Yakovlev Yak-38

Yakovlev Yak-38
Country	Soviet Union
Type	VTOL Fighter aircraft
First flight	1971
Built	231

The Yakovlev Yak-38 (Russian: Яковлев Як-38; NATO reporting name: “Forger”) was Soviet Naval Aviation’s 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 carriers.

Yak-36M “Forger” :
The initial pre-production version, differing slightly from the Yak-38. It weighed only 6,650 kg (14,660 lb) compared to the Yak-38’s 7,370 kg (16,250 lb) and the engines were slightly less powerful.