Designed for use on fourth-generation fighters such as the MiG-29 and Su-27, and on modernised versions of the MiG-21 Fishbed, MiG-23 Flogger, and MiG-25 Foxbat, the R-27 Izdieliye 470 entered production in 1986. It is now the principle Russian medium-range AAM. First versions to enter service were the SAR-guided R-27R (Alamo-B) and IR-guided R-27T (Alamo-A). Both weapons use inertial guidence updated by a communication link during the initial phase of flight. A third version designated R-27P (Pasivnaya) is fitted with a passive radar seeker, and can be launched against aircraft using active radar, for examle an AWACS.
The follow-on R-27E (Energeticheskaya) version have an uprated rocket motor which increases the length of the missile by around 17%. SAR and IR variants are the R-27RE (Alamo-C) and R-27TE (Alamo-D) respectively. Two newer versions were announced in 1992 at MosAeroshow. R-27AE is a long-range variant fitted with an active-radar homing head, while the R-27EM is a SAR version custom-designed for the use on the new Su-35 (Su-27M) fighter.

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