Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends, 

We are thrilled to introduce the DCS: MiG-27K Flogger-J2, now in development by OctopusG, the talented team responsible for the DCS: I-16 and DCS: La-7. This upcoming module will feature a highly detailed variable-sweep wing flight model, the advanced PrNK-23K "Kaira" laser and TV targeting system, and the formidable six-barrel 30 mm cannon. Read on for all the details.

We are also taking a closer look at the real MiG-27K, the most advanced strike variant of the Flogger to serve with the Soviet Air Force. From its swing-wing MiG-23 origins to its final combat sorties over Afghanistan, discover the story behind this iconic aircraft below.

In this week's community highlight, we're featuring SARMAT by Baikal Prime Studio, a persistent PvP campaign now out of open beta, with two coalitions fighting for territory around the clock on the DCS: Syria Map and, as VARG, on the DCS: Caucasus Map. Learn more below.

Thank you for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely, 

Eagle Dynamics

Announcing the DCS: MiG-27K Flogger-J2

Coming to DCS from OctopusG

We are pleased to announce that OctopusG, the creators of the DCS: I-16 and DCS: La-7, are hard at work on the DCS: MiG-27K Flogger-J2. Soon, you will be able to take the controls of this legendary swing-wing Flogger in DCS as a fully flyable module.

The MiG-27K was built for one job: going in low and fast and putting ordnance on target, and OctopusG's plans for the module start with the wing. Their goal is a flight model that accurately represents the variable-sweep wing under all flight conditions, with handling that follows the wing through every sweep setting.

Step into the cockpit and you will find the PrNK-23K "Kaira" targeting and navigation system, complete with laser and TV target designation, working alongside the IPP-2-53 HUD. This powerful combination will let you employ a wide array of then state-of-the-art weaponry, from conventional bombs and guided munitions to anti-radiation missiles. And when things get up close and personal, the GSh-6-30A six-barrel 30 mm rotary cannon will be ready.

Even raising the gear is worth watching on the real aircraft. The MiG-27K's landing gear retracts with its own unique kinematics, and OctopusG aims to recreate it in DCS.

OctopusG will use photogrammetry for both the cockpit and the external model. These early work-in-progress images show the first steps on the cockpit, from the main instrument panel to the side consoles lined with switches and controls. Many of the models shown are not yet textured.

The DCS: MiG-27K is also planned to include missions on the DCS: Afghanistan Map, DCS: Iraq Map, and DCS: Syria Map. In the real world, the MiG-27D and MiG-27M flew over Afghanistan, and MiG-23 Floggers served with Iraq and Syria, but the MiG-27K will feel right at home recreating different points in the Flogger's history.

The DCS: MiG-27K is still in the early stages, and there's a lot of development ahead. We'll share more as it takes shape.

The MiG-27K Flogger-J2

The Last and Most Capable Soviet Strike Flogger

Developed from the MiG-23 fighter as a dedicated ground-attack aircraft, it kept the swing wing, with sweep settings of 16, 45 and 72 degrees, but gained a revised nose that Soviet crews nicknamed "Utkonos," the Platypus. The first aircraft, originally designated MiG-23BM, flew in November 1972, and the MiG-27 entered frontline service with Soviet Tactical Aviation in 1975.

The MiG-27K was the most advanced version to serve with the Soviet Air Force, and roughly 200 were built. It carried no radar. Instead, its PrNK-23K navigation and attack system combined an Orbita-20-23K digital computer with the Kaira laser and TV sighting system, letting the pilot find and designate targets for guided weapons such as the laser-guided Kh-25ML and Kh-29L missiles, the TV-guided Kh-29T, and the KAB-500L and KAB-500Kr guided bombs. Against enemy radars, it could carry the Kh-27PS anti-radiation missile. Its main gun was a six-barrel 30 mm rotary cannon.

The MiG-27 saw combat in the final months of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In October 1988, the 134th APIB, a fighter-bomber regiment flying MiG-27D and MiG-27M aircraft, deployed to Shindand Air Base and remained until the Soviet withdrawal, taking part in the siege of Kandahar.

Outside the Soviet Union, only India and Sri Lanka operated the MiG-27. India retired its last MiG-27 squadrons in December 2019.

When it arrives in DCS, the MiG-27K will give virtual pilots a dedicated Cold War strike aircraft built around laser- and TV-guided weapons, and give mission makers a swing-wing Soviet attacker to send to the front line. Strap in, sweep the wings back, and get ready to go in low.

Community Highlight: SARMAT Project released

A Persistent Dynamic PvP Campaign for DCS

SARMAT is a persistent dynamic PvP campaign for DCS by Baikal Prime Studio. Two coalitions fight for territory around the clock on two servers with shared rules: SARMAT on the Syria map and VARG in the Caucasus.

The open beta is over: after more than 130 builds tested in combat, the project has been released.

SARMAT is a new engine built on its own core of about 150,000 lines of code, proven under heavy load on a live server. The core consists of 57 independent services running on a shared bus with a strict time budget per tick, so even with thousands of ground units and several dozen aircraft in the air, the server does not desync. More than 450 built-in self-check rules and 30 load-test suites catch errors before pilots see them. No MIST, no MOOSE, no CTLD or other third-party libraries: DCS is addressed directly. A dynamic line of contact with strongpoints, a new system of fragmentation and vehicle cook-offs, orders for air defence, armour, and aviation, statistics, and a card for every pilot, plus a PostgreSQL database.

Choosing a side

Red and Blue fight with different equipment and earn different awards. Red has layered air defence built on the S-300, Buk, and Pantsir; TOS-1A, Grad, and Smerch artillery; Su-34 and Tu-22M3 strikes; Il-76MD airlift; and orders from Russia and the USSR. Blue has Patriot, Hawk, and Roland; the B-1B, C-17A, and CH-47 airlift; and NATO awards. The side that holds all four sectors wins the campaign, after which the sides swap: whoever was in the north starts in the south.

How the campaign works

• The front line forms from ownership of objectives and shifts based on key points captured. The fight is for airfields, FARPs, factories, depots and fortified urban areas.

• Not a single ground unit is placed in the mission editor. Eleven types of strongpoints are tied to seven depth echelons from the front line; after every restart, the defence is laid out anew along the line where combat has pushed it.

• Air defence fights as a single layered system: batteries stand at full strength, and the radar network shares the picture over datalink. A destroyed radar is a hole in the coverage of an entire sector. You can put your own SAM into emissions control (/radaroff) and set an ambush against SEAD, or move the group to safety while silent.

• Fragmentation and cook-offs: the campaign adds its own blast to rocket, bomb and missile hits near vehicles, and vehicles carrying ammunition and fuel detonate with great force.

Command yourself — from the cockpit, the website, a tablet or a phone

Every pilot commands ground units, air defence and artillery. A mark on the F10 map is the address; a short chat command is the order: /arty, /mlrs and /tos call artillery fire, /path moves your group along roads, /attack, /def, /cap are side commander orders. You can give the same orders from the live map on the website—from a computer, tablet, or mobile phone — without launching DCS: order equipment, move your group, fire your battery, switch units to green or red mode, repair air defence, reinforce a garrison.

Nothing appears out of thin air

• Transport aircraft deliver ordered equipment and garrison reinforcements: the Il-76MD or C-17A from the rear base, and helicopters from the nearest one. Any transport can be intercepted — and then the equipment never arrives.

• The coalition treasury pays for reinforcements for depleted objectives: an empty treasury means no reinforcements. That is why strikes on the rear and on transports matter.

• Pilots carry crates and troops themselves, set up FOBs, build strongpoints and airdrop vehicles from the Hercules.

• An ordered group belongs to its owner and their DCS account: no one else can move or disband it, and changing your nickname does not reset progress.

Aviation

• Ordered air support does not charge head-on into air defence: flights patrol along the front line on their own side and hit the nearest targets; fighters fly a “grinder” pattern; bombers route around known SAM sites.

• Every 90 minutes each side launches an escorted bomber raid; AWACS and tankers are always up, and spotter drones mark targets.

• CSAR: an ejected pilot must be found and rescued — a separate job with separate pay.

• Lives are limited; every sortie counts. Influence is earned for kills, deliveries and ten types of combat contracts; 19 ranks from private to marshal, Guard ranks and more than 50 awards.

The campaign never stops

The campaign state is saved to a separate file every five minutes and at every restart: captured bases, garrisons and HQ tiers, client equipment with its owners, the front line reached. What is destroyed stays destroyed; what was delivered stays where it was unloaded. The campaign is designed as a long war lasting weeks.

Getting started

• Servers in the DCS browser: [BPS] SARMAT SYRIA MODERN and [BPS] VARG CAUCASUS MODERN, addresses BaikalPrimeStudio.com:10308 and BaikalPrimeStudio.com:10309.

• Modern missiles with active radar seekers are available for Russian aircraft.

• Before your first sortie, open the “New pilots” section on the website; questions go to Discord: discord.com/invite/KgsRt9zf3Y.

• Coming soon: [BPS] SARMAT SYRIA SARH E1 and E2, [BPS] VARG CAUCASUS SARH E1 and E2.

Thank you again for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely,
Eagle Dynamics