Chapter 264 MiG-23MLA

Pressure turned into motivation. Facing the threat of death, the defected Cobra helicopter No. 024 killed the two pursuing helicopters with its machine gun with 750 rounds of ammunition, and at the same time, used up its last ammunition.

The fuel supply was also starting to run low. Originally, there was enough fuel to reach Kushiro, but now, we had to increase the altitude to support the rest of the voyage!

The Cobra helicopter continued to fly, aligning its course and leaving behind the wreckage of two helicopters and a layer of fuel floating on the sea.

However, just after two minutes of flying, the sound of a radar warning receiver was heard in the headphones.

Locked by radar!

"It must be an Air Self-Defense Force F-4!" Ohashi Rokuro said, "Get ready to jump out of the plane. We can't deal with an F-4!"

Helicopters can still fight in an air battle with helicopters, even if they only have cannons, they can still fight them. But fighting with fixed-wing fighters? That's a complete death wish. What do helicopters have? No radar, no advanced air-to-air missiles, and anti-tank missiles can't fight fast fighters at all, and even aiming is impossible! As for machine guns? Can you wait until they jump in front of you and wait for you to shoot?

Jump, jump out now, there is still a chance to escape, you have been locked on, the next moment, a Sparrow missile will fly over and blow up your helicopter in just a few seconds.

This place is still dozens of kilometers away from Kushiro. If I jump out of the plane now, can I swim over? Even if I jump out, it's almost like seeking death!

While I was hesitating, the unique radar warning sound suddenly stopped!

Looking up, Ohashi Rokuro saw a white track appearing in the high sky. It was a fighter jet, a Soviet fighter jet!

Damn it, why did the Soviets show up at this time! Koizumi, a pilot of the Air Self-Defense Force, cursed.

They did not take off from Chitose Base. The plane from Chitose Base was still halfway. They were conducting flight training over the southeastern sea. After receiving the order, they rushed here immediately and fortunately did not miss the mission.

Originally, the radar had locked onto the helicopter and the missile had been pre-powered and ready to fire at any time. Just as he was about to press the button, the sound of the radar warning receiver came from his headphones.

"452, 452, two targets found, distance sixty, altitude ten thousand!" The wingman's radar did not lock onto the aircraft on the sea and was still maintaining an air search. The target was soon found.

It must be a Soviet fighter plane flying from the north! What should we do at this time? The death order from above is that we must shoot down this defecting helicopter, because it has killed a major general of the United States and a senior official of the Self-Defense Forces. We can't let it get away!

Now, if we want to shoot down this helicopter, we must first deal with the Soviet aircraft! The Soviets are coming aggressively, and it is obvious that they are here to cover this helicopter!

"453, Sparrow missiles, take out the Soviet plane!" Koizumi pulled up the nose, turned on the afterburner, and the F-4 fighter began to climb up quickly, killing the Soviet fighter first! According to the opponent's flight altitude and speed, it can be seen that it should not be a MiG-25. At this time, the Air Self-Defense Force of the entire island country changed color when they heard about the MiG-25. The height and speed of this aircraft are simply invincible! And now, it should be the Soviet MiG-21 or MiG-23. Both of these aircraft are not difficult to deal with.

At this time, Koizumi didn't know that his big trouble had just begun.

The 47th Regiment was transferred to the air force base in the north of Kushiro at the end of last year. The arrival of the 47th Regiment has greatly enhanced the air force of Hokkaido, because the 47th Regiment was the first team in the Far East Military Region to be equipped with MiG-23MLA fighter jets!

MiG-23MLA, in history, this should be a mid-term improved model of MiG-23, which is not much different from the prototype. But now, this fighter has undergone earth-shaking changes, and its performance has been greatly improved compared with the original.

After the MiG-23K was modified by the Mikoyan Design Bureau, the Navy was quite satisfied with the performance of this fighter. Except that it could not compete with the American Tomcat fighter at a long distance, the rest of its performance was quite excellent. In history, the MiG-23K died early because there was no aircraft carrier and was not put into service at all. Now, with Andrei's suggestion, the Minsk aircraft carrier has added a jump deck to prepare for carrying this fighter. While the Navy stabilized its equipment, the Air Force and Air Defense Forces were also jealous.

Now, it will take several years for the third-generation MiG-29 and Su-27 to be equipped to the troops. At this time, the American F-15 has already been put into service. For example, now even some island countries’ Self-Defense Forces have begun to operate F-15 fighter jets. The Far East Military Region is under great pressure.

Therefore, under Andrei's suggestion, the MiG-23K was finalized and equipped on Soviet Navy aircraft carriers. At the same time, it became a natural choice to use the achievements of the MiG-23K to modify the existing MiG-23 fighters.

Forget about the improvement of the fuselage. After all, the MiG-23K was changed to a twin-engine turbofan in order to be deployed on ships. This reduced fuel consumption and increased thrust, so that it could meet the requirements of ski-jump takeoff and compensate for the weight gain caused by deployment on ships.

The land-based MiG-23 uses the Tumansky R-35F-300 turbojet engine, with a maximum thrust of 8,550 kg and a thrust of 13,060 kg with afterburner, and its fuel consumption rate has also been greatly reduced. Compared with the original, it has been improved.

All the internal electronic equipment has been modified using the results of the MiG-23K. The control is three-redundant analog fly-by-wire, which is an essential improvement compared to the original hydraulic control. The wings that previously required three gears of manual control are now computer-controlled.

Improved Sapphire-23 radar, updated fire control system and automated interception system, and more importantly, a helmet sight! After these improvements, the MiG-23, except for the appearance is still the same as the original, the performance is a qualitative leap.

Captain Kuturif, the squadron leader, will never forget the excitement he felt when he and his comrades received the new fighter. During the return flight, he fell in love with this fighter. There is no need to manually adjust the swept wings, and it is even easier to guide the missile to the target during combat! With such a fighter, not to mention the American F-4, even if the F-15 comes up, he has enough confidence to fight them!

At this time, he took off quickly from the base with his wingman Yuri, and came to drive away the American planes and protect the lone defecting island country helicopter. He was full of confidence.

"R-23 launch!" Kutulev shouted on the radio, and at the same time, pressed his finger on the red launch button on the joystick.