Russia is developing a vertical rising aircraft on instruction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov has said.
A Yak-141 aboard a Soviet Kiev-class aircraft carrier. The Yakovlev Design Bureau started developing the Yakovlev Yak-141 (Freestyle) multirole supersonic VTOL fighter jet in the mid-1970s. The plane performed its first flight in 1987. The Yak-141 aircraft were planned to make part of the air wing of the heavy aircraft carriers, the Novorossiysk, Baku (the future ship Admiral Gorshkov), Tbilisi (currently known as the Admiral Kuznetsov), Riga (the future ship Varyag) and Ulyanovsk. The Yak-141 plane landed on an aircraft carrier for the first time in 1991. The production of the aircraft was ceased in 2003.
"This work has really been included in the state rearmament program. It got under way following instructions of the supreme commander-in-chief (of the Russian Armed Forces). Conceptual models and prototypes are being developed at the current stage," Borisov said.
He stressed that the designers were creating a new jet rather than modifying some existing flying craft.
"There is no doubt that all aircraft carriers will need a new fleet of flying craft in future. That is the reason why various technologies are being used to ensure reduced takeoff and landing or just hover takeoff," Borisov went on to say.
The Yak-141 plane landed on an aircraft carrier for the first time in 1991. The production of the aircraft was ceased in 2003.
"The Russian Defense Ministry has been engaged in this kind of conceptual work since last year," the deputy prime minister added.
According to Borisov, concrete deadlines will depend on a technological cycle. "As a rule, it takes from 7 to 10 years if serial production is to be launched," he said.
In the summer of 2017 Borisov, who was Russia’s deputy defense minister at that time, said that the Russian Defense Ministry and aircraft builders were discussing the creation of a perspective hover takeoff and vertical landing aircraft for the future aircraft carrying cruiser. He then clarified that the fighter jet would develop a line of vertical lift aircraft of the Yakovlev Design Bureau.
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