The Yakovlev Yak-38, more popularly known by the NATO reporting name of “Forger,” was Soviet Naval Aviation’s only and first VTOL strike fighter. Through an independent developmental path and configuration, this unusually configured jet, though looking much like the British Harrier Jump Jet, followed its course. That course was fraught with severe practical limitations.
The initial Yak-38 design had called for a supersonic type, similar to the British Hawker P.1154, but powered by two R27-300 engines, but the complications of supersonic performance led to a decision to build a simpler type with Mach 0.95 performance. Developed from the Yakovlev Yak-36 land-based technology demonstrator, little of that aircraft remained in the Yak-38, and its modification the Yak-38M.
The prototype VM-01 was completed on April 14th, 1970. Unlike the Harrier which uses one engine with vectoring thrust through four nozzles, the Yak-38 used a vectorable engine in the back for flight and two smaller engines in the front for take-off and landing. That layout was also common to the German VFW VAK 191B and the Dassault Mirage IV.
The Yak-38 was fitted with a hands-off landing system, in which the aircraft could be brought onto the deck of an aircraft carrier via a telemetry/telecommand link without any pilot input. The first colors used on the aircraft were dark green anti-corrosion paint on the undersides and dark blue upper surfaces. These were eventually replaced by light grey over dark grey.
Operational history: 279 OKShAP (Independent Shipboard Attack Air Regiment) based at Saki, Crimea; pilots drawn from Yakovlev OKB, the LII at Zhukovskii, and the AV-MF. The first AV-MF squadron, embarked on the aircraft carrier Kiev, in July 1976. Yak-38 was formally accepted by AV-MF, in October 1976.
The main drawbacks were the poor payload as well as general performance when the ambient temperature was high. During the test series, which covered the Black Sea and later during operational use over the coast of West Africa, in the Indian Ocean, the Yak-38 encountered poor accommodation of external stores due to the reluctance of the lift jets to light under hot and humid conditions. An intake system that injected oxygen was also fitted to rectify this fault.
Despite the cited limitations, the Yak-38 saw widespread service. Between April and May 1980, four Yak-38s were forward-deployed to Afghanistan for a 50-day trial under the codename Romb-1. However, in “hot and high” conditions, they found severely limited combat utility; on this deployment, only 12 sorties were flown, each carrying just two 100 kg bombs.
With the development of V/STOL techniques – such as rolling take-offs and run-on landings – the Yak-38 became much more operational. The Kiev class generally carried 12 single-seat Yak-38s and two or three two-seat Yak-38Us in addition to anti-submarine warfare helicopters.
Regardless of the operational deficiencies, the Yak-38 is believed to be one more milestone in Soviet aviation history, reflecting an ambitious undertaking to master VTOL flight skills for naval purposes.