Mikoyan MiG-27

MiG-27
275px
Indian Air Force MiG-27
Type	Attack aircraft
Manufacturer	Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB
Maiden flight	1970
Introduced	1975
Status	Active
Primary users	Soviet Air Force Indian Air Force
Produced	1970 to 1986
Number built	1074
Developed from	MiG-23

The Mikoyan MiG-27 (Template:Lang-ru) (NATO reporting name "Flogger-D/J") is a ground attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later license-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as the Bahadur ("Valiant"). It is based on the MiG-23 fighter aircraft, but optimized for the air-to-ground role.

Description

The MiG-27 shares the basic airframe of the MiG-23, but with the revised nose — referred to as "Utkonos" ("platypus") in Russian service — introduced on the MiG-23B without the radar in favor of a downward-sloping profile to improve pilot visibility and contains a laser rangefinder and marked-target seeker. Additional cockpit armor is installed, along with a totally new nav/attack system. Because the MiG-27 is intended to fly most of its missions at low altitude, the MiG-23's variable intake ramps and exhaust nozzles were deleted in favor of a simpler, fixed configuration, reducing weight and maintenance requirement. The aircraft also has larger, heavy-duty landing gear to facilitate operation from poorer-quality airfields.

Variants

Flogger-D

• MiG-27. This was the first MiG-27, and it was the first in the Flogger family to have a canopy without the central frame, suggesting that the ejection seat was designed to directly break through the transparency. The dielectric head above the pylon on the MiG-23s was used on the MiG-27 to house electro-optical and radio-frequency gear instead. It was armed with a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23M Gatling gun.
• MiG-27D. The nuclear strike variant of MiG-27, with a PSBN-6S navigation/attack system specially designed for the mission. A total of 560 MiG-27Ds were built from 1973 - 1977 and they were on permanent stand-by alert basis like the FB-111A of the United States Air Force.

Flogger-J

• MiG-27M. This model was an upgrade of the 'Flogger-D', with the electro-optical and radio-frequency heads above the glove pylons deleted. It was first armed with the GSh-6-23M Gatling gun, but this was later replaced by a new 30 mm GSh-6-30 six-barrel cannon with 260 rounds of ammunition in a fuselage gondola. It also received much-improved electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems, and a new PrNK-23K nav/attack system providing automatic flight control, gun firing, and weapons release. However, this modification was not very successful because of the heavy recoil from the new cannon, and bursts longer than two or three seconds often led to permanent damage of the airframe.

Test pilot V. N.Kondaurov described the first firing of the GSh-6-30А: "As I imposed the central mark on the air target and pressed the trigger to shoot, I heard such noise that I involuntarily drew my hand aside. The whole plane began to vibrate from the shooting and had almost stopped from the strong recoil of the gun. The pilotless target, which was just making a turn ahead of me, was literally disintegrating into pieces. I have hardly come to my senses from unexpectedness and admiration: This is a calibre! Such a beast! If you hit something — it will not be little [damaged]." A total of 150 MiG-27M were built from 1978 - 1983.

• MiG-27L. This was an export variant of the MiG-27M provided in 1986 to India in knock-down kits for license-assembly. Same as MiG-27M except the undernose fairing for the infra-red search and track (IRST) sensor has a single window instead of several like the one on the original MiG-27M. A total of 200 were assembled by India.
• MiG-27H. This was a 1988 indigenous Indian upgrade of its license-assembled MiG-27L with French avionics, which provides the same level of performance but with much reduced size and weight. The space saved is used to house the French Agave radar. At least 165 were converted from MiG-27Ls.

Flogger J-2

• MiG-27K. The MiG-27K was the final Soviet version, which added a laser designator and compatibility with TV-guided electro-optical weapons. Originally armed with the GSh-6-23M gun,g soon replaced with the GSh-6-30 cannon. A total of around 200 were built.

Combat Operations

India

A MiG-27 piloted by Flt. Lt. Kambampati Nachiketa suffered an engine flame-out and crashed during the Kargil War.

A Mig-27 piloted by Wing Commander Jaspreet Singh developed engine trouble and crashed into a Tea Estate on 31st January 2008

Sri Lanka

File:Mig27m.jpg

Sri Lankan Mig-27

MiG-27's entered service with the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2000. Their first operational sortie was carried out when a three ship formation made a rocket attack on Tamil Tiger (LTTE) positions in Chavakachceri. Since then, they have seen regular service, bombing strategic targets and providing close air support. None have been shot down, although two crashed due to non-combat reasons and one was destroyed on the ground in an attack on Katunayaka Air Force Base in July 2001. MiG-27s were also involved in the strike responsible for the death of high ranking LTTE officers including LTTE political head S.P Thamilchelvan.

• Airstrike2.JPG
• Airstrike3.JPG
• Airstrike4.JPG
• Airstrike1.JPG

Iraq

Iraq's MiG-27s were used in the Iraq-Iran War, possibly to attack Iranian troops or in air raids against Iranian cities. During the 1991 Gulf War, they saw limited use and most of them fled to Iran, where they became part of its aviation forces. Like all other Iraqi aircraft, they were supposed to be returned to Iraq due to a deal between Saddam Hussein and Iran's government, but Iran impounded these aircraft as reparations for the Iraq-Iran War. As of today, they are in service but nothing is known about their status.

Current Operators

File:World operators of the MiG-27.png

Operators of the MiG-27 in bright red (former operators in dark red)

File:F-15 MiG-27.jpg

Indian MiG-27 & USAF F-15

Template:IND

• [[Indian Air Force]: Over 130 in service with the Indian Air Force.

Template:IRN

• Iranian Air Force: 24 in service with the Iranian Air Force.

Template:KAZ

• Kazakhstan Air Force

Template:SRI

• Sri Lanka Air Force: 7 in service with the Sri Lanka Air Force

Template:SYR

• Syrian Air Force

Former Operators

Template:AFG

• Afghan Air Force were reported as operator of as many as 30 aircraft from 1979 through 1993, but have remained unsubstantiated. Soviet MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft operated extensively in Afghanistan during this period.

Template:IRQ

• Iraqi Air Force most either destroyed or flown to Iran.

Template:RUS

• Russian Air Force retired their aircraft.

Template:UKR

• Ukrainian Air Force, retired.

Template:USSR

• Soviet Air Force passed their aircraft to successor states.

Specifications (MiG-27K)

Orthographic projection of the MiG-27D

See also

Related development
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Comparable aircraft
Panavia Tornado - SEPECAT Jaguar - Sukhoi Su-17 - Soko J-22 Orao

Related lists
List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS - List of fighter aircraft

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27

• MiG-27 FLOGGER from Global Security.org
• MiG-27 Flogger from Global Aircraft
• MiG-27 from FAS
• Mikoyan MiG-27 from aeronautics.ru

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mikoyan MiG-27".