"breyfogle"

The swing wing mechanism adds ALOT of weight, the smaller the airframe the
larger the percentage weight gain. On both F14s and F111s the tradeoff to
optimum performance was considered acceptable in order to acheive both good
high speed performance (usually requiring a small wing) and good low speed
landing performance (large wing).

I'd think that low-level high-speed performance was also an
important design consideration. Or, at least, it was found
useful for the low-level penetration missions that became the
primary tasks of F-111 and B-1B during the cold war.

MiG-23 is an interesting case. It's a relatively light
fighter with swing wings. Any comments on why MiG chose
such a design? Hardly just for STOL, although the Soviets
valued rough&short strip ability much more than the US
(MiG-29 perhaps as a prime exampole). Btw, 23 is very
fast on the deck, fastest of them all, I think.

I'd suspect that the design considerations behind MiG-23/27
could have been rather similar to those of the somewhat
heavier interceptor/strike Tornado.