Mikoyan MiG-27

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MiG-27
Indian Air Force MiG-27
Type	Attack aircraft
Manufacturer	Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB
Maiden flight	1972
Status	Active
Primary user	Soviet Air Force
Developed from	MiG-23

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-27) (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 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter aircraft, but optimized for the air-to-ground role.

Contents 1 Description 2 Variants 2.1 Flogger-D 2.2 Flogger-J 2.3 Flogger J-2 3 Operators 4 Specifications (MiG-27K) 5 External links 6 Related content

[edit] 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 that deletes the radar in favor of a downward-sloping profile that improves 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 fighter'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.

[edit] Variants

[edit] 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-27D were built from 1973 - 1977 and they were on permanent stand-by alert basis like the FB-111A of the United States Air Force.

[edit] 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 so: "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.

[edit] 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, but this was soon replaced with the GSh-6-30 cannon. A total of around 200 were built.

[edit] Operators

•  Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Air Force
•  Afghanistan: As many as 30 were reported to be in service with the Afghan Air Force from 1979 through 1993, but have remained unsubstantiated. Soviet MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft operated extensively in Afghanistan during this period.
•  Bulgaria: No longer in service.
•  Iran
•  India
•  Kazakhstan
•  Russia: No longer in service.
•  Soviet Union: Passed on to successor states.

•  Syria

[edit] Specifications (MiG-27K)

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 17.1 m (56 ft)
• Wingspan: * Spread: 13.8 m (45 ft 3 in)
• Swept: 7.4 m (24 ft 3 in)
• Height: 5 m (16 ft 5 in)
• Wing area: * Spread: 37.35 m² (402.0 ft²)
• Swept: 34.16 m² (367.7 ft²)
• Empty weight: 11,908 kg (26,252 lb)
• Loaded weight: 18,100 kg (39,900 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 20,670 kg (45,570 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Khatchaturov R-29-300 afterburning turbojet
  • Dry thrust: 81 kN dry (18,300 lbf)
  • Thrust with afterburner: 123 kN (27,600 lbf)

Performance

• Maximum speed: *sea level: Mach 1.10 (1,350 km/h, 839 mph)
• at altitude: Mach 1.77 (1,885 km/h at 8,000 m, 1,170 mph at 26,000 ft)
• Range: 780 km (480 mi) combat, 2,500 km (1,550 mi) ferry
• Service ceiling: 14,000 m (45,900 ft)
• Rate of climb: 200 m/s (39,400 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 605 kg/m² (123 lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.62

Armament

• 1x GSh-6-30 30 mm cannon with 260-300 rounds
• One centerline, four fuselage, and two wing glove pylons for a total of 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) of stores, including general-purpose bombs, rocket pods, SPPU-22 and SPPU-6 gun pods, and various guided air-to-surface missiles

[edit] External links

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

[edit] Related content

Related development

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23

Comparable aircraft

Panavia Tornado - SEPECAT Jaguar - Sukhoi Su-17

Designation sequence

MiG-21 - MiG-23 - MiG-25 - MiG-27 - MiG-29 - MiG-31 - MiG-33

Related lists

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