Well colour me surprised because the tease from Octopus G earlier in the week has turned out to be a Flogger! DCS: MiG-27K Flogger-J2 has been confirmed as being in development with the third party developer. Let’s take a look at the details and what we can expect from this future module!

Flogger confirmed

A few readers suggested to me that the teased module might actually be a MiG-27 rather than a Su-17 or 22 and for those people, they have been proven exactly right. Eagle Dynamics has confirmed that a MiG-27K, the most advanced Soviet variant, is coming to DCS World in the future.

Octopus G has previously developed two WWII era modules, the DCS: I-16 and DCS: La-7 and has now jumped forward several decades to do this project. The announcement contains information on the types of systems confirmed:

• PrNK-23K “Kaira” targeting and navigation system
• IPP-2-53 HUD
• GSh-6-30A six-barrel 30 mm rotary cannon
• TV and laser designated munitions

Eagle Dynamics suggests that the DCS: Afghanistan map, DCS: Iraq map, and DCS: Syria maps would be ideal locations to fly the jet over and while the MiG-27K model was only flown by the Soviet, Indian and Sri Lankan forces, the semi-similar MiG-27D and MiG-27M and early ground attack MiG-23BN variant saw use with a wider variety of operators. It’s a small stretch but DCS World’s sandbox nature does often necessitate thinking like this from time to time.

Early renders show the cockpit’s 3D model in progress.

The project is obviously still in some earlier stages of development and I wouldn’t expect a release for several years. Still, it should be an interesting addition to the collection when the day arrives.

Community update

Meanwhile, as Eagle Dynamics likes to do, a new feature this week is focused on the SARMAT Project – a persistent dynamic PvP campaign for DCS.

Learn more about it and the MiG-27 here.

Some MiG-27 commentary

This is certainly interesting! Thought many of us, myself certainly, had thought that the Su-17/22 was almost a lock given the prior effort, Octopus G has instead gone on to do this project instead.

On that point, several have already speculated that a Su-17/22 may already be in development by another party. Could Eagle Dynamics be doing one? What about Magnitude-3’s rumoured effort? A lot of this is uncertain. It may also be that Octopus G hit a wall with certain resources on the Fitter series of jets and found better materials on the MiG-27K instead.

A lot of DCS virtual pilots are going to find this to be a valuable addition. REDFOR has lacked a Soviet era attack aircraft in the high fidelity category. The Su-25 does quite a bit of heavy lifting (and a full fidelity there is still expected) but something with speed and airspace penetration capability has been limited to types like the MiG-21 or MiG-29 which are less specialized to the role.

Eagle Dynamics hasn’t confirmed the full slate of weapons, however, various sources confirm types like the Kh-23M Grom (NATO reporting “Kerry”) and Kh-25ML (NATO reporting “Karen) TV and beam riding air to ground missiles. It was also capable of carrying the anti-radiation Kh-27 (NATO “Kegler”) missile making it, possibly, the only full fidelity Soviet type coming to DCS with a dedicated anti-SAM platform (the other is the Flaming Cliffs style Su-25T). We do know that it will have the GSh-6-30 cannon – a massive gun firing 30×165mm cartridges at 4,000–6,000 rounds a minute. It was so powerful that it sometimes damaged the airframe of firing aircraft… so that should be interesting (it’s the Soviet “BRRRT”).

This should fit the role that many DCS folks have been looking to fill. A fast strike platform, with ample armaments, that fits into the Cold War era (and even straddles the modern era too) that has become so popular in recent times. The Su-17 seemed more likely but that’s not the direction that they are going in.

I’m expecting to have some say “But what about the MiG-23?” and unfortunately the fate of that particular RAZBAM project is like the others from that developer. Could another MiG-23 project come along? Quite possibly but it is a rather different airplane when it comes to the weapons and avionics fit and the need to have a capable radar programmer on the team. Octopus G, as a small third party developer, may have decided to tackle this as much on interest as on expertise or lack of it for something like the Flogger’s Sapfir radar. Getting the ground-attack strike-mission specific MiG-27 will certainly annoy some but it will be a boon for others.

Excitement will have to be tempered with the reality that this project is very likely years away. DCS: La-7 took years to complete and that was a much simpler airplane to tackle. Fortunately, with two prior modules under the belt, I expect Octopus G will have a good sense of what’s required to make this project happen. Stay tuned for more.