The P-23T missile uses a triple-surface aerodynamic layout. Its main wings are large, highly-swept trapezoidal surfaces; ahead of them sit four canard foreplanes, and behind them four auxiliary tail control fins. It looks a bit like a girl in a skirt. Thanks to the well-placed, large control surfaces, the weapon's agility is good, but—hamstrung by Soviet solid-rocket technology—its range is short.
A missile is, in essence, a guided rocket: ignite the solid-fuel motor and within a dozen seconds every grain is burned; after that it coasts on inertia.
Moreover, the P-23T relies on radio-command updates plus inertial mid-course guidance and passive infrared terminal homing. The IR seeker's glass dome creates high drag; a radar version with its sharp nose suffers far less, so under the same motor it gains markedly greater reach.
All these factors leave the P-23T a maximum range of fifteen kilometres; if the target manoeuvres even slightly, the weapon falls short. Launching at twelve kilometres is therefore the prudent choice.
In this era no medium-range missile is fire-and-forget; even the later, advanced AIM-120 allows its parent aircraft to relax only for the final twenty kilometres—during the first half the fighter must still feed it data.
The P-23T is even more demanding. After firing, Arslan dared not pull hard; he had to keep the target illuminated, supplying constant radar data and relaying corrections by radio.
Those few dozen seconds were his most dangerous; once the missile closed and the infrared head woke up, he could run at full throttle.
When a missile enters autonomous homing it has virtually entered the target's no-escape zone. No fighter, however agile, can match a missile's manoeuvrability: pulling 9 g is an aircraft's limit, whereas a missile will casually pull 20. Flares or chaff can, of course, spoof less sophisticated seekers.
Watching the twin missile trails, Arslan prayed silently: By allah, let me score a kill!
High on station, the Tomcat scoured the sky for any hostile signature.
The Tomcat is a heavy air-superiority fighter flown by two crew: a pilot forward and a weapon-systems officer aft. The two-man arrangement divides the workload—juggling complex electronic-countermeasure suites, launching two missiles at separate targets—advantages a single-seater cannot match.
At the rear of the four-ship formation flew aircraft 472, piloted by Ahmi.
In the back seat WSO Ranawad suddenly saw the radar-warning receiver flash and heard over the headset a tone drilled into him in training.
"MiG behind us, painting us with radar," Ranawad reported to the front cockpit.
The tone snapped into a shrill, urgent shriek.
"He's locked and fired!" Ranawad blurted.
At that moment the formation leader's voice cut in: "MiG behind—snap into a barrel-roll break!"
The MiG's High Lark radar has a 750 mm antenna, works at 15 MHz in single-pulse CW mode, peaks at 100 kW, scans ±45° in azimuth and ±30° in elevation, and uses a twin-reflector Cassegrain antenna with Doppler look-up to find targets above ground clutter. Against a 16 m² RCS target it acquires at 85 km and tracks at 54 km, guiding semi-active P-23/24 rounds out to 30 km.
The set is, in truth, primitive—toy-like beside an F-14's radar—and the export version sold to Iraq is further gutted. Once the target slews so its velocity vector is perpendicular to the radar beam, the set filters it out as clutter.
As rehearsed, all four pilots squeezed the four-way switch on their throttles, rolled ninety degrees and split apart.
The F-14's control surfaces—spoilers, all-moving tailplanes and rudder—give it a roll rate of 50° per second: spoilers handle most roll, the tailplanes act together for pitch or differentially for roll, and the rudder provides yaw at low alpha and roll at high alpha.
Align the flight path perpendicular to the radar beam and the lock breaks, sending the outbound missile blind.
Though locked, Ahmi stayed calm, rolling with the rest of the formation and waiting for the WSO's call that the spike was gone.
He knew you'd roll! Arslan was all too familiar with the Tomcat's trademark move that left so many pilots cursing—he would get only one chance.
Match their roll—and turn the same way!
The MiG-23 is less agile than the Tomcat, so its roll rate is far slower—here, a drawback turned virtue.
If he mirrored their roll rate, the two jets would end up flying parallel; a radar cannot see a target flying alongside, so the lock would still fail.
Because the MiG rolled more slowly its nose kept sweeping, yet the Tomcat stayed within a 150° forward cone—enough to keep the target illuminated. By turning with the Iranian jet, Arslan foiled the very manoeuvre meant to break the radar lock.
As long as the angle stayed off perpendicular, the radar held on!
Arslan was no hothead; for days he had studied Iranian tactics, hunting for a counter—and now he put it to the test.
He held steady; the blip on the scope remained.
The barrel roll had pulled five g—well within the tolerance of a trained pilot wearing a g-suit.
Ranawad stared at the panel: the RWR light still glowed, the lock-tone still droned in his ears.
"We didn't break it—they've got a new radar!" he shouted.
Ahmi bit his lip; during the roll he had already spotted the two inbound missiles—brutal, using missiles against him!
They were clearly after him; the other three Tomcats had scattered in different directions.
Damn—we haven't shaken the attack!