✈️ Yakovlev Yak-38 “Forger” — Review

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🧩 Overview

The Yakovlev Yak-38, NATO codename “Forger”, was the Soviet Navy’s first operational VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) fighter, developed in the 1970s. Often called the USSR’s answer to the British Harrier, the Yak-38 was deployed aboard Kiev-class aircraft carriers, offering the Soviet Navy a way to project air power from the sea.

But unlike the Harrier, the Yak-38 was seriously underpowered, carried a light weapons load, and was never truly effective as a frontline fighter. Still, it remains an important Cold War milestone.

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⚙️ Specifications

• First flight: 1971

• Introduced: 1976

• Crew: 1 (Yak-38M had a 2-seat trainer version)

• Length: 16.37 m (53.7 ft)

• Wingspan: 7.32 m (24 ft)

• Maximum speed: ~1,100 km/h (680 mph, subsonic)

• Range: ~1,300 km (combat radius ~300 km)

• Engines:

  • 1 × Tumansky R-27V-300 main engine (vectoring nozzle)

  • 2 × RD-36-35 lift jets (vertically mounted for takeoff/landing)

• Armament:

  • Typically 2 x R-60 air-to-air missiles

  • Up to 2,000 kg of bombs or rockets

  • No internal cannon

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🛠 Design Highlights

• VTOL capability: Used one main engine for forward thrust + two smaller lift engines for vertical takeoff/landing

• Foldable wings: For storage aboard carriers

• Ski-jump capable: Took off from short ramps on Soviet carriers

• Autopilot ejection system: If one lift engine failed during takeoff/landing, the pilot was automatically ejected — a sign of how risky it was

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⚓ Naval Role

The Yak-38 was designed specifically for operation from the Kiev-class “heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers”, which lacked the catapults and arresting gear of U.S. carriers. The Forger gave the Soviet fleet a modest fighter and strike capability at sea, filling a role no other Soviet aircraft could at the time.

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📉 Performance Limitations

Despite its VTOL novelty, the Yak-38 had serious flaws:

• Very limited weapons load

• Poor combat range — only a few hundred km with full load

• Weak radar or none at all in early versions

• Couldn’t fight supersonic enemies or defend itself well

It was best used as a short-range strike aircraft or patrol interceptor, not a full fighter.

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🧱 Strengths

• First successful Soviet VTOL aircraft

• Gave the USSR sea-based air power (even if limited)

• Easy to operate from smaller ships and remote bases

• Technically ambitious

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⚠️ Weaknesses

• Underpowered, especially in warm or high-altitude conditions

• Unreliable lift engines — risky in VTOL mode

• Poor dogfight capability

• Very short combat radius

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📜 Legacy

The Yak-38 was retired in the early 1990s, replaced conceptually by future designs like the Yak-141 (which also failed to reach production). While it didn’t achieve the same success as the Harrier, the Yak-38 was a symbol of Soviet innovation, and a major stepping stone in the history of vertical flight.

Today, a few examples survive in museums, reminding us of the USSR’s effort to match Western naval air power.

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🏁 Final Verdict: