Launch catapult on an aircraft carrier. No mileage. Why does Russia need a plane with vertical take-off and landing?

In September-October 1991, the Yak-41M vertical/short take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft was tested in the Northern Fleet. The tests were carried out on the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser (TAKR) "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S.G. Gorshkov" (until 1991 - TAKR "Baku"), the Yak-41M aircraft became not only the next stage after the Yak-38 in the development of domestic aircraft. / STOL, but also a landmark machine in world aviation - the first supersonic vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

The first developments of a supersonic vertically take-off fighter aircraft, designed to defend aircraft-carrying ships from air attacks, were carried out at MMZ "Speed" in 1974. Taking into account the experience of creating and operating the Yak-38 aircraft, in 1975 the design of a new aircraft began under the designation Yak-41 (product "48"). A large amount of work was carried out to select the aerodynamic design of the machine, and several alternative power plant options were considered. The results of research and development formed the basis for proposals for an aircraft with a single lift-propulsion engine.

A government decree adopted in November 1977 approved the proposal of the Air Force, Navy and MAP with the instruction of MMZ "Speed" to create a supersonic vertical take-off and landing fighter and submit it for state tests in 1982. At the same time, the Resolution provided for the creation of a training version of the aircraft - the Yak-41UT - with its presentation for testing in 1983, as well as the development in 1978 of a technical proposal for the creation of a ship-based supersonic VTOL attack aircraft based on the Yak-41.

In 1977, specialists from the ZOCNII branch developed and then presented tactical and technical requirements (TTT) to the Navy Air Force for a new vertical take-off and landing fighter, intended for deployment on aircraft-carrying ships of projects: 11433 (Novorossiysk), 11434 (Baku) ), 11435 ("Tbilisi"), as well as TAKR project 1143 ("Kiev" and "Minsk") after their modernization. In case of delay in the creation of a new aircraft, it was planned to equip the air group of the Project 11434 cruiser with Yak-38M aircraft.

The development of a supersonic VTOL aircraft was carried out under the leadership of Deputy General Designer S.A. Yakovlev (son of A.S. Yakovlev) and was carried out exactly on time. Gradually, designers began to give preference to an aircraft design with a combined power plant similar to that used on the Yak-38. But work on the vehicle with a single lifting and propulsion engine (PMD) did not stop.

In March 1979, the OKB completed the development of a preliminary design of an aircraft with a single PMD R-79V-300 and the construction of its mock-up. At the same time, materials on a multi-role fighter with an expanded range of weapons and a combined power plant were presented to the Ministry of Defense commission for consideration.

Based on the results of the commission's work, the Ministry of Aviation Administration adopted an order to develop a preliminary design at MMZ "Speed" and build a mock-up of a fighter with a combined power plant.

When creating a combined power plant, they decided to use two RD-41 lift engines with a thrust of 4100 kg each and one R-79 lift-propulsion engine (R-79V-300) with a thrust of 15500 kg. According to calculations, a power plant of three engines with an electronic control system could provide vertical takeoff or takeoff with a short takeoff run (within the length of the deck of an aircraft-carrying ship) of an aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 19,500 kg.

During the design work, wind tunnel and bench tests, the area of ​​the aircraft wing (initially 29.3 m2) had to be significantly increased.

Meanwhile, the development and creation of the power plant was delayed. In addition, views on the purpose of the aircraft have changed in accordance with the new tasks of naval aviation. As a result, an addition to the Navy Air Force technical specifications was developed, in accordance with which it was prescribed to create the Yak-41 attack aircraft on the basis of the developed project.

At the beginning of 1980, in accordance with the General Staff directive on the reorientation of the aircraft fleet of the projected fifth TAKR to vertical and short take-off aircraft, the technical specifications for the aircraft, approved in 1978, were adjusted.

In November of the same year, the Commanders-in-Chief of the Air Force and Navy approved clarification of the specifications for the Yak-41 fighter, according to which the MMZ "Speed" was tasked with providing a short takeoff with a run of 120-130 m, takeoff from a springboard and landing with a short run. In the same month, the Ministry of Defense (Navy Air Force) commission reviewed the preliminary design and layout of the Yak-41, but it took almost six months to approve the commission’s protocol.

Somewhat later, as part of the general development of views on a ship-based aircraft and the possibility of its creation in terms of time, the following addition to the TTT was developed. The aircraft began to be created as a multi-purpose aircraft - designed to intercept air targets, conduct maneuverable air combat and strike at sea and ground targets. Taking into account the experience of using the Yak-38 aircraft from land airfields and small-sized sites, the range of weapons was expanded at the request of the customer.

In parallel with the design work, MAP and Air Force specialists in 1982-1983 conducted theoretical studies that showed the possibility of significantly increasing the combat load and loitering time of the Yak-41 when patrolling with a PTB when taking off with a short run-up or from a springboard. The Yak-38 aircraft tested the technique of taking off with a short takeoff run.

Due to delays in the creation of engines, in November 1983 a decision was made by the military-industrial complex under the Council of Ministers of the USSR to postpone the deadline for testing the Yak-41 aircraft to 1985, but this deadline also had to be adjusted. The R-79V-300 lift-propulsion engine was prepared for full-scale testing only at the end of 1984.

The events of 1984: the death of Defense Minister D.F. Ustinov, who supported the development of VTOL aircraft, and the retirement of A.S. Yakovlev slowed down work on the machine. The 1977 decree on the creation of the Yak-41 and all its subsequent additions remained unfulfilled.

In May 1986, another decree was adopted on the creation of the Yak-41M multi-purpose shipborne aircraft at MMZ "Speed" using the backlog of the Yak-41 shipborne fighter. The deadline for presenting the Yak-41M aircraft for state testing was 1988 (the start of deliveries to the Navy aviation was 1990), and the training Yak-41 UT was 1989. Work on creating an attack aircraft based on the Yak-41 was stopped.

With the change in purpose and expansion of the tasks of the aircraft with a combined power plant, the technical specifications were subjected to further adjustments in terms of flight performance characteristics: the maximum speed at altitude, service ceiling and flight range during vertical take-off were reduced; new characteristics of flight range with PTB and maximum load with a shortened take-off run (120 m) were approved.

G.A. Matveev was appointed the lead designer for the aircraft.

To test the Yak-41M, a small series of four copies was built. One copy was intended for static tests, the second - with tail number "48" - to evaluate the forces and moments acting on the aircraft in various flight modes and the operation of the power plant. Two flying examples had tail numbers "75" and "77". Under these numbers they were tested at land airfields and on the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S.G. Gorshkov aircraft carrier, located in the Northern Fleet. The aircraft with tail number "77" was a pre-production prototype.

In the process of creating the aircraft, conducting bench and factory tests, a number of scientific, technical and technological problems were solved. The temperature fields from the gas jets of the power plant engines were studied and a system was created to protect the engines from hot gases entering the air intakes during operation. Particular attention was paid to the mutual influence of these fields on the power plants of aircraft during group takeoff.

During the design process, the Yak-41M aircraft was optimized for vertical take-off and supersonic flight. It is capable of performing vertical take-off with a full load. For this purpose, afterburning operation of the engines is provided. The combined triplex digital fly-by-wire control system for the aircraft and power plant connects the deflection of the all-moving stabilizer with the operating mode of the lift and lift-propulsion engines. The system controls the deflection of the nozzles of all three engines. Lifting engines can operate up to an altitude of 2500 meters at a flight speed of no more than 550 km/h.

The fuel capacity using external fuel tanks can be increased by 1750 kg. It is possible to install an overhead conformal fuel tank.

Jet control systems are used on flight versions of the aircraft, and these systems differ on different copies. During the tests, the effectiveness of the proposed options was assessed. On aircraft No. 75, jet rudders are installed in the tail and have ejectors in the directional control channel. On aircraft No. 77, the rotating nozzles of the jet rudders are installed in the forward fuselage.

The information display system includes a multifunctional electronic indicator (display) and an indicator on the cockpit windshield.

The sighting system has an on-board computer, around which are grouped: an M002 (S-41) on-board radar station, a fire control system, a helmet-mounted target designation system and a laser-television guidance system.

The flight navigation system allows you to determine the coordinates of the aircraft's location in flight both from ground-based (ship-based) radio systems and from satellite navigation systems. The complex includes systems for remote and trajectory control of the aircraft, an autonomous navigation computer, etc.

The empty weight of the aircraft is 11650 kg.

Built-in small arms - a highly effective GSh-301 cannon of 30 mm caliber with an ammunition load of 120 rounds of various types, ensuring the destruction of air and ground (surface) lightly armored targets.

The maximum combat load of the Yak-41M is 2600 kg and is placed on an external sling on four pylons under the wing.

Weapon options are formed depending on the nature of the targets hit and are divided into three main groups: “air-to-air” (UR P-27R Р-27Т, Р-77, Р-73), “air-sea” (UR X-31А) and "air-to-surface" (UR Kh-25MP, Kh-31P.Kh-35).

The aircraft's standard armament includes short-range and medium-range air-to-air missiles with active and passive radar and thermal homing heads,

Unguided weapons, both missile (S-8 and S-13 shells in blocks, S-24) and bombs (FAB, small cargo containers - KM GU) are provided in a fairly wide range.

In 1985, the first prototype of the Yak-41M aircraft (“product 48M”, tail number 48) was built, bench tests of which began in 1986.

The first flight of the Yak-41M during takeoff and landing “like an airplane” was performed by test pilot A.A. Sinitsyn on March 9, 1987.

However, it was not possible to submit the aircraft for State testing within the period stipulated by the resolution (in 1988). When adjusting the timing of the tests, the designation of the aircraft was once again changed, which became known as the Yak-141.

The Yak-141 has the following advantages over the Yak-38:

take-off without taxiing onto the runway directly from a shelter along the exit taxiway, ensuring the mass entry into combat of a Yak-141 unit;
operation of aircraft from damaged airfields;
dispersal of aircraft over a large number of small areas, ensuring increased survivability and secrecy of basing;
reduction by 4 - 5 times of the take-off time of a unit of Yak-141 aircraft from readiness position No. 1 compared to a conventional take-off unit;
concentration of a group of fighter aircraft to intercept air targets in threatened areas, regardless of the presence of a developed airfield network there;
conducting close maneuver combat, striking ground and surface targets;
short response time to a call from ground forces due to short flight time and simultaneous takeoff of a large number of aircraft from dispersed sites located near the front line;
basing both on aircraft-carrying ships of the Navy and on ships of the navy that do not have a developed flight deck, as well as on limited runways and sections of roads.
Testing of the vertical launch mode with hovering began at the end of 1989. On June 13, 1990, pilot A.A. Sinitsyn performed the first flight with vertical takeoff and landing.

The unique characteristics of the new aircraft, identified during testing, made it possible to count on the opportunity to officially take the world's leading position among aircraft of this class. By April 1991, one of the flying copies of the Yak-41M with a set of control loads was prepared for record flights. Within 15 days, test pilot of the OKB named after. A.S. Yakovleva A.A. Sinitsyn set 12 world records in the “N” class of aircraft (vertical takeoff and landing vehicles with jet lift).

The active phase of testing the Yak-41M aircraft in ship conditions began in September 1991.

The test support group included specialists from various industrial organizations and the Ministry of Defense. The author of these lines was also part of the group. We took off from the LII airfield on a Yak-42 aircraft and after about 2.5 hours we were already in Severomorsk, where preparations were underway for the meeting of two experimental Yak-41M aircraft at the coastal airfield.

We were preparing to conduct tests on an aircraft-carrying ship. Premises were allocated on the cruiser to accommodate special equipment, and the deck was being prepared to receive aircraft and accommodate them. The difficulty was that the Admiral Gorshkov TAKR did not have the delays necessary to hold the aircraft when the afterburner mode of operation of the ascent-propulsion engine was turned on for acceleration during a short takeoff. To prevent the aircraft from sliding on the deck floor when the engine is brought to takeoff mode, the OKB named after. A.S. Yakovlev developed profile retention devices (stops). In preparation for testing, these stops were attached to the deck, and if necessary, they were easily removed.

In connection with the transfer on board the cruiser of some of the specialists participating in the tests, as well as representatives of the commission, living and working premises were allocated for them, the procedure for providing food, etc. was worked out.

All flight testing activities were led by OKB Deputy Chief Designer K.F. Popovich.

As the ship was prepared, the test program was refined. In addition to testing a single aircraft, various options for group take-off of aircraft from a ship, including unconventional ones, were considered. According to calculations carried out at the Design Bureau and Research Institute, they could be implemented in practice.

Preparations for testing the Yak-41M both in the design bureau and on the ship were carried out taking into account the experience of testing and operating the Yak-38 attack aircraft. During the operation of the Yak-38, incidents occurred related to mismatch of engines (lift and lift-propulsion) in terms of thrust, rocking of the aircraft in roll and pitch, spontaneous roll and turn (“pickup”) along the course. To prevent such moments, the Yak-41M was equipped with more advanced jet rudders and automation, as well as a system to prevent hot gases from entering the power plant inlet. On September 24, 1991, aircraft began flying from the Zhukovsky airfield to the site of the next stage of testing.

After preparation at the Severomorsk airfield, the planes flew to the ship. The takeoff was carried out like an airplane. The flights of the new machines aroused everyone's admiration. Schemes and flight conditions of Yak-41M aircraft according to the dates of their execution during testing on the aircraft carrier "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S.G. Gorshkov" are given below.

The landing of the first plane was carried out brilliantly. OKB test pilot A.A. Sinitsyn gently landed the vehicle on the deck of the ship, but when the power plant was turned off, he allowed the pitch to increase. This happened due to the fact that the experimental vehicle had a separate shutdown of the power plant engines, and the pilot first turned off the PMD, and then the PD. As a result, the plane, already standing on the deck, began to lift its nose and lightly touched the deck with its stabilizer and jet nozzle flaps. But everything ended well.

The second to successfully land was OKB test pilot V.A. Yakimov. It should be noted that for him this was the first landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier in his life.

Ship trials of the new vehicle have begun. An assessment was made of the possibility of operating the aircraft on a ship, lowering and ascent on lifts, mooring options, and the possibility of placement on the hangar deck and in the repair area. As a result, the aircraft was almost completely adapted for ship-based deployment and operation. Some problems also arose, but according to experts, they were easily resolved.

Test flights began on September 30. A total of three were carried out, including two with a short take-off run and one hovering flight with a vertical take-off. All landings were carried out vertically.

As already mentioned, to ensure a short takeoff, profile stops were installed on the deck. To take off, the pilot taxied and placed the plane on these stops, put the engine into afterburner mode and released the brakes. The plane rolled over the stops and began its takeoff run.

The test program provided for testing actions in real conditions of a ship on the open sea. For this purpose, the TAKR went into the Barents Sea, but the flights did not take place due to bad weather conditions. The weather forecast did not promise improvement, and the ship returned to base.

During the tests, I had to compare the takeoff with a short run of the Yak-41M aircraft with the springboard takeoff of the Su-27K and MiG-29K aircraft. There was something to compare with; not long before that I had to visit the TAVKR "Tbilisi" and participate in the testing of ski-jump take-off and aerial landing aircraft. The takeoff with a short run of the Yak-41M looked calmer compared to the dynamics of the springboard takeoff of the Su-27K and MiG-29K. In terms of time, the acceleration of the Yak was somewhat higher, but it was proposed to organize a group takeoff of the Yak-41M easier and faster in time, using unconventional takeoff options.

A.A. Sinitsyn paid a lot of attention to the problem of organizing a group takeoff. They walked around the cape and measured the deck, drew up options for the pre-launch arrangement of vehicles and developed proposals for achieving safe take-off conditions. These conditions were also associated with some modifications to the deck elements that did not require the creation of summer No. 75 by A.A. Sinitsyn. The flight was successful, the mission was completed.

V.A. Yakimov took off next on plane No. 77. The flight proceeded normally, but during landing the pilot exceeded the vertical speed, which resulted in an accident.

All tests of the Yak-41M were stopped. An investigation into this incident has begun. The flight debriefing took place in the ship's commander's cabin, and all the information from the aircraft's flight recorders was received here.

As the results of the investigation showed, the emergency situation arose during the final stage of the flight. When approaching the ship on an airplane, lateral forces arose from the air intakes due to cross winds, which the pilot compensated for by deflecting the pedals at a high flow rate.

In this position the plane approached the deck. The flight director gave commands to the pilot to stay on course. A strong crosswind, the proximity of the ship's superstructure and the limited size of the deck - all this together gave rise to the pilot's desire to land as quickly as possible. There was no support from the flight director to ensure a safe vertical speed. Being above the deck at an altitude of 10-13 meters, the pilot exceeded the maximum vertical rate of descent. The plane landed roughly, hitting the deck, the main landing gear pierced the fuel tank, and a fire broke out. Pilot V.A. Yakimov, after repeated commands from the flight director, ejected.

The TAKR search and rescue service, which was in a state of high alert, was not involved - Yakimov, who splashed down, was quickly picked up by a rescue boat. The fire on the plane was extinguished by the ship's firefighting services using standard means.

We must pay tribute to the unique rescue means of the Yak-41M, which worked flawlessly. The K-36LV chair was created at NPO Zvezda (head of the enterprise G.I. Severin). From OKB im. A.S. Yakovlev's work on the creation of the Yak-41M ejection seat was headed by B.S. Prusakov. The K-36LV seat provides automatic rescue of the pilot in vertical and transitional flight modes, as well as safe evacuation of the aircraft in almost all flight modes in the event of an emergency or combat defeat.

In aviation, especially when testing aircraft, unfortunately, sometimes emergency accidents occur, although flight safety and preserving the lives of the crew in the event of an emergency are the basis for the creation of aircraft. In the situation that happened with the Yak-41M, the pilot ejected safely and was soon flying again. But then we were all dejected by what had happened. Of course, it was the hardest for V.A. Yakimov.

We understood perfectly well what the situation was in the country, and that the accident could be used to curtail work on this topic. But I didn’t even want to talk about this when we met with the test leaders before leaving the ship. As a souvenir of the first landing of the Yak-41M on the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, I still have a photograph of the aircraft, which was a pre-production aircraft complex and was intended to arm Soviet aircraft-carrying ships.

The Yak-141 aircraft (Yak-41M No. 75), after the cessation of testing, was first publicly presented on September 6-13, 1992 at the Farnborough Air Show, and later was repeatedly demonstrated at other air shows. The second Yak-41M (tail number "77") after restoration became a museum exhibit.

The growing crisis and the collapse of the union state did not allow this machine to be put into mass production. The accident served only as a formal reason to first freeze and then completely cover up the development of V/STOL aircraft in our country. However, the OKB continued work on new promising projects for some time.

In the process of creating and operating V/STOL aircraft, vast experience has been accumulated. As a result, the designers and scientists of our country managed to create a supersonic V/STOL aircraft that has no analogues in the world. High flight-tactical characteristics are evidenced by world records set on one of the experimental Yak-141 aircraft by test pilot A.A. Sinitsyn.

By the end of 1991, work at the Saratov Aviation Plant to prepare serial production of the Yak-41M was stopped due to lack of funding.

Work on fine-tuning and improving the characteristics of the aircraft in the design bureau in subsequent years was carried out at its own expense, counting on promising, including export orders. On the basis of the Yak-41M (Yak-141) and its promising modifications, a flexible mobile defensive system with a high degree of combat survivability could be created, capable of ensuring the preservation of the combat potential of the defending side in the event of a sudden massive enemy attack.

The appearance and development of V/STOL aircraft was determined by the entire course of scientific and technological progress. The authors of some publications claim that the development of VTOL aircraft was in the wrong direction, that they will never achieve the performance characteristics of conventional takeoff and landing aircraft. This is not entirely true. A VTOL aircraft is an aircraft that has received new properties, and therefore new capabilities, compared to an aircraft with a conventional aerodynamic design. For example, the experience of combat use of the AV-8B Harrier VTOL aircraft has shown that when using tactical techniques of helicopters in close air combat, it is 2-3 times superior to F/A-18 Hor-net fighter-attack aircraft and F- fighters. 14A "Tomcat", although in long-range combat it loses to them with a ratio of 1:4.

With the further development of the design of aircraft of the Yak-41M type, aerodynamic designs gained the right to life, by implementing which one can obtain an aircraft that is not much inferior to an aircraft of a conventional (classical) design, but has a number of advantages. Such schemes were subsequently supposed to be implemented in aircraft such as the Yak-141M, Yak-43, etc. These schemes were presented at various exhibitions and published in a number of scientific and technical journals.

In the projects of promising V/STOL aircraft, issues of increasing their combat effectiveness were worked out. To this end, it was proposed to follow the direction of significantly increasing the combat radius and loitering time in a given area, increasing the payload mass, increasing the range of weapons and improving fire control systems, reducing radar and infrared visibility. This is confirmed by calculations, according to which the tactical and technical characteristics of the promising Yak-141M aircraft differ for the better compared to the Yak-141.

When the path of development of any direction is broken, progress in the field of science, technology and knowledge inevitably slows down, the scientific, technical and technological reserves, as well as trained personnel of scientists, designers, engineers and other specialists are lost.

In the early 1990s, the accident of the Yak-41M aircraft was only a “clue” to curtail all work on the creation of new generation V/STOL aircraft. The supersonic Yak-41M stood at the threshold of future ocean voyages, the implementation of which was prevented by the changed socio-political and economic situation in the country, which led to the collapse of the USSR and the failure to implement many plans for the creation of new generation aviation complexes.

NATO designation: FREESTYLE

The Yak-141 VTOL aircraft is designed according to a high-wing design, with a combined power plant and with the same engine layout as the Yak-38, a two-fin vertical tail and a tricycle landing gear.

The aircraft's airframe structure is 26% (by weight) made of composite material, including carbon fiber surfaces of the tail, flaps, beads and wing tips, with the rest of the structure made mainly of corrosion-resistant aluminum-lithium alloys to reduce weight.

According to the General Director of Saratov Aviation Plant JSC Alexander Ermishin, the “complexity coefficient” of the Yak-141 aircraft compared to the MiG-29 fighter is 1.7.

The engine layout is the same as on the Yak-38 - the previous VTOL aircraft of the A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau - one lifting and propulsion engine is located in the rear fuselage and two propulsion engines are located immediately behind the cockpit.

The fuselage is rectangular in cross-section, made according to the area rule, has a pointed nose section, which houses the pilot's cabin with a K-36V ejection seat, as on the Yak-38 aircraft, designed by the Zvezda Design Bureau, which ensures automatic escape of the aircraft in vertical and transitional flight modes when in the event of a critical situation. This system automatically goes into readiness mode when the PMD nozzle is deviated by an angle of more than 30 degrees. Forced automatic ejection of the pilot occurs when a given pitch angle or a given combination of roll angle and roll angular velocity is exceeded. Two lift engines are located immediately behind the pilot's cabin; the lift and propulsion engine is located at the rear of the aircraft.

The wing is high-mounted, swept-back, with a break in the trailing edge and root sagging, and has a negative transverse V of 4 degrees. and the sweep angle along the leading edge is 30 degrees. When placing an aircraft on a ship, the consoles can fold, almost halving the wingspan. The wing has developed mechanization, consisting of rotating socks in the root and folding parts, flaps in the root part and elevons on the folding parts.

The tail unit is located on two cantilever beams, carried far back behind the lift-propulsion engine, and includes two fins with rudders installed with a slight camber, and an all-moving stabilizer located below the wing plane. From the fins forward along the fuselage there are vertical partitions.

The landing gear is tricycle with single-wheel struts attached to the fuselage, the front strut is retracted backwards, the main struts are retracted forward under the air intake ducts.

The power plant includes one lift-propulsion engine R-79 from the Moscow NPO Soyuz and two lift engines RD-41 from the Rybinsk Motor Engineering Design Bureau, used during takeoff and landing. Each of the box-shaped air intakes of the R-79 engine has a large cross-sectional area, is strongly beveled at the inlet and has an adjustable wedge and two bypass flaps; the round nozzle rotates at an angle of up to 95 degrees. to deflect traction. The resource of the nozzle rotation mechanism is no less than 1500 rotation cycles. Maximum rotation is used for vertical takeoff and landing. In addition to purely vertical takeoff, the Yak-141 can use at least two more takeoff methods. These are a short take-off with a running start and an ultra-short take-off with a slip. For both of these types of take-off, the normal deflection of the nozzle of the lift-propulsion engine is 65 degrees, and during take-off with a running start, the rotation of the nozzle at this angle occurs after the start of the take-off run, and during take-off with slipping (with a take-off length of about 6 m), the rotation angle is 65 degrees at engine operation in afterburner is set before the aircraft begins to move.

The use of non-vertical take-off types increases the aircraft's payload capacity, since this eliminates the negative influence of the ground effect (a decrease in engine thrust as a result of hot jets reflected from the runway entering the air intakes and the suction effect of these jets). When turning the nozzle to a vertical position, the thrust can reach 80% of the horizontal thrust. During takeoff and landing, afterburner is used, which can make it difficult to use the aircraft from ground airfields due to increased erosion of the takeoff area.

During testing by the summer of 1991, the rotation of the nozzles in horizontal flight was not used for combat maneuvering. By the fall of 1992, 26 R-79 engines had been built, 16 of them were ready for operation on the aircraft, and seven engines were tested in flight on the aircraft.

The RD-41 lift engines are mounted one behind the other behind the cockpit and have retractable flaps that cover the air intakes and nozzles in level flight. The engines are inclined approximately 10 degrees forward relative to the vertical, their nozzles can be rotated in the range from +12.5 to -12.5 degrees. in the longitudinal plane, the cross-sectional area of ​​the nozzle can be adjusted in the range of 10%. During a vertical take-off, the nozzles of the lifting engines are turned towards each other to form a single jet (otherwise, two separate jets lead to the unwanted formation of an upward fountain); during a short take-off, the nozzles of both engines are deflected to the maximum angle back (the total angle of each nozzle taking into account the inclination engine axis is about 22.5 degrees) to create a horizontal component of thrust. By the end of 1991, about 30 RD-41 engines were built.

During vertical take-off, two transverse partitions are extended under the air intakes to prevent the recirculation of hot gases (from the zone of the ascending fountain formed between the jets of the lift and lift-propulsion engines) and the entry of foreign objects into the air intakes, and on the sides of the lower part of the air intakes there are two longitudinal horizontal partitions - for organizing the separation of the flow of hot gases from the fuselage.

The engine control system is digital three-channel, with full responsibility. When transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight, the pilot manually reduces the thrust deflection angle of the lifting propulsion engine to 65 degrees, and further rotation of the thrust vector to zero occurs automatically. The thrust of the lift engines is reduced automatically, preventing the aircraft from becoming unbalanced throughout the transition to level flight.

The flight navigation system provides manual, directional and automatic control of the aircraft from takeoff to landing at any time of the day in various weather conditions at all geographic latitudes. The flight and navigation complex includes an INS, self-propelled guns, a radio engineering system for short-range navigation and landing, a radio altimeter, an automatic radio compass, and a satellite navigation system. The angular position of the aircraft in horizontal flight is controlled using aerodynamic surfaces (all-moving stabilizer, ailerons, rudders), in hovering and low-speed flight modes - by jet rudders located at the ends of the wing (roll) and tail booms (yaw), as well as a differential change in the thrust of the lifting and lifting propulsion engines (in pitch).

Air for the jet rudders is taken from the compressor of the lift-propulsion engine. The aerodynamic and jet rudders are controlled by a digital fly-by-wire system with full responsibility and with a three-channel redundancy scheme developed by the Moscow NPK Avionika; there is a backup mechanical flight control system (according to some reports, on one of the prototypes, not a digital, but an analog EMDS without a backup mechanical systems).

The pilot's ejection system ensures automatic ejection of the aircraft in vertical and transitional flight modes in the event of critical situations. This system automatically goes into readiness mode when the nozzle of the lift-propulsion engine is deflected at an angle of more than 30 degrees. Forced automatic ejection of the pilot occurs when a specified pitch angle or a specified combination of roll angle and roll angular velocity is exceeded.

Electronic and sighting equipment includes a weapons control system with a multifunctional pulse-Doppler radar "Zhuk" (RP-29), which is also installed on the MiG-29, an ILS and a multifunctional MFD on the front panel, it is possible to install a laser rangefinder and a television guidance system. (All this equipment was installed only on the lost 2nd copy of the Yak-141). The onboard radar is capable of detecting air targets with an ESR of 3 sq. m. at a distance of up to 80 km, a boat - at a distance of up to 110 km. An IR search-and-track sensor coupled with the radar and laser rangefinder can also be installed.

Electronic jamming equipment is mounted in the wingtips and fins. The partitions extending forward from the fins of the Yak-141 can accommodate devices for ejecting thermal decoys or dipole reflectors.

The weapons control system allows for simultaneous attack of several targets and a high-resolution overview of the earth's surface.

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, air-to-air missiles (R-27 medium and R-73 or R-60 short-range) and air-to-surface missiles (B-3 X-25 and X-29) can be suspended. gun launchers or rocket launchers.

Weapon suspension options:

Air-to-air missile launcher -
-4 x R-77;
-4xP-77 +1xPTB(2000l);
-2xR-27E + 2xR-73E + 1xPTB (2000 l);
-2xP-60 + 2xP-73;
-2xP-60 + 2xP-77;

Air-to-sea missile launcher -
-2xX-35 + 2xR-73E + 1xPTB (2000 l);
-4xX-35A + 1xPTB (2000l);
-4xH-35P + 2xRVK-AE + 1xPTB (2000 l);

Ammunition for actions against ground targets -
-6xABSP (500 kg);
-4 blocks with NURS caliber 80-249 mm + 1xPTB (2000 l);
-2хХ-ЗШ + 2хР-77 + 1хПТБ (2000 l);
-2xK-25 + 2xR-73E x 1xPTB (2000 l);
-4-gun containers 23 mm (250 shells) + 1 PTB;

Performance characteristics of the Yak-141 aircraft:
Wingspan:
- in unfolded position - 10.1 m
- in folded position - 5.9 m
Aircraft length - 18.3 m
Aircraft height - 5.0 m
Fuel weight, kg
- in internal tanks - 4400
- suspended - 1750
Maximum take-off weight, kg
- with a run of 120 m - 19500
- with vertical take-off - 15800
Engine type (thrust, kgf):
lift-propulsion - turbofan engine R-79 (1x15500/1x9000)
lifting - 2 x TRD RD-41 (2x4260)
Maximum speed, km/h
- near the ground - 1250
- at an altitude of 11 km - 1800
Practical ceiling - 15000 m
Practical range with load, km
- near the ground - 1250
- at an altitude of 10-12 km - 2100
Combat range when loaded - 690 km
Loitering time - 1.5 hours
Maximum operational overload - 7
Crew - 1 person

Weapons: 1 x 30 mm GSh-301 cannon (120 rounds). On four, and later on six underwing pylons, air-to-air missiles R-77 or R-27 medium-range and short-range R-73 or short-range R-60 and air-to-surface missiles X-25 can be suspended, X-31, cannon mounts (23 mm, 250 rounds) or NAR launch units with a caliber from 80 to 240 mm, up to six bombs with a caliber of 500 kg.

Source:
"Military Aviation" Media 2000
Aviation Internet encyclopedia "Corner of the Sky"
Aviation and Cosmonautics. Vadim Kolmogorov. The last plane of the Soviet Union
Wings of the Motherland. Lev Berne. Yak-141 - supersonic "vertical"
Victor Markovsky. Am I...Yak...a loser?
Aviation and Time. Yak-141: a critical moment in the biography
Aerial panorama. Dmitry Boev. Yak-141: and again grief from mind?
Nikolai Yakubovich. Combat jet aircraft by A.S. Yakovlev
Roman Astakhov. Russian Power. Carrier-based multirole fighter VVP Yak-141

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Despite the wave of criticism of the vertical take-off concept used in the aircraft, the need to resume production of aircraft of this class has recently become increasingly talked about in Russia December 15, 2017, 11:33

One of the Pentagon's most expensive "toys" - the F-35B fighter-bomber - this week took part in joint US-Japanese exercises aimed at cooling the DPRK's nuclear missile fervor. Despite the wave of criticism of the vertical take-off concept used in the aircraft, the need to resume production of aircraft of this class has recently been increasingly discussed in Russia. In particular, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov recently announced plans to build vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL). About why Russia needs such an aircraft and whether the aviation industry has enough strength to create it.

The most popular domestic combat aircraft with vertical take-off and landing was the Yak-38, which was put into service in August 1977. The aircraft has earned a controversial reputation among aviators - out of 231 aircraft built, 49 crashed in accidents and aviation incidents.

The main operator of the aircraft was the Navy - the Yak-38 was based on the aircraft-carrying cruisers of Project 1143 "Kyiv", "Minsk", "Novorossiysk" and "Baku". As veterans of carrier-based aviation recall, the high accident rate forced the command to sharply reduce the number of training flights, and the flight time of Yak-38 pilots was a symbolic figure for those times - no more than 40 hours per year. As a result, there was not a single first-class pilot in the naval aviation regiments; only a few had second-class flight qualifications.

Its combat characteristics were also questionable - due to the lack of an on-board radar station, it could only conditionally conduct air battles. Using the Yak-38 as a pure attack aircraft seemed ineffective, since the combat radius during vertical takeoff was only 195 kilometers, and even less in hot climates.

Supersonic multi-role vertical take-off and landing fighter-interceptor Yak-141

The “problem child” was supposed to be replaced by a more advanced vehicle, the Yak-141, but after the collapse of the USSR, interest in it disappeared. As you can see, the domestic experience in creating and operating VTOL aircraft cannot be called successful. Why has the topic of vertical take-off and landing aircraft become relevant again?

Naval character

“Such a machine is vital not only for the Navy, but also for the Air Force,” military expert, captain first rank Konstantin Sivkov told RIA Novosti. “The main problem of modern aviation is that a jet fighter needs a good runway ", and there are very few such airfields; destroying them with a first strike is quite simple. Vertical take-off aircraft during a threatened period can be dispersed even across forest clearings. Such a system for using combat aircraft will have exceptional combat stability."

However, not everyone sees the feasibility of using VTOL aircraft in the land version as justified. One of the main problems is that during vertical takeoff the aircraft consumes a lot of fuel, which greatly limits its combat radius. Russia is a large country, therefore, to achieve air supremacy, fighter aircraft must have “long arms.”

“The implementation of combat missions of fighter aircraft in conditions of partially destroyed airfield infrastructure can be ensured by short take-off of conventional aircraft from a section of the runway less than 500 meters long,” says Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport agency. “Another question is that Russia has plans for the construction aircraft carrier fleet, here the use of vertically taking off aircraft will be most rational. These may not necessarily be aircraft carriers, they may also be aircraft-carrying cruisers with the lowest cost parameters."

F-35 fighter

By the way, the F-35B today is a purely naval aircraft, its main customer is the US Marine Corps (the aircraft will be based on landing ships). British F-35Bs will form the basis of the air wing of the newest aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, which was recently commissioned.

At the same time, according to Konstantin Sivkov, Russian design bureaus do not have to wait for new aircraft carriers to begin work on creating a Russian analogue of the F-35B. "Vertical take-off and landing aircraft can be based not only on aircraft carriers. For example, a tanker is equipped with a ramp and becomes a kind of aircraft carrier; in Soviet times we had such projects. In addition, VTOL aircraft can be used from warships capable of receiving helicopters, for example frigates,” our interlocutor said.

We can if we want

Meanwhile, it is obvious that the creation of a Russian vertical take-off aircraft will require impressive resources and funds. The cost of developing the F-35B and its horizontal take-off cousins, according to various estimates, has already reached $1.3 billion, and several countries participated in the creation of the vehicle.

To take off, the plane first needs to gain high speed. But even an aircraft carrier warship does not have such a long deck for planes to take off from there, as from a regular airfield. Therefore, catapults are used on aircraft carriers to lift the aircraft off the deck. At the start, they seem to shoot, throwing the plane up and forward, which needs to take off.

The plane is at the start. A catapult is visible behind its tail.

How do planes land if there is no room for it?

The plane prepared to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier. A brake hook sticking out behind the plane helps it stop. The main thing in this matter is not to miss and catch the hook on the cable.

Below the upper deck of an aircraft carrier there is a huge empty space. It's called a hangar. Special cargo elevators first lower the aircraft from the deck down to the hangar level, and then tractors pull it inside for storage.

This is interesting:
Under normal conditions, airplanes need a long runway. But the decks of even the largest aircraft carriers are too short for such acceleration of almost all aircraft. They are helped by catapults that operate under the influence of steam energy. They throw the plane into the air with such force that it can then fly on its own. Powerful aircraft carriers have up to four catapults on the upper deck. Another challenge is how the planes will land on board the aircraft carrier - after all, their speed is enormous. And then they found a way out. Before planes land, a steel cable is stretched across the deck of the ship. And the planes had a protruding hook attached to the back. And when landing, they cling to the cable with this hook. The cable tightens and the plane quickly slows down. Large aircraft carriers can carry up to 901 naval aircraft. Such ships are a formidable military force.

At the beginning of 1980, the USSR Minister of Defense issued a directive prepared by the General Staff on the need to reduce the displacement of the designed ship by 10,000 tons and, as one of the means for this, to abandon the use of catapults on it.

The main aircraft of the air group in this version became the Yak-41 with vertical take-off and landing, and the developers of the future Su-27K and MiG-29K were asked to look for other ways to ensure the launch of fighters from a ship - for example, using powder accelerators. But the analysis carried out by the NPKB showed that in order to ensure the normal operation of the air group, all the holds of the ship will be filled with these boosters and there will simply be no room left for aircraft weapons and fuel.

As a result, on March 26, 1980, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers, according to which the construction of the Project 1143.5 TAVKR was postponed, and its development was extended for two years.

At the same time, the leaders of the General Staff, led by Deputy Chief of the Navy Admiral Nikolai Amelko, insisted on the need to build, instead of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers of Project 1143.5, lighter and relatively cheaper anti-submarine helicopter carriers of Project 10200, which could be created according to simplified requirements on the basis of the hulls and mechanisms of civilian ships.

This group of military leaders managed to achieve the inclusion in the military shipbuilding program for 1981-1990 of the construction of two such ships at the Black Sea Shipyard immediately after the Baku TAVKR and instead of the Project 1143.5 TAVKR. However, at the same time, the General Staff expanded the range of combat missions that the helicopter carriers had to solve, which led to the need to revise the issued tactical and technical assignment.

In the new version, amphibious helicopter carriers could no longer be built on the basis of civilian ships and were approaching the TAVKR in cost.

With the help of these arguments, the command of the Navy and the leadership of the Ministry of Shipbuilding managed to convince the government of the inexpediency of building helicopter carriers. As a result, they, already included in the shipbuilding program, were abandoned, but the previously envisaged laying of a new TAVKR in 1980 also became impossible.

The first domestic aircraft carrier was very, very difficult for the Black Sea Shipyard (ChSZ) in Nikolaev, Ukraine. The TAKR project 1143.4 (Baku, order 104), laid down on the slipway at the beginning of 1979, was to be launched in 1981, and the unique 900-ton cranes purchased by the plant abroad made it possible to master the new, large-block technology for building TAKR and already in the middle 1980 to begin manufacturing the first large blocks of the hull of the future Admiral Kuznetsov on the pre-stall slab. This ensured a reduction in the construction time of a new aircraft carrier and prevented downtime in the shipyard workshops and hull production.

However, by that time, Project 1143.5 had not yet been included in the weapons program for 1981-1990. The draft contract for the construction of “order 105” received by the plant was terminated after just three weeks due to the postponement of stages and deadlines for the creation of the ship. On December 15, 1980, ChSZ received a contract for the construction of the second TAKR according to project 1143.4 of the “Baku” type, intended exclusively for aircraft with vertical take-off and landing.

Over the course of a year and a half, a huge amount of work was carried out at the plant, several large hull sections of the new ship were built, several thousand tons of rolled products were processed, but all of this was eventually turned into scrap. In the spring of 1982, after the Anglo-Argentine conflict over the Falkland Islands, the final decision was finally made to build “order 105” based on project 1143.5.

As a result, the first block of the hull of the future "Admiral Kuznetsov", initially named "Riga", was able to be laid on the ChSZ pre-slip plate only in September 1982, and the slipway assembly of the new aircraft-carrying cruiser could only begin in February 1983.

On November 26, 1982, after the death of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, the name of the ship was replaced by "".

"Kuznetsov" was left without vertical take-off

In parallel with the construction of the Project 1143.5 TAVKR, intense work was going on in aviation design bureaus to design supersonic naval fighters, which were to become the basis for the aviation armament of the first Soviet aircraft carrier with traditional aircraft.

In 1984, resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR were issued on the development of a light ship-based multi-role fighter MiG-29K, designed to defend Navy ships from enemy air attacks in the near zone, defeat surface ships with a displacement of up to 5000 tons and ensure landings, as well as ship long-range fighter Su-27K to provide air defense to an aircraft carrier ship group in the far zone.

The third type of naval fighter for the TAVKR project 1143.5, as originally envisaged, was to be the Yak-41 supersonic vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft. However, the timing of its creation was constantly postponed.

For long-range radar detection of surface and air targets and control of combat operations of naval fighter aircraft, it was planned to have several Yak-44RLD radar patrol and guidance aircraft (RLDN) as part of the TAVKR air group of Project 1143.5. However, its development proceeded extremely slowly, and soon, in March 1983, it was discontinued. An alternative project was entrusted to the Kyiv Mechanical Plant. This decision was determined by the fact that since 1982, the Antonov Design Bureau has been designing the An-71 RLDN army aircraft on the basis of the An-72 tactical military transport aircraft. The preliminary design of the shipborne An-71K was released by the fall of 1984, but the military came to the conclusion that the geometric dimensions and take-off weight of the An-71K made its placement on a ship problematic.

As a result, the Admiral Kuznetsov TAKR air group never received a single RLDN aircraft it needed.

Meanwhile, due to delays in the delivery of large power equipment in 1983-1984, dozens of huge connectors had to be opened and then welded again in an almost finished ship hull, which had to be cut through 7-10 decks.

At this time, the customer prepared another surprise: it was proposed to replace the “Cantata” radio countermeasures complex provided for in the initial TAVKR project with a completely different one - “Constellation”, which was still in development. The designers had to remodel and redesign hundreds of rooms, and find space for a large number of new antennas and electronic units.

Despite all this, exactly according to plan, on December 4, 1985, the ship, at that time still bearing the name Leonid Brezhnev, was launched.

The ship's launch weight was about 32,000 tons, which at that time was a record for domestic shipbuilding.

Born in such conditions, the first Soviet aircraft carrier, called TAKR in all documents, had on board not 36, but 50 aircraft, compared to previous ships of this type, including, for the first time in Soviet history, the deployment of conventional supersonic fighters on deck. To achieve this, the area of ​​the flight deck was increased almost 2.5 times, a take-off ramp, aero arresting devices, launch arresters, gas deflector shields and glide path lighting equipment were used. The supply of aviation fuel was increased by 1000 tons and the aviation ammunition almost doubled.

The new TAKR used a more advanced anti-ship complex "Granit" with 12 under-deck launchers.

The total displacement of the ship was about 55,000 tons. The length of the ship was 302 m, the width along the waterline was 35.4 m, along the flight deck - 70.5 m, draft - 10.5 m. Steam turbine power plant with a total capacity of 200 thousand horsepower provided the ship with a speed of up to 29 knots with an autonomous cruising range of up to 8,000 nautical miles.

The cruiser's crew consisted of 2,100 people.

By the time the ship first went to sea, only Su-27K and MiG-29K fighters and helicopters were ready to land on its deck. The Yak-41M vertical take-off aircraft had just begun to undergo flight tests, but ultimately was never put into service.

After the launch of “order 105”, the place on the main slipway of ChSZ was taken by the second ship of a similar type - “order 106”, at first again called “Riga”, and in 1990 - “Varyag”. In turn, the Leonid Brezhnev TAVKR received a new name on August 11, 1987 - “Tbilisi”.

On October 20, 1989, the TAVKR "Tbilisi", under the command of captain first rank Viktor Yarygin, left the outfitting wall of the Black Sea Shipyard for the first time, walked 30 km along the Southern Bug and went to sea, heading for Sevastopol. Next came flight design tests with the first landing of conventional aircraft on a ship in the history of Soviet aviation. This event took place on November 1, 1989. The landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier was masterfully carried out by the honored test pilot.

The following year, 1990, the series of renamings of the TAVKR project 1143.5 was finally completed, which on December 4 was given the name “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov,” which recognized the contribution of the outstanding Soviet military leader to the creation of an aircraft-carrying fleet.

The nuclear aircraft carrier project died along with the USSR

By the end of 1991, at the time of the collapse of the USSR, the construction of the following two aircraft-carrying ships was actually stopped at the Black Sea Shipyard - the TAVKR "Varyag" of the same type as the "Kuznetsov" and the country's first nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser of Project 1143.7 "Ulyanovsk".

"Ulyanovsk" was laid down at the Black Sea Shipyard on November 25, 1988 and was built according to the new project 1143.7, which provided for not only ski-jump, but also ejection take-off of aircraft. Ulyanovsk was to accommodate an increased fleet of ship-based aircraft, including a sufficient number of RLDN aircraft. With the creation of Ulyanovsk, Soviet military leaders planned to overcome the many-year lag behind the United States in the field of aircraft carrier construction.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was supposed to have a total displacement of 75,000 tons, a length of 325 m and a width of 40 m (80 m along the flight deck).

The main nuclear power plant, which included four pressurized water reactors with a capacity of 300 MW each and four steam turbines with a total capacity of 280 thousand horsepower, was supposed to provide a speed of up to 30 knots and an unlimited cruising range with an autonomy of about 120 days. Ulyanovsk was supposed to host 70 aircraft.

However, in February 1992, ChSZ, whose property it became, decided to cut the hull sections of the Ulyanovsk into scrap metal, which was carried out until the end of autumn of the same year. The explanation for this urgency was a lucrative contract for the construction of large-tonnage vessels offered by ChSZ to one of the foreign companies. To manufacture them, a slipway occupied by Ulyanovsk was needed. After the hull of an aircraft carrier made of 30,000 tons of steel turned into scrap metal, the foreign partner refused further cooperation.