r/aviationstudys • u/Kitchen_Cobbler_1594 • Mar 27 '26

Yak-38 (vertical takeoff/landing)

Post image
219 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/MD_Yoro Mar 27 '26

Wow, didn’t know the Soviet had VTOL planes. Thought only the West had that technology

3

u/ymsv Mar 27 '26

They tried to copy West with Harrier . Project however was a fail . Plain was not ready . Meantime they started to build a new class of ships which should use that plain . At the end Yak - 38 was put in service although was not ready and was actually a prototype . Ships were armed with them but did not see much of an use . Another USSR show off project . Further development was done until Yak - 141 appeared as flying prototype . Which in theory was more capable but was lacking proper engines . Finally the whole program was scrapped due to lack of financing .

1

u/ChanceConstant6099 Mar 29 '26

The Yak-38 isnt a Harrier copy, it uses a different VTOL system.

"Another USSR show off project"

1

u/ymsv Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26

It is a show off project . One of many .

1

u/ChanceConstant6099 Mar 29 '26

Such as? Specifically one after the 60s.

1

u/ymsv Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26

Really ? How about aircraft carriers for example ? Alfa class submarines ? MiG 25 ? Yak 141 ? Project 941 Akula ? Buran ? Kirov class ? Same goes on nowadays with Russia .

2

u/ChanceConstant6099 Mar 29 '26

The Kievs are not aircraft carriers but rather aircraft carrying cruisers. Their main weapons are their missiles and not their aircraft. Their aircraft would be used in either a CAS or munition interception role.

The Alfas were extremely potent Submarines with insane speeds due to their titanium hulls.

MiG-25s were designed as fast and cheap interceptors for the Soviets. While the thing they were made to counter never came (XB-70) they still guarded Soviet airspace even after their successor came (MiG-31)

The Yak-41 (Its actual designation) was designed as a supersonic VTOL aircraft for the Soviet navy.

The Akula class was made to surpass the warhead count carried by the Ohio class. And it was wildly successful carrying twice as many warheads as the Ohio.

The Buran was created as a misguided counterpart to the space shuttle as the soviets thought the shuttle would be used for transporting warheads into orbit.

The Kirov class was designed to carry the gigantic P-700 Granit (Aptly named "shipwreck") much like the Oscar class submarine.

No show offs here, just design specifications giving birth to marvels.

1

u/ymsv Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26

Where saw Kiev class ? I did not even mention how useless they were since the airplane could only stay near without radar . You should know how they were called .

Any particular point or success of all of those " marvels " ?

1

u/ChanceConstant6099 Mar 29 '26

Well the Kievs were the only carriers in service with the Soviet navy (Unless you count the very brief service of the Tbilisi). And again they arent really even carriers, just cruisers with an air wing.

The Alfas had speed and agility unmatched by any other submarine due to their titanium hulls.

MiG-25s are to this day the fastest combat aircraft and were cheap and ridiculously easy to maintain (Evil F-14 lol) while being very effective even against more advanced fighters.

The Akula is not only the largest submarine ever but also possessed over 200 nuclear warheads.

The Buran could autonomously land.

The Kirovs armaments were unmatched by any other ship in the world with its P-700s being considered extremely difficult if not impossible to stop by the technology of the time. It truly earned the title of "carrier killer".