The MiG-27 was originally developed and produced by the Russian aircraft manufacturer Mikoyan-Gurevich before it was license-produced by the Indian Hindustan Aeronautics with the designation Bahadur. It is a variable-geometry ground-attack aircraft derived on the MiG-23 but improved to support air-to-ground operations.
Derived from the MiG-23, the MiG-27K was the most updated Soviet version of the MiG-27 aircraft. Approximately two hundred of this type were built. It has an external length of 17.08 meters, an external height of 2.9 meters, a tail height of 5 meters, and a fuselage diameter of 1 meter. The fully-spread wings has a span of 13.97 meters while 7.78 meters when swept. It has a wing area of 37.35 square meters when spread and 34.16 square meters when swept. It has an empty weight of 11,908 kg, a gross weight of 20,300 kg, and a maximum takeoff weight of 20,670 kg. The maximum payload is 4000 kg and the fuel capacity is 1,925 gallons.
The MiG-27K is fitted with a single Tumansky R-29-B-300 afterburning turbojet engine. It produces a dry thrust of 17,600 lbf and an afterburning thrust of 25,400 lbf. The aircraft has a maximum speed of 1,018 knots at 26,247 feet and 730 knots at sea level. It has a combat range of 420 nautical miles; 290 nautical miles if with two KH-29 missiles and three drop tanks and 121 nautical miles if with two KH-29 missiles and no external fuel. The ferry range is 1,300 nautical miles. The MiG-27K can fly up to 46,000 feet and can climb at a rate of 39,000 feet per minute.
Armaments of the MiG-27K are as follows: A single 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 rotary cannon with 260 rounds and a single 23 mm GSh-23 autocannon with 200 rounds. Four hardpoints are in the fuselage, one in the centerline, and two in the wing glove pylons with a capacity of 4,000 kg with provisions to carry combinations of S-5, S-8, S-25, and S-24 rockets, R-60M air-to-air missiles, Kh-23M, Kh-25ML, and Kh-29L/ML/T/D air-to-surface missiles, and Kh-27PS anti-radiation missiles, and KAB-500KR TV-guided bomb, KAB-500L laser-guided bombs, and up to 500 kg of other bombs.
