Seems you are not even satisfied with the supposedly original head up sight images taken from one of the tomcats, the reality is very difficult you prove the MiG-23s shot down by those Tomcats were MiG-23MLs and not MiG-23MS.
If they were MiG-23MS as Firebar says and i also believe they were, their AA-2s were not match for a F-14s AIM-9s and the only chance they got was getting very close to the F-14 if they did indeed have hostile intent.
That also explains why they did not fire any missile at longer ranges and all the pictures show MiG-23MS
It is possible they got the MiG-23MLs much later, but i throw you a challenge prove with a russian source Libya got those MiG-23MLs before January 1989.
The video you posted is inconclusive in my opinion. The quality on You Tube is poor. I can see a fin fillet, but it is difficult to make out. It requires a higher resolution or original footage to determine. The footage is not from the 1989 shootdown encounter, but from one of the other normal/routine intercepts.
What do you want a receipt of contract from MiG or just a post from some random guy on a Russian forum? I can ask you – prove to me from a Russian source that Libya obtained the MLs after January 1989?
TJ
ah more excuses, what about the film and pictures when the MiG-23 were killed they are not restricted or are they? see these details, number one there are some Youtube videos with the original audio and some have edited videos mixing russian archive videos of MiG-23s and some supposedly video from that day se this one
Check this video
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-X20OubGUclook at the picture of this supposedly MiG-23 kill by an F-14 on that day
i attached the supposedly head up display gun sight of that day and also is difficult to see if this was a MiG-23ML.
Conclusion: there is no proper evidence, that these MiG-23s were MiG-23MLs, since the picture and video lack any AA-8s launchers and further more is difficult to see the AA-7 Apex.
So if the MiG-23ML were as you say, carrying R-24T whcih is basicly the one the MiG-23 carries or the R-24R why then they need top get to close, only reason because they did not carry it.
However the MiG-23ML carries it, so they must have been MiG-23MS
There you go yet again inventing things. Where have I ever posted that any MiG-23 was carrying R-24Ts? All I have stated it that the MLs were in service before the events in 1989.
The videos/audio was released for a specific purpose. Why is that so hard for you to understand? The images taken are not for the purpose of aviation enthusiasts. In my 22 years in the military I’ve seen hundreds of intercept images and vidoes that have never seen the light of day in the public eye. The situation for Russia, and other nations, will be the same. They exist in the archives at extremely low classification, but simply have no requirement to be published. Why is that so hard to understand?
Whatever the intention of the MiG-23 pilots they simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless of MiG-23 variant, was their intention simply for a bit of sparring? Who knows? Regardless of type/variant it quickly went pear-shaped for the MiG-23 pilots. Their search and rescue services were out for several days, but nothing was apparently ever recovered.
TJ
All the pictures released are of MiG-23MS uhmm but they want to keep the secret pictures of the super secret MiG-23ML that clint Eastwood flew and stole from Beliask, the MiG-23ML Firefox uhmm a good excuse, there is no reason why an old picture can not be realesed when we are in 2008 and the real modern super fighter russia is building is the PAK FA.
If you can get a Russian source saying the MiG-23ML was delivered to Libyan in 1986 well it will change everything but you can not prove a detail just claiming they are top secret, when they already have shown pictures and video of the MiG-23MS and MiG-25s in Libyan service
see the Video not secret or top secret a Libyan MiG-25 from those years taken by the US Navy
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4521920333889406554&ei=Qvm_SLz5JYn8wQPYu9ijCQ&q=Libyan+MiG-25&vt=lf&hl=en
Check tha last part, it appears to be a MiG-23ML or MiG-23MS why? look at the missiles, they look identical, remember the Apex is only a wing pylon missile, never it is carried on the belly hardpoint.If the missiles are R-60 as those seen in the MiG-23MF or MiG-23ML the belly hardpoint has a rack for two R-60s, if the missiles are R-73, then are only carried on the belly station as single weapons and the wing pylon missiles should be considerably bigger, however both missiels have same size and same shape, those can only be AA-2 Atolls
see this is a MiG-23ML
now the MiG-23MS
‘see this is a MiG-23ML’ Was that a typo?
The aircraft in the video has a fin fillet. The fin fillet is hard to make out, but extends down the spine.
There you go yet again Flogger, jumping to conclusions. Re-read my post. Why does every image have to be released? Why, please explain? Dozens of images exist in the archives taken from platforms such as RC-135s and Nimrod R.1s in the Gulf of Sidra. it has nothing do with secrets. At most they will be classified restricted. You are letting your imagination run away with you.
Explain to me why every single Libyan intercept image by type has to be released? They aren’t taken for the purpose of aviation enthusiasts on an internet forum. Have the Russians released every single intercept image of every NATO aircraft by type and variant?
TJ
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