Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, or jump jets, usually take off from smaller aircraft carriers and amphibious ships. The British had the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, which acquitted itself well during the Falkland Islands War. It splashed 20 Argentine fighters, with no losses. The Soviet Union had its own answer, the Yakovlev Yak-38, a jet known to NATO as the “Forger.”

A Jump Jet Built for Hybrid Carriers 

The Soviets wanted a fighter that could fly from their first aircraft carriers. The carriers themselves were not conventional. They lacked a longer, flat-top take-off and landing deck. These hybrid combinations of carrier and battleship were called Kiev-class heavy aviation cruisers.

After development in the 1960s, The Soviets started with a prototype VTOL fighter in 1971. Vertical takeoff was a tricky feat of engineering, and it required a long design journey to correctly craft vertical thrust and horizontal take-off capabilities. The Soviets built four extra prototypes over the next five years. By 1976, they were finally able to bring the Yak-38 into serial production.   

The Yak-38’s Limited Capabilities

Soviet designers went with the Tumansky R-28 engine, and RD-38 turbojets provided the initial lift. The Yak-38 did not have impressive specs. Its top flight speed was 795 miles per hour, with a ceiling of 36,000 feet and a range of 800 miles. They later tested it on the ground in Afghanistan, and the engines stirred up dust and debris that could obstruct the engines and stall the airplane.

The power plant was temperamental and did not start up in the humid conditions of seas in warm climates. The jet could also spin out of the control of even the best pilots. The egress system would eject the seat and the pilot accidentally. 

The Yak-38 could carry 4,400 pounds of ordnance, which sounded impressive, but there were only four hardpoints under the wings. Thus, the Yak-38 could be outfitted with a limited number of bombs, plus short-range and manually guided air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles.

Without a weapons systems officer in the backseat, these munitions would not be effective. The Harrier carried a much more robust array of armaments. Remarkably, the Yak-38 also had no radar, which narrowed its roles and capabilities.

Many Airplanes Just Failed 

Despite these problems, the Soviets made 231 Yak-38s, but they lost scores of planes to accidents and mishaps. They tried to use it in Afghanistan in the 1980s, but the Yak-38 needed a forward-observer airplane to guide it to ground targets for close air support. It carried out only a few missions against Afghan militants during the war.

So the Yak-38 was complicated and dangerous to fly. It was slow and had a limited range with a low ceiling. It also carried a restricted number of unsophisticated weapons systems. The Harrier, on the other hand, went on to be an effective airplane. The AV-8B Harrier II that the U.S. Marine Corps flew enjoyed great success, accomplishing nearly 3,400 sorties in Operation Desert Storm and putting together a long service record in ensuing conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia. The Harrier II could carry twice the amount of ordnance as the Yak-38, and it had almost three times the range.

As for the Yak-38, Russia gave up on the program and retired the jump jet in 1991. The Kiev-class carriers were no more – they were either scrapped or retired.

The Yak-38 had become a solution searching for a problem – a waste of money, time and effort. It was useless in aerial combat and close air support. Russia never built another jump jet.

About the Author 

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood.

All images are Creative Commons.