Yakovlev Yak-45

The Yakovlev Yak-45 as the designation for a series of design studies in 1973-1974 for a single seat fighter. It lost to the MiG-29.

History
In the early 1970s the Soviet VVS expressed a desire to replace the MiG-21 with a more modern twin-engine fighter with greater air-superiority capabilities. Yakovlev's entry was a series of designs submitted under the designation Yak-45.

Development
The Yak-45 would have been powered by two Favorski Type 69 non-vectoring turbofan engines with afterburner. Dervived from the R-28, they were rated at 8,000kg (17,635lb) thrust each. The engines would have been positioned ahead of a large delta wing, with an additional large canard foreplane, giving the aircraft an appearance similar to the Saab Viggen.

The design was rejected in favor of the MiG-29.

In 1978-1979 Yakovlev attempted to restart development of the Yak-45 by designing a V/STOL version with two vectoring thrust nozzles and two RD-38 jets. This aircraft was not developed because the problem of roll associated with the loss of one engine during VTOL operation was never solved.

Similar aircraft

 * MiG-29
 * Saab Viggen