Yakovlev Yak-41/Yak-141 "Freestyle": Guardian Of The Red Fleet

[Sweepdown 147]

Hello and welcome. This is my 17th suggestion thread- this one covers the Yakovlev Yak-141 supersonic VTOL aircraft.

 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

A supersonic VTOL designed as an air-defense interceptor for use aboard the aircraft carriers of the Soviet Navy, known to NATO as "Freestyle". Denied from seeing mass production due to the disintegrating of the USSR and the subsequent economic troubles, the Yak-141's legacy nevertheless lives on post-Cold War. Two airplanes are currently on display.

 

HISTORY AND SPECS

The prior Yak-38, even before the Soviets started officially using them, was always viewed as a stopgap plane that's only being used until more capable planes were introduced, as it was pretty crap otherwise. The Soviet Navy still continued searching for a VTOL plane, with better capabilities than offered by the Yak-38 and able to sustain supersonic speeds, as an air defense interceptor for the fleet and as their next-gen VTOL fighter. Yakovlev viewed it as an opportunity to return to designing fighter airplanes (having had previous successes with the Yak-3 and Yak-9 all the way back in WWII, with MiG taking over for much of the Cold War afterwards). 

 

It was so important for them that Yakovlev assigned a large portion of his OKB into designing the plane; there was no less than 10 chief engineers working at once on it. Designing a VTOL plane with afterburners (at that time necessary for supersonic flight) was not an easy job. They briefly considered a twin-engine design, but decided against it as a loss of one engine would send the hapless jet rolling to either side. Eventually, they found a solution: dedicated jets to hover with, and a separate, afterburning jet to attain the supersonic speed needed. The afterburning jet was a Soyuz R-79V-300 turbofan with 24000 lbf of thrust dry (34000 lbf with afterburner), while the hover engines were RKBM RD-41 turbojets with 9400 thrust each.

The heat of the engines mean that any part subject to it during landing was made of titanium, and at least 26% of the Freestyle was graphite or composite materials. Nevertheless, it built up so much heat that hovering the 141 for more than 2.5 minutes was exceedingly dangerous. These engines were interlinked with a digital system capable of controlling both start-up and thrust moderation during landing or hovering.

 

Pilots of the 141 sit in a pressurized, air-conditioned cockpit under frontally bulletproof canopy that hinged to the right for opening (but the 141 had no sort of rear vision whatsoever because of that solid rear spine). The Freestyle has an ejection seat, which armed should the engine ducts be rotated past 30 degrees with an airspeed below 300kph. Instrumentation was simple, resembling the Yak-36M VTOL tech demonstrator. Production 141s were to be given a more extensive weapons and avionics suite, including Doppler radar, laser-TV ranging and aiming systems, as well as an integrated HUD-helmet system as found on the MiG-29, which allowed it to fire missiles at 80 degrees off the front (something which led to former East German MiG-29s to, much to the shock of the West, dominate in simulated dogfights against Western fighters). 

 

Yakovlev had obtained enough funding to build four prototypes; one for static and fatigue testing, one for static powerplant tests, and two for actual flights. The first Freestyle took flight in March 1987, at what is now Zhukovsky Intl. Airport with Sinitsyn at the controls. On December 1989, he hovered in it for the first time, and later in June 1990 he transitioned, while airborne, from vertical to high-speed flight and back (to land) for the first time. Throughout its testing, the Freestyle was impressively maneuverable and even broke several world records. While the Soviets called this plane the Yak-41, the name was classified by them, so the records were submitted by the fictious name Yak-141; this is the name the Western world now uses for the plane.

On September 1991, Sinitsyn made the first carrier vertical landing on Kiev-class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (ex-Baku, now Indian carrier Vikramaditya) on the 141, followed by Vladimir A. Yakimov an hour after Sinitsyn's touchdown. The two would continue to make flights from the Admiral Gorshkov, until Yakimov almost pulled a Jingles landing by doing it too hard; he ruptured a fuel tank and caused a serious fire onboard the 141; thankfully, he ejected and was successfully rescued from the drink. The airplane was later repaired and put on display (where it still resides to this day).

 

Unfortunately, the Soviet Union's disintegration in December 1991 left no funds whatsoever for the 141 to continue development (The Smolensk-based factory where Yak aircraft were produced had anticipated this and hadn't actually produced any tooling for mass producing the 141), leaving the four prototypes the only ones ever built, and today only the flyable prototypes remain on display (although the 141 performed at the Farnborough air show in 1992).

All wasn't lost for the 141, though. Following the announcement that they didn't have money left to fund it, Yakovlev sought external partners to help continue funding the program. It was here that Lockheed, developing the X-35 (what would eventually become the F-35 of the 2010s era) stepped forth, allowing Yakovlev to put one of the prototypes on display at Farnborough Air Show 1992, and obtaining $385-400 million to construct three new prototypes and an additional static prototype to test improved avionics. The Yak-141's hovering technology was eventually used in the F-35B, which was sold to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, and also used by the USMC.

 

IN WAR THUNDER

Unfortunately, the Yak-141 is beyond the current BR system reach due to its performance and general capabilities, especially being armed with advanced R-73s (Archers, which can be fired off-boresight), R-77s (Adders, also nicknamed AMRAAMski's by me), and R-27s (Alamos, the shortest-ranged of which have a range equal to the Sparrow, and the longest-ranged have a range of 170km making Sparrows look like Sidewinders in comparison range-wise) and a rather impressive performance to boot, when the Yak-38 is already divisive in-game.

 

Nevertheless, the Yak-141 is a natural follow-up to the Yak-38 in the tech tree, at Rank 7. BR would probably be at minimum 11.0, possibly 11.3 or even 11.7.

 

PICTURES

Yak-141 hovering at the Farnborough air show. Notice the dedicated nozzles for the afterburning jet and the two hovering jets.

Engine layout of the Yak-141.

The F-35B's VTOL schematics. This plane gets to do this thanks to the Yak-141 and its technology.

The Yak-141 above, this time on the ground.

 

SPECIFICATIONS (sorry for small images, screenshotting is a bit quirky right now)

(performance)

(armament)

 

SOURCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-141

https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=721

http://www.yak.ru/eng/firm/histmod/yak-141.php

http://www.military-today.com/aircraft/yak_141.htm

 

[ItssLuBu 1,803]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[TheNexonRegime 429]

+1 My all time favorite VTOL aircraft, would love to see this come one day.

[Milocat 4,857]

+1 for sure, this would be great to see in the game.

[ponnes 473]

+1 for the F35B predecessor 

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

+1 when late tier 7/ tier 8 will be a thing

[_Pixy 196]

I had been anticipating the Yak-38 for years, grinding out the whole yak line in preparation, then it did, and quickly became one of my most played vehicles, after that there were two more vehicles I've been hoping to see from the Yak line: The Yak-36 and the Yak-141, and between the MiG-23PD and the Yak-141 (my top two favorite soviet jets) this baby is one of the most interesting aircraft I've been hoping to see at the end of it all and i'm happy to see a suggestion on it. If you need any more info Chapter 6 Page 101 and onwards in the PDF has a wealth of information you could use for the suggestion! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8VhKgMyUWwQMT_r9a7ozO3vFDeGNQt1/view?usp=sharing
 

+1!

Edited March 7, 2021 by _Pixy

[Mr_Pokemon26295 358]

+1

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

15 hours ago, _Pixy said:

I had been anticipating the Yak-38 for years, grinding out the whole yak line in preparation, then it did, and quickly became one of my most played vehicles, after that there were two more vehicles I've been hoping to see from the Yak line: The Yak-36 and the Yak-141, and between the MiG-21PD and the Yak-141 (my top two favorite soviet jets) this baby is one of the most interesting aircraft I've been hoping to see at the end of it all and i'm happy to see a suggestion on it. If you need any more info Chapter 6 Page 101 and onwards in the PDF has a wealth of information you could use for the suggestion! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8VhKgMyUWwQMT_r9a7ozO3vFDeGNQt1/view?usp=sharing
 

+1!

you mean Mig-25 PD ?

[_Pixy 196]

9 hours ago, MonkeyBussiness said:

you mean Mig-25 PD ?

MiG-23PD actually!

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

8 hours ago, _Pixy said:

MiG-23PD actually!

the Mig-23P exist , his upgrade is the bis but the Mig-23PD doesn't exist AFAIK

[_Pixy 196]

2 hours ago, MonkeyBussiness said:

the Mig-23P exist , his upgrade is the bis but the Mig-23PD doesn't exist AFAIK

It does my friend! Its the plane on my signature!

[Comrade Yuri146@live 0]

Speaking of MiGs I would Love to see the Mig-29 Fulcrum for the USSR. It is a really cool fighter and one of the only fighters to ever pull off the cobra maneuver. They were awesome intercepter fighters and It would be cool to see them in game.

[PHUNNY 3]

+1. Would serve as a nice addition to the Yakovlev line, but the missiles that it was supposed to carry are too powerful for what we have right now. Would be a suitable addition for late Rank VII or after that IMO.

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

On 16/03/2021 at 00:47, Comrade Yuri146@live said:

Speaking of MiGs I would Love to see the Mig-29 Fulcrum for the USSR. It is a really cool fighter and one of the only fighters to ever pull off the cobra maneuver. They were awesome intercepter fighters and It would be cool to see them in game.

2022 or 2023 depending how fast gaijin implement those gen4

[whosmans 70]

+1

here is some more info @ ItssLuBu/@ Sweepdown

Яковлев Як-141 (airwar.ru) 

Edited April 16, 2021 by whosmans

[idiot400 664]

+1 in the future when comparable weapons systems are in game.

[LeMemeAesthetic 266]

+1, would be nice to have something come after the Yak-38M.

[Norris_Aznable 35]

I don't even play Russian tech tree but just learned of this cool thing so +1 for me.

[Z3r0_ 4,128]

Now that rank 7 aviation's gonna be a thing, we might end up seeing this aircraft capping off the Yakovlev branch of the Soviet tree.

[legogeorgia@psn 1,486]

Ultra cool jet. It's b*stard son is the F35. +1.

Edited December 1, 2021 by legogeorgia@psn

[ZVO_12_INCH 492]

On 05/03/2021 at 22:54, Sweepdown said:

 

 

The Yak-141 fighter is armed with a 30mm GSH-301 cannon located in the fuselage with 120 rounds of ammunition. On four (and later on six) underwing pylons can be suspended.....

UR class air-to-air
4 x R-77
4x R-77 +1XPTB(2000L)
2x R-27E + 2x R-73E + 1xPTB (2000 L)
2x R-60 + 2x R-73;
2x R-60 + 2x R-77;
UR class air-sea
2x Kh-35 + 2x R-73E + 1x PTB (2000 L)
4x Kh-35A + 1x PTB(2000L)
4x Kh-35P + 2x RVK-AE + 1x PTB (2000 L)
Ammunition for actions against ground targets 
6xABSP (500 kg);
4 blocks with 80-249 mm caliber NURS + 1xPTB (2000 L)
2x Kh-25MP + 2x R-73E x1x PTB (2000L)

2x Kh-31P

4x 23 mm cannon containers (250 shells) + 1 PTB

KMGU....

Spoiler

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by PLESETZK

[SrNowel59917 656]

well without the r77 it could be aded when in the near future

[supersaiyan9751@live 366]

+1

[SubapbaP 32]

The 12 world records Yak-41M set in 1991.

Source: Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924 by Bill Gunston & Yefim Gordon, page: 229

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by SubapbaP