In 1988 , Soviet MiG-23MLDs using R-23s ( NATO : AA-7 " Apex " ) downed two Iranian AH-1J Cobras that had intruded into Afghan airspace . In a similar incident a decade earlier , on 21 June 1978 , a PVO MiG-23M flown by Pilot Captain V. Shkinder shot down two Iranian Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters that had trespassed into Soviet airspace , one helicopter being dispatched by two R-60 missiles and the other by cannon fire
In a similar incident a decade earlier
1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23