An excellent fighter bomber aircraft in the Soviet tech tree and a new type of smart weapons are coming to War Thunder!

MiG-27M, strike aircraft, USSR, VII rank

Pros

• Very high max speed
• Huge variety of weapon presets
• Smart weapons
• Variable-sweep wing

Cons

• Low amount of countermeasures
• Lacks sensors to detect targets

The MiG-27M is a top attack aircraft in the USSR aviation research tree and one of the few attack aircraft with a maximum speed of  Mach 1,8. At the time of its appearance in the game, the MiG-27M will become one of the leaders in terms of the number of available sets of suspended weapons. In addition, with the appearance of this aircraft in War Thunder, we will introduce a new type of aircraft weapons - guided aircraft bombs units, or GBUs. But first things first.

The MiG-27M is a further development of the MiG-23M, already familiar to War Thunder pilots. Despite the increased load and general adaptation of the airframe and theengine for more confident operation at low altitudes and subsonic speeds, the MiG-27M quite confidently accelerates to a maximum speed of  Mach 1,8, while maintaining excellent climb rate. A variable sweep wing and an effective air brake make the heavy and powerful MiG-27M a very maneuverable aircraft in its class.

One of the central changes to the MiG-27M compared to its predecessor is the placement of a 30-mm six-barreled rotary cannon in a special niche under the fuselage. This adapted naval gun has a rate of fire of about 5.000 rounds per minute and is equipped with several types of ammunition, including AP and APHE shells for destruction of ground targets. A noticeable drawback of this gun is a relatively small ammunition load of 300 rounds, which, in the heat of battle, is consumed literally in a matter of seconds. But this sound… The rolling roar of the rotary gun makes you forgive everything for this brilliant gun! 

But a modern strike aircrafts key tool is, first of all, suspended weapons. Since the variable sweep wing imposes significant restrictions on the placement of weapon suspension points, on the MiG-27M, almost all of them are located under the fuselage and only a couple of pylons can be placed in the wing roots. At the time of the release of the "Direct Hit" update, more than 40 combinations of suspended weapons will be available for the MiG-27M: for ground targets, air combat and combined universal presets for any combat situation. The pilot can choose from 23mm GSh-23L gun pods; rockets - from small S-5KP to massive S-24B; bombs of calibers 100, 250 and 500 kg. Guided weapons are R-60 and R-13M1 air-to-air missiles, as well as air-to-surface missiles: Kh-29L, Kh-29T and Kh-23M with manual command to line of sight.

The MiG-27M will be one of the first aircraft in the game to be armed with a new type of aircraft weapons - guided bombs, or GBU. This is a guided weapon that allows you to accurately hit ground targets from a considerable height and at a great distance. The algorithm for working with guided bombs is as follows. Switch to the view from the guided bomb sight and aim at the desired area of ​​the battlefield. Press the target lock button and make sure the lock is successful. When the bomb drop marker is in the target area - launch the bomb! 

Unlike the seeker of the Maverick missiles, the Kh-29T missile and the KAB-500kr guided bomb are equipped with a TV-correlation seeker, the main feature of which is the difference in the visual image of the captured area and the rest of the background. This means that such seeker will not be able to lock on single ground targets such as a tank, but they will be able to capture any point on the land surface. Thus, the player will be able to strike at the intended locations of the target without visual detection (tanks in the bushes, or at the capture point, covered by an obstacle). However, if the enemy's tank changes its position, then the drop will be done on an empty spot.

The MiG-27M is one of the main features of the upcoming update “Direct Hit”, which the War Thunder team is currently working on. Update coming soon, stay tuned for our news!