Mikoyan MiG-27

 

The Mikoyan MiG-27 (Russian: Микоян МиГ-27; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later licence-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as the Bahadur ("Valiant"). It is based on the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter aircraft, but optimised for air-to-ground attack. Unlike the MiG-23, the MiG-27 did not have widespread use outside Russia, as most countries opted for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BN and Sukhoi Su-22 instead. It remains in service only with the Kazakh Air Forces in the ground attack role. All Russian, Indian, Sri Lankan and Ukrainian MiG-27s have been retired.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 17.08 m (56 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 13.97 m (45 ft 10 in) wings spread

7.78 m (26 ft) wings swept

• Height: 5 m (16 ft 5 in)
• Wing area: 37.35 m² (402.0 sq ft) wings spread

34.16 m² (368 sq ft) wings swept

• Airfoil: root: TsAGI SR-12S (6.5%); tip: TsAGI SR-12S (5.5%)^[26]
• Empty weight: 11,908 kg (26,253 lb)
• Gross weight: 20,300 kg (44,754 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 20,670 kg (45,570 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Tumansky R-29-B-300 afterburning turbojet, 78.5 kN (17,600 lbf) thrust dry, 112.8 kN (25,400 lbf) with afterburner

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,885 km/h (1,171 mph, 1,018 kn) / M1.7 at 8,000 m (26,247 ft)

1,350 km/h (840 mph; 730 kn) / M1.09 at sea level

• Combat range: 780 km (480 mi, 420 nmi)
  

540 km (340 mi; 290 nmi) with two Kh-29 missiles and three drop tanks

225 km (140 mi; 121 nmi) with two Kh-29 missiles and no external fuel

• Ferry range: 2,500 km (1,600 mi, 1,300 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 14,000 m (46,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 200 m/s (39,000 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 605 kg/m² (124 lb/sq ft)
• Thrust/weight: 0.62

Armament

• Guns:
  
  • 1 × 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 rotary cannon with 260 rounds, or, can be modified in a workshop to:
  • 1 × 23 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 autocannon with 200 rounds.
  • Alternatively, a basic maintenance kit can be carried in place of a gun pod.
• Hardpoints: 1 × centerline, 4 × fuselage and 2 × wing glove pylons with a capacity of 4,000 kg (8,800 lb)^[2], with provisions to carry combinations of:
  • Rockets:
    
    • S-5
    • S-8
    • S-25
    • S-24
  • Missiles:
    
    • Air-to-air missiles:
      • R-60M
    • Air-to-surface missiles:
      • Kh-23M
      • Kh-25ML
      • Kh-29L/ML/T/D
    • Anti-radiation missiles:
      • Kh-27PS
      • Kh-31P (MiG-27K, evaluation only)
  • Bombs:
    
    • Dumb bombs
      • FAB-100
      • FAB-250
      • FAB-500
    • Fragmentation / HE bombs
      • OFAB-100-120
      • OFAB-250-270
    • Incendiary Bombs
      • ZAB-100-175
      • ZAB-250-200
    • Flare bombs
      • SAB-100
      • SAB-250-200
    • TV-guided bombs
      • KAB-500KR
    • Laser-guided bombs
      • KAB-500L
    • Fuel-air bombs
      • ODAB-500S
      • ODAB-500P
      • KAB-500-OD

Operational history

The MiG-27 saw service with the Soviet Air Force in Afghanistan. Although several Western observers considered the MiG-27 widely exported, confusing it with the MiG-23BN, the aircraft type was only exported to India and Sri Lanka which also utilized the MiG-27 in regional conflicts.^[4]

Soviet Union

The MiG-27 entered frontline service with Soviet Air Force Tactical Aviation in 1975, with the 722nd Regiment. It replaced earlier MiG-23B/BN and outdated Sukhoi Su-7 attack aircraft and equipped 22 of the 40 Soviet fighter-bomber regiments, being deployed all over the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries.^[6] Soviet MiG-27s were permanently deployed to five foreign countries: East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Mongolia until the 1990s.^[7]

Soviet forces used the MiG-27 during the later stages of the Afghanistan conflict in 1987–89, which was the only time the Soviets used this aircraft in action.^[5] During the initial stages of the war, MiG-27s were not deployed to support ground troops in combat, as the Sukhoi Su-17s of the Turkestan and Central Asian military districts together with DRAAF Su-7s were considered sufficient to support the 40th Army's operations against the Afghan Mujahideen. However, in 1988 it was decided to deploy MiG-27s to support the existing forces in theatre. The 134th APIB, formed of three squadrons of MiG-27D/Ms and MiG-23UB trainers, was deployed to Shindand Air Base in October after extensive training in Kazakhstan. The most modern variant, the MiG-27K, was not deployed due to its lack of armour for the pilot. MiG-27s, in common with all other Soviet attack aircraft in the conflict, were limited in effectiveness by the 5,000 metre (16,400 ft) minimum altitude imposed due to the threat from MANPADs. As such they were only able to deploy unguided bombs and rockets against Afghan targets. Missions included bombing of supply convoys, night bombing of troop concentrations, scattering landmines with cluster munitions, and marking or illuminating targets for artillery with SAB-100 flare bombs. The 134th regiment remained in Afghanistan until the Soviet withdrawal, taking part in the siege of Kandahar. They were withdrawn on the 4th February 1989, flying to Kalay-Mor airbase in the Turkmen SSR where they waited in reserve until March of that year, when they returned to their home base in Kazakhstan.^[8]

Around the same time, MiG-27s started to be gradually replaced by more advanced Sukhoi Su-24 and SU-25 aircraft in the ground attack role at home. Other MiG-27 units, such as the 642nd GvAIP, re-equipped with MiG-29 fighters.

Additionally, between 1990 and 1994 a single regiment of MiG-27s (the 88th Separate Fighter Bomber Regiment) served with Soviet Naval Aviation as a way to save the unit from being dissolved under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.^[9]

By the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of MiG-27s remained in service. These would then be inherited by the air forces of the various former Soviet republics.

Russian Federation

The Air Force of the Russian Federation inherited most of the Soviet MiG-27s. However, on 1 July 1993 the Air Force decreed that single-engined attack aircraft such as the MiG-27 were to be phased out.^[10] Most aircraft were scrapped or left to deteriorate in storage.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27M

MiG-27 aircraft entered service with the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2000. During the Sri Lankan Civil War, they saw considerable action bombing targets and providing close air support. In August 2000, a MiG-27 crashed near Colombo International Airport, killing its pilot. In July 2001, a second MiG-27 was destroyed and another damaged on the ground during an assault on the same air force base by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. A MiG-27 crashed into the sea near the airport in June 2004. Another MiG-27 fighter jet crashed on a routine training mission on 13 February 2012 near the Dummalasuriya area at around 1.35 pm. The pilot managed to eject from the jet without sustaining injuries.^[11]

India

On 27 May 1999, during the Kargil War, one Indian MiG-27L suffered an engine flameout while firing 80 mm rockets, possibly due to a MANPADS hit.^[12] Its pilot, Kambampati Nachiketa, ejected and was captured by Pakistani forces.^[13]

Since 2001, the Indian Air Force has lost more than 12 MiG-27s to crashes.^[14] In mid-February 2010, India grounded its entire fleet of over 150 of the aircraft after a MiG-27 crashed on 16 February 2010 in Siliguri, West Bengal. The crash was attributed to defects in the R-29 engines of the aircraft, suspected to have occurred during the overhauling of the aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Another MiG-27 crashed in the Barmer area on 27 January 2015.^[15][16]

India retired the last MiG-27ML squadron on 27 December 2019,^[17] when the last two MiG-27 squadrons were retired with a ceremony at Jodhpur airbase.^[18]

Kazakhstan

12 MiG-27s remain in service with the Kazakh Air Force.

copied by wikipedia.