The MiG-23, Explained In the 1960s, the Cold War was heating up. Between the Cuban Missile Crisis at the start of that decade to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in its middle and end ...

Its operational range was just 320 kilometers, further eroding its usefulness. Pilots operating MiG-23 had trouble with handling and instability, and the engine service life was much too short and ...

It also has a 9-A-768 23-mm gun. Source: The National Interest and Globalsecurity.org. There have been multiple accounts of MiG-31 fighters chasing away SR-71s, the legendary high-altitude US spy ...

The MiG-29 was developed in the early 1970s ... about when the U.S. looked to add a fleet cheap and easy-to-produce fighter jets that could defend against and eliminate other enemy aircraft.