Only for a subsonic low fuel consumption.
On the other hand, the MiG-23MLD has:(Source Manual)
-The max speed , with 2x medium range R-24 missiles, is 2.35 Mach.
-The combat T/W is 1.01:1 sea level, with excellent high altitude thrust.
-Max allowed maneuvering Angle of Attack is 28 degrees Alpha at 45 degrees wing sweep ( can do Loops, split-S, turns etc at this high Alpha).
It is much higher that that was allowed for F-14A.
-No maneuvering limits, no missile firing limits.
For example: The Mig-23 ML is cleared for maneuvers at 27 degrees alpha at 8.5G at 860 km/h.
It is more than F-16 can do ,which is allowed to 9G but at only 15 degrees Alpha.
firebarMy god you are lost.
AWG-9 Detect-track up to 24 targets with displaying of 18 and actively tracking 6.
APG-10 tracks 10. How the f… is that lower that 6?
The almost every source about F-14A says that its AWG-9 has capability to track 24 targets in Track-While-Scan mode, and to guide 6 missiles to 6 different targets.
It is simply not true, as many other stories about its capabilities.
The APG-70, in F-14D, can track 10 targets, and, as we have seen in Iraq, with dubious efficiency.
It is now seen that the great capabilities of F-14 weapons system were present only on paper.
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