When Soviet MiG-23ML Fighters Spooked the West Over Vietnam

Following the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, the war-ravaged country would host a small Soviet military presence at Cam Ranh Bay, which simultaneously provided the USSR with access to the Pacific while taking pressure of Vietnamese defences as the country focused on post-war reconstruction. The facility would host a significant Soviet air force presence including Tu-16 tactical bombers and Tu-95 strategic bombers, with the former being equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles allowing it to threaten Western warships far beyond Vietnamese waters. Protecting Soviet facilities and providing escort to the bomber force, the Soviet Air Force was in 1986 confirmed by American reconnaissance to have deployed a new variant of its MiG-23 fighter, the MiG-23ML, to take over the defence at Cam Ranh Bay. The new MiG-23 was significantly more capable than prior variants, and after the American F-14 and F-15 was the world’s first fighter with a look-down shoot-down radar, the Sapfir-23. The fighter integrated a number of new technologies developed for fourth generation fighters, and could be visually distinguished from older MiG-23 variants by its swivelling stores pylons mounted under its outer wing panels. A dogtooth notch was also visible in the inboard leading edge of the wing glove, and improved the aircraft’s stability in yaw at high angles of attack.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/24/article_67e0c5ef1a0154_22233767.jpg" >The MiG-23ML had first seen combat in late 1982, after fighters exported to Syria engaged Israeli Air Force units over Lebanon. Syrian sources claimed that in engagements from November-December the aircraft successfully shot down three Israeli F-15s in air-to-air engagements, demonstrating a significantly superior capability over older MiG-23 variants. The fighter also proved capable of going head to head with advanced Soviet fourth generation fighters during exercises in the 1980s, and was the third fighter class in the world after the F-14 and F-15 to integrate a look-down/shoot-down radar, the Sapfir-23, providing a significant advantage in situational awareness over most rival fighters. The new significantly more sophisticated radar proved to be one of the MiG-23ML’s most distinct advantages over prior variants, increasing not only overall situational awareness, but also reliability as susceptibility to jamming was reduced considerably.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/24/article_67e0c8d6d199e9_89449395.jpg" title="Syrian MiG-23ML Fighters">Alongside deployments to Vietnam, a number of MiG-23ML/MLD fighters were deployed to Etorofu Island, a disputed territory claimed by Japan, with this highly sensitive deployment placing the aircraft against Japan’s large fleet of cutting edge F-15s, and indicating confidence in the MiG’s capabilities to take on top end American fighter aircraft. MiG-23MLs were also deployed to East Germany as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in the country. Soviet adversaries first gained access to the MiG-23ML after Syrian Air Force pilot Major Mohammed Bassem Adel defected on October 11, 1989, with the fighter’s performance during testing indicating that concerns regarding its capabilities had been well founded. After studying a MiG-23ML obtained through a defection later that decade, Israeli officials expressed surprise at its high sophistication particularly its early warning and countermeasures systems. The Israeli test pilot who flew thee aircraft said he was impressed by the fighter’s climb rate, and that after taking off with an F-15 and F-16 the MiG shot upward in a stiff climb “and left them standing.” The importance attributed to the MiG-23ML/MLD both both by the Soviet Union and by the West would diminish near the end of the 1980s, as the USSR introduced the more capable MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters in greater numbers. While the fighters had been intended to serve into the latter half of the 2000s, and to relieve continuous upgrades until a fifth generation single engine fighter was developed to replace them, the USSR’s disintegration and rapid contraction of the fleet led the MiG-23ML/MLD fleet to be retired in the 1990s without replacement as the Russian fighter fleet contracted to a small fraction of its Soviet era size.&nbsp;