Yakovlev Yak-39

11 month later the thread was resurected, amen... I know this is not the exact subject of this thread, but I need more informations on the Yak-39 improved Forger of 1983. In fact I need pics please...
 

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I know it had three instead of two lift engines (at least, according to the sources I've read). Does anyone know where to find some decent 3-view drawings of it?
 
https://dzen.ru/a/Y8A0H_P_sgzr8tx7?share_to=vk
via Eugeny Lebedev

We managed to see and examine in detail the model of the Yak-39 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

This is practically the only witness to the history of this interesting project. In the 70s of the last century, Yak-38 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft began to massively enter the aviation of the USSR Navy. The new machines had both advantages and disadvantages, for example, they clearly lacked traction in the hot climate of the tropics, vertical takeoff critically reduced the range and duration of the flight, and the lack of an airborne radar prevented them from becoming a full-fledged fighter. The new Yak was supposed to be much better. The Design Bureau began work on a deep modernization of the Yak-38, which received the designation Yak-39. The chief designer of the project was A. Travin. Work began around 1979, but they were officially legalized only two years later. At the same time, the aircraft was designed in several modifications at once: a fighter, an attack aircraft and a training pair. In the fighter version, the model of which you see in the photo, the sighting system from the MiG-29 (9-12) fighter with the N-019 radar should have been used. To meet the requirements of the customer, the airframe of the Yak-38 aircraft had to be significantly changed and increased in size. The nose of the fuselage was completely redesigned, the wingspan and area were increased, which made it possible to increase the internal fuel supply, and also made it possible to place one more weapon hardpoint under the wing, bringing their total number to 6.

The wings also received larger swells. The work plans were very high, according to the original plans, already in 1984 several experimental 39x were supposed to take off, but it quickly became clear that the aircraft would remain subsonic and would not have superiority over the main Western competitors. Therefore, in 1983, it was decided to stop work on the training version of the Yak-39. The deadlines were shifted a little more and the first Yak-39 was supposed to take to the skies in 1985, but at that moment a project of a much more promising supersonic Yak-41 VTOL aircraft appeared in the Yakovlev Design Bureau, which had the same lifting engines and a new lift-propulsion engine. The two VTOL projects required enormous resources and the obvious choice was made. At the beginning of 1985, the Yak-39 project was closed.
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elmayerle said:
That looks like a good half-way point between the Yak-38 and the Yak-41.
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Yes exactly, wondering why even this idea existed. Like yes, it should be just from the beginning. Radar equipped even with RP-21 radar, still available around 1975 not 1984 when 41 was right around the corner.
 
Consider it a less extreme evolutionary step than the Yak-41 was. You retain a fair bit of existing and proven structure and systems rather than an all-new package. IIRC, the Yak-39 was supposed to have three lift engines as opposed to the Yak-38's two., but that's within reason given the other changes.
 
Is the Yak-39 related in any way to the Yak-38MP and Yak-38MT projects mentioned by Yefim Gordon in his book about the Yak-36/38/41?

Or is it the same project as the Yak-38MP?
 

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