Yakovlev Yak - 38 The Yakovlev Yak - 38 ( ; NATO reporting name : " Forger " ) was Soviet Naval Aviation ' s first and only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft , in addition to being its first operational carrier - based fixed - wing aircraft . It was developed specifically for and served almost exclusively on the Kiev - class aircraft carrier s . Design and development . The first drawings showed a supersonic aircraft strongly resembling the Hawker P . 1154 in study in the United Kingdom , but with two R27 - 300 engines . Supersonic performances would have implied many difficulties of development , and it was decided to initially develop a relatively simple aircraft limited to Mach 0 . 95 . Although the Yak - 38 and Yak - 38M were developed from the land - based Yakovlev Yak - 36 , the aircraft had almost nothing in common . The prototype VM - 01 was finished on 14 April 1970 . Though outwardly similar to the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier , it followed a completely different configuration . Together with a vectorable thrust engine in the rear used during flight , two smaller , and less powerful , engines were housed in the front portion of the fuselage and used purely for take - off and landing . The aircraft used a similar layout to the German experimental VTOL strike fighter , the VFW VAK 191B , which began development in 1961 , and the contemporary Dassault Mirage IIIV . An advanced feature that Yak - 38 possessed was an automatic ejection seat . When one of the take - off engines failed , once the aircraft rolled past 60 degrees the pilot was automatically ejected from the aircraft . Operational history . The majority of Yak - 36M initial production deliveries were to the 279 " OKShAP " ( " Otdelny Korabelny Shturmovoy Aviatsionny Polk " , Independent Shipboard Attack Air Regiment ) , initially based at Saki , the AV - MF ’ s training centre in Crimea . Pilots for this unit were drawn from the Yakovlev OKB and the LII at Zhukovsky , as well as from the AV - MF . The February 1978 entry into service of , the second " Kiev " - class ship , was accompanied by a further series of Yak - 38 shipboard trials , beginning in April 1978 , and with the emphasis now placed on developing procedure for STOL operations . The Yak - 38 ' s limited useful payload was always its Achilles ' heel , but the high ambient temperatures that had been encountered in the Black Sea during the summer 1976 trials frequently prevented the aircraft from carrying any external stores at all , despite a reduced fuel load . Similar problems were then encountered when " Minsk " sailed off the coast of West Africa and then in the Indian Ocean ; in these instances the lift jets proved unwilling to start under hot and humid conditions . An oxygen - boosting intake system helped alleviate the problem , and was installed from September 1979 during routine overhauls . In July 1979 , " Minsk " arrived in the Sea of Japan , where the vessel was home - ported at Strelok Bay , the Yak - 38 component of its air wing thereafter being provided by the 311 " OKShAP " subordinate to the Pacific Fleet . During April and May 1980 , four Yak - 38s and four AV - MF pilots were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a 50 - day trial codenamed Romb - 1 , although the ‘ hot and high ’ conditions prevented any meaningful combat missions from being undertaken – in total , 12 combat sorties were made , but only two bombs could be carried . In September 1982 , - the third " Kiev " - class carrier - was commissioned . By now the V / STOL technique had been well practised , and the resulting increase in the Yak - 38 ’ s overall performance and capability was exploited during the passage of " Novorossiysk " from Severomorsk to join the Pacific Fleet . In a maritime context , the Yak - 38 was not limited to the decks of " Kiev " s . In September 1983 , AV - MF pilots operated from the civilian Ro - Ro vessel " Agostinio Neto " , and NII - VVS pilots conducted further tests from another ‘ Ro - Ro ’ , " Nikolai Cherkasov " . In both cases , use was made of a heat - resistant landing platform ; further land - based trials tested the practicality of dispersed landing platforms , in a similar concept to the RAF ’ s Harrier operations in West Germany . The initial pre - production version , differing slightly from the Yak - 38 . It weighed only compared to the Yak - 38 ' s and the engines were slightly less powerful . The Yak - 38 was the first production model , it first flew on 15 January 1971 , and entered service with the Soviet Naval Aviation on 11 August 1976 . A total of 143 Yak - 38s were produced . The Yak - 38M was an upgraded version of the Yak - 38 , the main difference being the new Tumansky R - 28V - 300 and Rybinsk RD - 38 engines . The maximum take off weight in VTOL was increased from to ( in short take - off mode ) . The air intakes were slightly widened and the pylons under wings were reinforced to carry a weapons load . The Yak - 38M entered service with the Soviet Naval Aviation after June 1985 , a total of 50 Yak - 38M were produced . Two - seat training version for the Soviet Naval Aviation , this version differed from the basic aircraft in having an enlarged fuselage to accommodate a two - seater cockpit . The Yak - 38U entered service on 15 November 1978 , a total of 38 Yak - 38U have been produced with the 38th aircraft being delivered in 1981 . Intended supersonic follow - on to the attack - optimised Yak - 36M , adding AI radar , medium - range air - to - air missiles and advanced navigation equipment . A third RD - 36 - 35 lift jet was also added to cope with increased take - off weight . Project for version with R - 49V lift / cruise engine and two lift engines ; one fuselage completed for tests under Tu - 16LL . Yak - 38M fitted with a weapons system derived from that of the Mikoyan MiG - 29 and including N019 radar and advanced nav / attack suite . Multi - role fighter / attack aircraft project dating from 1983 , employing one R - 28V - 300 and two RD - 48 engines , PRNK - 39 avionics kompleks ; S - 41D multi - mode radar , larger wing , increased fuel capacity and expanded weapons options based around Shkval or Kaira PGM designation systems .