IAF’s Russian-made fighter aircraft - MiG 27 - which proved to be “ace attacker” during the 1999 KargilWar and earned nickname of “Bahadur” from pilots, pass into the glorious history of country’s air force on 27 December, when the last squadron - Scorpion 29 - of seven upgraded MiG 27 planes flew its last sortie from Jodhpur air base of the the South West Air Command.All the planes of this squadron have now been decommissioned. No other country operates MiG 27 now.
After decommissioning, the planes are either used as souvenirs or returned to the base or depot or even could be given to some other country.
MiG-27 ML 'Bahadur'
The IAF had the MiG-27 ML 'Bahadur' and the MiG-27 UPG. MiG-27ML.The ML was an export variant of the Russian MiG-27M provided in 1986 to India in knock-down kits for license-assembly at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It was the same as the MiG-27M, except the undernose fairing for the infra-red search and track (IRST) sensor had a single window instead of several, like the one on the original MiG-27M. A total of 150 were assembled by India.
Though the last MLs were retired, MiG-27 UPG continued to serve with midlife avionics upgrade and were based in Jodhpur.
With its sophisticated avionics and weapon computers, it was capable of delivering a variety of loads in different modes of attack with immense precision.
Being a very stable weapon platform with good forward visibility and all around view, it could drop bombs, rockets, precision munitions guided by TV/laser and also fire air-to-air missiles for self defence, thus making it a lethal and a potent weapon platform.
MiG-27ML had proved its worth in various operations, including in Kargil and earned rich accolades in numerous international exercises held in India.
For its day and age, it was one of the best fighters of the analog era. There was much work for the pilots to do – both outside and inside the cockpit. There was no head-up display, no GPS navigation, no fly-by-wire (hydraulic controls had to be manually operated) but it was built for low altitude high speed flying.
The variable sweep wings could be swept to 16-degree for landing and take-off and low flying, 45-degree for combat and 72-degree for speed and get away, all due to its powerful engine – the R-29B turbojet which generated over 25,000 lbs thrust. It is said, with after burners Mirages could not catch it.
At low level it could fly in excess of 1000 kmph and at high level almost Mach 1.7.
The MiG-27 was heavy on maintenance mainly due to age-related problems with the engine. Its serviceability was around 60-70 per cent in later years as it got older. The IAF prolonged its life and kept on using it longer.
MiG-27ML Specifications
20 tons all-up weight
9 hard point (2 for drop tanks)
4 tons of explosives
22x100 kg bombs
Or 8x500 kg bombs
4x240 kg rockets
128x57mm rockets (in 4 pods)
30mm 6-barrel Gasha cannon with 240 rounds
Anti-surface missiles (TV and laser-fuided)
Napalm, tactical nuclear weapons
