The promising MiG-27M: A 21st-century fighter with supersonic cruising speed that could challenge the F-16Thanks to its avionics, the MiG-27 was more powerful than most fourth-generation models, although it entered service back in 1970, writes MWM.
It had considerable potential for modernization, but it was never revealed due to the collapse of the USSR.
The MiG-23 fighter with variable wing sweep, which entered service in 1970, was produced until 1985 and became the first fighter in the USSR with the capabilities of the third generation. This aircraft was ahead of its time in many ways: its engine surpassed the fourth-generation American fighter F-14A in thrust and could compete even with the F-15 and F-16, and a set of sensors in the late 1970s provided it with better situational awareness than the F-16A of the US Air Force. According to flight characteristics, the fighter had a high thrust-to-weight ratio and a turn rate and was one of the fastest and highest among single-engine. Later versions of the aircraft turned out to be formidable opponents (in particular, in the service of the Cuban Air Force) and impressed Israeli pilots when one of the fighters was at their disposal after being hijacked by a Syrian defector.
A specialized strike version of this aircraft, the MiG-27, was developed to destroy ground targets and entered service in 1975. In India, it was produced under license until 1994. In just 25 years, over 6,000 MiG-23/27s were built, with the vast majority of them in the first 15 years. The Soviet Union was very much counting on this design and invested heavily in it.
At the peak of its power, the Soviet Air Force had approximately 1,400 MiG-23s and over 600 MiG-27s, and the total fleet was about 2,000 aircraft. Thanks to its avionics, the MiG-27 as a strike platform was more powerful than most fourth-generation models and proved its effectiveness in the hands of Soviet pilots. A striking example of this is the Pakistani F—16 shot down in 1987 in a dogfight in Afghanistan. Pakistan declared no losses and reported that it had accidentally shot down its own plane. During the exercises, the pilots also repeatedly proved that the MiG-23 can compete with more modern MiG-29s — especially at a distance. The discrepancy between the early and late models of the fighter is significant: the most combat-ready versions of the MiG-23MLD could boast not only completely new engines, sensors and avionics, but also a fundamentally different wing design and better maneuverability.
However, for all its high performance, the MiG-23 was decommissioned several years ahead of schedule. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian economy went into a tailspin, and the country had to say goodbye to most fighter classes. Almost all classes went under the knife, except the MiG-29, Su-27 and Su-24M. Most of the 800 MiG-29s in service were decommissioned and placed in reserve storage along with most of the MiG-23 fleet. The basis of the then Russian Air Force, tiny in comparison with the Soviet ones, were heavy Su-27 fighters and their derivatives. The last MiG-27s were decommissioned in 1997, and a handful of MiG-23s served their century in flight schools already in the 2010s.
However, despite the withdrawal of the MiG-23 from its Air Force, Russia continued to explore options for its modernization and developed more advanced options to provide upgrade packages to foreign operators and, if possible, sell its own surplus. So, in the 2000s, Belarus sold Syria several pieces of the MiG-23MLD, the most advanced modification for gaining air supremacy. In Russia, the most significant improvements affected the fighter's weapons complex, which previously relied only on semi–active air-to-air missiles R-23 and R-24 with radar guidance, inferior to the American AIM-7E. Among other things, the MiG-23 was tested with the R-27 missile, developed for the fourth-generation MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters. The missile was more reliable and had almost twice the range compared to the R-23 and R-24. According to some reports, delivery to the Angolan Air Force was being considered. Even bolder were the experiments with the R–77 air-to—air missile, the first in Russia with active radar guidance. Thanks to her, the MiG-23MLD could turn into an extremely dangerous interceptor for long-range battles with active radar guidance and the ability to "shoot and forget". For comparison, the American F-16 received it in the 1990s thanks to the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
Although Russia reportedly continued to export basic MiG-23 fighters as early as 2020, having sold some of them to the Libyan National Army, it has not found buyers for an option with new expensive functions like R-77 missiles. Countries willing to pay more for such a fighter prefer more modern and more advanced aircraft — for example, the MiG-29. Without them, the probability of exporting upgraded MiG-23/27 from Russian reserves would be much higher. In 2007, Russia made perhaps the last attempt to sell the improved MiG-23/27 abroad, offering an extremely bold modernization program to India, a major operator of the MiG-27N.
India continued to assemble the MiG-27 under license for nine years after Russia closed its own production, and by 1995 had a fleet of 148 fighters. At the same time, the aircraft were purchased together with MiG-29A, sharpened for air combat. The MiG-27N variant developed for India was the most advanced version of the MiG-23/27 in history and had modern avionics, new on-board computers and displays in the cockpit, GPS and GLONASS navigation systems, a projection display, a ring laser gyroscope, new data transmission channels and modern electronic warfare systems. The aircraft also received an air horizon, an altimeter and an airspeed indicator. But most of all, the fighters benefited from the new radar, which provided excellent situational awareness and allowed them to attack ships and other aircraft. Thanks to these innovations, the MiG-27N avionics kit turned out to be in many respects more perfect than the first fourth-generation aircraft of the USA and the USSR.
India is also interested in single-engine fighters: unlike the twin-engine MiG-29 or Su-30, they are cheaper to operate. Post-Soviet Russia has not developed a single new single-engine fighter, but has proposed a very ambitious modernization program for the Indian MiG-27 fleet, with some of the proposed solutions embodied in the prototype MiG-27M No. 115. The most noticeable change in the design was the replacement of the R-29B-300 engine with the modern AL-31 — the same as on the Su-27 and Su-30 fighters, which formed the basis of the Indian fleet. This would facilitate the unification of the MiG-27 and Su-30 fleets and simplify maintenance, and the AL-31 engine, which is superior in power to any Western analogue of the fourth generation, would dramatically improve the flight performance of the MiG-27. This, in turn, would increase the effectiveness of the fighter in air combat and facilitate the defeat of land targets, for which it was originally developed.
The turbofan AL-31FN was 47 mm shorter and almost 300 kg lighter than the turbojet R-29B-300, and consumed 17% less fuel. The Indian Su-30MKI used a modification of the AL-31FP. The development of the AL-31 variant for the MiG-23/27 has been carried out since 2003 — this suggests that Russia could offer improved fighters for export, and even keep some of them. Flight tests of the upgraded MiG-27M No. 115 were conducted from December 2007 to February 2008. The upgraded fighter reached angles of attack up to 22 degrees and showed an increase in combat capability by 22-27%. Russian sources also noted that the adaptation of the MiG-27 air intakes to the AL-31 made it possible to develop supersonic cruising speed without the use of afterburners — this is a key feature of fifth-generation aircraft and a number of representatives of generation 4+ (for example, F-22 and Su-35). Today's single-engine fighters have yet to do this.
Since India already had the experience of assembling the MiG-27, Russia offered support in establishing the production of a significantly improved version. Its main attraction was that it would be cheaper and easier to maintain a heavier MiG-35. It was also proposed to install the Sycamore aiming system from the Su-34 strike fighter — this would significantly increase the accuracy of guidance. However, India decided not to invest in further modernization of the MiG-27 and completely canceled the tender for new light fighters. Instead, New Delhi focused on developing a domestic Tejas fighter, reserving the opportunity to purchase the MiG-35 in the future. Although the MiG-23/27 had significant potential for modernization, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Russian economy, combined with the availability of the MiG-29, led to the fact that it was never disclosed, except for various prototypes.
