The Soviet fighter model paved the way for the US to develop the F-35B

The US Marine Corps’ F-35B stealth fighter crashed into the area near the runway at Miramar base in California on July 31 and burned down. This is the 23rd accident of the F-35B line since 2013, and also the 7th F-35B to be completely destroyed due to the incident.

The F-35B is a version developed for the US Marine Corps, notable for its ability to take off on short runways and land vertically (STOVL), allowing it to operate on amphibious ships with flight decks smaller than conventional aircraft carriers. usually.

Each F-35B has a factory price of more than 109 million USD, not including the engine, with a price of 15-20 million USD depending on the order lot. This is the most expensive and complex variant of the three F-35 stealth fighter versions that Lockheed Martin Corporation is building. In addition to the US Marine Corps, a number of Washington’s allied countries also ordered and are operating the F-35B line.

However, a rarely mentioned detail is that the F-35B design is partly derived from the Yak-141 multi-role fighter prototype developed by the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union in the 1970s pursued a fighter project with vertical take-off and landing capabilities. (VTOL) for naval aviation, especially after Britain launched the Harrier fighter.

The Yakovlev Design Bureau developed the Yak-38 aircraft, designed to be deployed on cruisers carrying Project 1143 “Kiev” aircraft. This was the first ship-based fixed-wing fighter model assigned to the Soviet naval air force, with a total of 231 units shipped in the period 1975-1981.

However, the Yak-38’s poor tactical and technical features and high accident rate prevented it from being used.

The Yakovlev Design Bureau then launched the Yak-141 program to overcome the Yak-38’s shortcomings, especially speed and range. A total of 4 prototypes were built, of which two were static models for ground testing.

The first flight of the Yak-141 prototype took place in 1987, this aircraft broke 12 world records during testing. The manufacturer claims that the Yak-141 is the first VTOL aircraft capable of supersonic flight, reaching a maximum speed of about 1,800 km/h.

On October 5, 1991, a Yak-141 prototype practiced landing on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. The landing was so strong that the oil tank in the plane broke and caused a big fire, the pilot escaped safely. The incident stalled the Yak-141 project, while the Soviet Union was going through a crisis before disintegrating.

“When the political situation in Europe changed, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation decided to pour money into the Yak-141 program to collect valuable technological know-how from the Soviet era,” writer Brad Howard said in an article on the military website Task & Purpose.

The two sides apparently signed a contract worth $400 million in 1991. The Yakovlev Design Bureau announced the agreement in September 1992, while Lockheed only confirmed the information in June 1994.

The joint venture between Yakovlev and Lockheed aims to build three more flight test prototypes and a ground test model, along with a two-plane aircraft. seating for training. However, no more Yak-141s were shipped.

“Lockheed certainly did not intend to help the Yak-141 become a finished product for export. The cooperation project was most likely just a front to collect test data of the program, the most important of which was information related to the VTOL system. These data helped shape the process of developing the engine, which is the heart of the fighter. F-35,” Howard commented.

Lockheed is not the only organization in the United States seeking to collect data from Soviet VTOL projects.

“Arms once kept secret by the Soviet Union, which were fundamental to America’s defense strategy, are now openly offered at air shows around the world. This allows access to the Yakovlev Design Bureau for technological evaluation VTOL. This is also the only Soviet design department with experience in developing VTOL aircraft, with the Yak-38 and Yak-141 series,” a document published by NASA in 1993 reads.

“The Yak-141 is not considered a precursor to the F-35B, but it is almost certain that the data obtained from Soviet VTOL projects was fully utilized by Lockheed. That means the F-35B was born partly thanks to a line of Soviet aircraft that was never mass produced,” Howard commented.

The Russian news site RBTH also shared the same opinion. point, when considering that the cooperation project between Yakovlev and Lockheed in the period 1991-1997 played a certain role in the development of the F-35B line. “However, it is an exaggeration to call the F-35B an exact copy of the Yak-141. The F-35B fighter is still a unique aircraft model,” this news site said.