DISCLAIMER! This is nowhere close to actual battle conditions and is akin to a controlled test with specific conditions. The goal was to test the dogfighting performance and nothing more, it is not representative of how an engagement in a match will occur. We excluded radar missiles and head-on IR missiles but rear-aspect launches were allowed. The conditions were that we would cruise on Auto wing sweep mode at around ~1500 meters on afterburner until the merge; we would then switch to 0% Semi-auto and stay on that with the F-14A being allowed to use combat flaps. We did two merges because the 2nd head-on was too random when we did shoot our guns. As stated before, this test is only good to gauge the dogfight performance of each aircraft and even then, there are a LOT of uncontrolled variables that weren't accounted for, so take this video with a grain of salt. Apologies in advance if I got the BFMs wrong, I'm not one for names.
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The reason for making this video in the first place was that during my sessions to spade out the MiG-23MLD, I felt that it turned noticeably tighter than the MiG-23M. Sure enough, in this dogfight test and in actual matches, the MiG-23MLD can outmaneuver the F-14A pretty comfortably, at least for me. I'll be referencing this video again when I release my full MLD video, hopefully later this week. But in short, the MiG-23MLD has airframe and wing improvements that make it substantially better at dogfighting than the MiG-23M. I will elaborate a lot more on my full MLD video when it releases.

Another thing to keep in mind is that any time I got IRST lock in the MiG-23M, it's a potential R-60M launch which at this range, might not see flares in time. The 2nd merge and head-on are also a perfect time for both aircraft to get guns on as their high speeds create a large separation by the time they turn in. But as I'll repeat, this test was to gauge the dogfighting performance so I removed it as getting guns on was too random and hampered what I wanted to achieve. This is by no means a scientific test.

Also my friend is very rusty at dogfighting :((((((
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Chapters:

0:00 Disclaimer
0:08 MiG-23M, vertical rolling scissors
1:43 MiG-23M, one-circle
2:37 MiG-23MLD, vertical rolling scissors
4:24 MiG-23MLD, one-circle

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Full MiG-23MLD video: [ Ссылка ]

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