End of the Road for Air Force's MiG 23 MF

End of the Road for Air Force's MiG 23 MF

The MiG-23MF fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will take to the skies for one last time on March 20 before being phased out.
Four of the only five existing MiG-23MF fighters of the IAF will fly for the last time from the frontline Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat before entering the annals of Indian military aviation history, official sources said today.
The fifth aircraft will be kept on display, they said.
Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi and South Western Air Command chief Air Marshal P K Mehra will be among those present to bid adieu to the fighters that were inducted into the IAF in the 1980s.
The MiG-23MF is a swing-wing interceptor able to vary the angle of its wings in three different positions to increase or decrease flying speeds, the sources said.
The fighter has a top speed of 2.35 Mach (approximately 2,500 km per hour) and was the first IAF aircraft to be equipped with beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missiles.
The last flight of these aircaft is special as they are part of the 224 squadron (nicknamed the Warlords) which was among the only two units (the other being 223 squadron) to have ever operated the swing-wing variant of the MiG-23s in countering possible threats from Pakistan's F-16s.
While 223 squadron switched over to MiG-29ASF jets in May 89, the Warlords continued operating the jets till date.
After this last symbolic flight, the 224 squadron will take a brief hiatus till the IAF buys new aircraft to equip the formation, sources said.
The sources these MiG variants, which are arguably the world's most powerful single-engine fighter jets, will be kept as gate-guardians or become part of the IAF's aviation history.
Some of the aircraft will be sent to the Air Force Academy at Dundigul in Hyderabad and the Air Force Museum in New Delhi. One each will be given to Vadodara and the army while another will be put up as a gate-guardian in Jamnagar, the sources said.
The MiG-23MFs carried 96 rockets or 1.5 tonnes of bombs of 100, 250 or 500 kg and had the ability to also assume air defence and ground attack roles.
With their MiG-23s, the Warlords had participated in various operations including the air defence of the Siachen glacier during 1985-86.
The 224 squadron was adjudged the best overall fighter unit of the Western Air Command in the same year.
The Warlords had the unique distinction of operating the first fighter aircraft from Thoise airfield in Ladakh on October 28, 1995.
During Operation Safed Sagar, the IAF's participation in the 1999 Kargil confilct, the squadron operated a six- aircraft detachment in the western sector and undertook round-the-clock air defence of Saurashtra and Kutch regions in Gujarat.