The twin-engine long-cannoned general ate a remarkable 6 tons of recoil, causing vibrations strong enough to crack fuel tanks, damage avionics systems, and consistently dislodging landing lights from their mountings.
On December 27, 2019, the Indian Air Force bid farewell to the last of the beefy MiG-27 attack jets it had dubbed the “Valiant” in a solemn ceremony held at the Jodhpur air station.
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The MiG-27 took its final flight for the IAF:
These powerful swing-wing jets were Soviet warplanes licensed-built by India and upgraded with 2000s-era avionics. Armed with unguided bombs, rockets, and an earth-shattering six-barreled Gatling gun, the type had seen extensive action during the 1999 Kargil war, blasting Pakistani troop positions on Himalayan peaks at 18,000 feet above sea level.
Distinguished by its flat-nosed ‘duckbill’ nose leading some pilots to nickname it ‘the Platypus,’ the MiG-27 was not widely exported like the MiG-23 fighter it was spun off from. But aside from combat service in India and Sri Lanka, perhaps its biggest claim to be remembered for was the huge Gatling cannon that threatened to shake the armored warplane apart.
Supersonic Stormovik
Despite having mass-produced the legendary Il-2 Shturmovik attack plane during World War II, early Soviet Su-7 attacks jets exhibited deficiencies in performance and payload—a shortcoming that impeded the Soviet Union’s desire to rectify in the late 1960s.
While the Sukhoi design bureau developed the improved Su-17/Su-20/Su-22 “Fitter” family of supersonic attack jets and the armored, subsonic Su-25 Frogfoot, Mikoyan-Gurevich opted to create the ground-attack model of its formidable MiG-23 ‘Flogger’ single-engine fighter. A late-coming Soviet response to the American F-4 Phantom, the MiG-23 was a fast but temperamental beast due to the complexity of its swing-wing mechanisms.
The MiG-23 proved to be a formidable adversary compared to the aging Soviet relics of the past. Its agility and adaptability posed a threat to the ever-thickening ranks of the Western air forces.
MG-23B
The first ground attack variant was the MiG-23B, codenamed the Flogger-F by NATO. This had a swept-wing design for better visibility, speed, and aluminum armor fitted around the cockpit and engines, as well as a then-sophisticated jamming and radio navigation system. It outclassed the MiG-23’s air search radar for a longer-range defense. The production MiG-23BN model also used a Tumansky R-29 turbojet with superior low-speed performance.
This was a Flogger meant to get down and dirty at high speeds, unleashing 23-millimeter cannon shells, unguided bombs, and rockets on enemy troops. The MiG-23BN could also make use of radio-commanded Kh-23 missiles and radar-seeking weapons, as well as short-range K-13 or R-60 heat-seeking air-to-air missiles for self-defense.
However, the MiG Bureau followed the MiG-23BN with a more extensive redesign rebanded as the MiG-27 (Flogger-D), featuring modified engine intakes and redesigned landing gear, decreasing maximum speed to Mach 1.7 at 26,000 feet but increasing the Flogger’s maximum weapons load to 8,800 pounds mounted on five hardpoints (or seven hardpoints at the expense of wing-sweep capability).
The MiG-27’s hydraulically actuated swing-wings allowed it to tailor performance to the situation: fully extended at 16 degrees, they afforded superior lift and low-speed handling. Fully swept-back at 72 degrees, they allowed excellent supersonic performance for making a fast getaway after unloading weapons. An intermediate 45-degree sweep was standard for routine flying.
The MiG-27 also swapped out the MiG-23’s twin-barrel 23-millimeter cannon for a monstrous six-barrel 30-millimeter GSh-6-30 cannon slung in an under-fuselage gondola at a 1.3-degree offset, drawing from 300 rounds stored in the fuselage.
The huge Shpunoν gun had a cyclic rate of 5,000 rounds per minute (see this video), and its gas-operated system spun to maximize firing rate faster than the hydraulic mechanism on the famous 30-millimeter GAU-8 Avenger cannon on the American A-10 Warthog.
Russian Attack Aviation (Part 3) – MiG-27:
Indian pilot Anshuman Mainkar described what it was like to fire the huge gun in an interview by HushKit.net:
“The aircraft seemed to stand still, engrossed with its target – tracers creating an illusion of Morse communication. Smoke and the smell of cordite entered the cockpit, and in a flash it was all over…the aircraft shuddered during the trigger pull, and surge was a possibility, hence the exit had to be smooth and deliberate.”
Indeed, the two-meter-long cannon produced a whopping 6 tons of recoil that produced vibrations powerful enough to crack fuel tanks, break avionics systems, and reliably cause landing lights to fly off their mounts—not a good thing for pilots hoping to make a nighttime landing! Even landing gear doors sometimes tore from the force of firing, resulting in accidents.
The VVS Frontal Aviation operated a fleet of 360 MiG-27s from 1977 until just before the advent of the modernized MiG-27K and 162 slightly upgraded MiG-27M models (Flogger-J2 and J). These newer variants were equipped with advanced avionics, including improved jammers, radar warning systems, and a lock-on TV-guided KAB-500 bombs, as well as Kh-25 and -29 missiles.
In contrast to the previous models with their cannons, the MiG-27, in particular, featured a reliable, smart-handling airframe. Although not particularly agile, it excelled in speed and low-speed performance.
Unlike its cousins, the MiG-23 series, which saw service in various Soviet air forces, the MiG-27s were primarily reserved for Soviet tactical air forces (VVS). The only exception to this rule was the assembly of 165 licensed units by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in India.
In the end, only a single regiment of Soviet MiG-27s saw action during the Cold War, deployed to Afghanistan in 1988 through February 1989. They were primarily used in high-altitude raids and reportedly made effective use of ODAB-500P fuel-air explosives with a deadly blast radius extending as far as 400 meters. However, many of the MiG-27’s advanced capabilities were judged to be overkill for counter-insurgency operations.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia rapidly phased the type out of service by the mid-1990s.
MiGs Reuse Their Gears Over Sri Lanka
However, both Ukrainian and Kazakhstani forces inherited MiG-27s from the Soviet Union. The latter fielded six MiG-27s and a MiG-23UB two-seat trainer to Sri Lanka, ostensibly to launch fast, low-altitude attacks against Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels potentiated with heat-seeking missiles.
Just like in Afghanistan, a supersonic jet proved overkill for a counter-insurgency war and looked out of place in the tropical terrain.
An article by Shamindra Ferdinando details the jet’s rocky career in Sri Lankan service. MiG-27s arrived in June 2000 and began to see action in No. 12 Squadron two months later, initially piloted by Ukrainian mercenaries in strike and close air support missions. You can see some footage of Sri Lankan MiG-27s here.
Sri Lankan Air Force – MiG-27:
The MiG-27s, however, suffered heavy attrition: First, one crashed into a house near Colombo in August 2000, near the Colombo airport, killing its Ukrainian pilot. Another was destroyed in an LTTE commando raid on Katunayake airbase in July 2001. A third crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2004, and a fourth was damaged by ground fire. All of the surviving jets swiftly fell into disrepair.
When a lengthy ceasefire broke down in 2006, the Sri Lankan government had the remaining jets overhauled and purchased enough new aircraft from Ukraine to again field a force of seven MiG-27s. It also received pilot training assistance from India.
The Sri Lankan Air Force played a vital role during the conflict in the Northern and Eastern provinces, delivering 1,180 tons of munitions. MiG-27s sometimes dropped parachute-retarded anti-runway bombs to curtail airstrip usage by the rebel army.
According to interviews with Shamdara, a MiG-27 pilot teamed up with an Israeli-built Kfir jet in the targeted killing of LTTE political leader Subbayya Thamilselvan in his bunker at 6:20 AM on the morning of November 2, 2007, using four 1,100-pound bombs.
Following the conclusion of the so-called Eelam War IV in May 2009, the Sri Lankan MiGs remained silent for a few years, with no crashes until 2012. However, the aircraft then reentered the airframe and were finally retired.
