The Yakovlev Yak-44 (russian: link=yes, Як-44) was a proposed twin-
turboprop Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft, resembling the
United States Navy's
E-2 Hawkeye
The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable tactical Airborne early warning and control, airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed duri ...
, intended for use with the
Soviet Navy's
''Ulyanovsk'' class supercarriers. Along with the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
it would have flown from, the Yak-44 was cancelled after the demise of the
Soviet Union. A full-scale mockup with foldable wings was built.
Design and development
In the late 1970s, the
Soviet Navy adopted a plan to build large aircraft carriers capable of operating conventional aircraft rather than the
VSTOL
A vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft is an airplane able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are a subset of V/STOL craft that do not require runways at al ...
Yakovlev Yak-38s operated by the existing
Kiev class aircraft carrier
The ''Kiev'' class, Soviet designation Project 1143 ''Krechyet'' ( gyrfalcon), was the first class of both fixed-wing aircraft carriers (heavy aircraft cruiser in Soviet classification) built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy.
History
L ...
s. These new carriers required a shipborne
airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft to be effective, and the Yakovlev
design bureau was instructed to develop such an aircraft in 1979.
[Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 372.][Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov 2005, p. 347.] While the AEW would be the primary role for the aircraft, it was also planned to develop versions to serve in the
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and
carrier on-board delivery
Carrier onboard delivery (COD) is the use of aircraft to ferry personnel, mail, supplies, and high-priority cargo, such as replacement parts, from shore bases to an aircraft carrier at sea. Several types of aircraft, including helicopters, have ...
(COD) roles.
[Gunston and Gordon 1997, p. 201.]
The basic layout and size of the final Yak-44E design was similar to that of the
Grumman E-2C which operated in the same role from American aircraft carriers, being a twin-engined high-wing
monoplane with a rotating
radar dome
A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...
(
rotodome
A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna ...
) above the aircraft's fuselage. The Yak-44 was designed to carry much more fuel, and was therefore far heavier.
The engines were to be two
Progress D-27
The Progress D-27 is a three-shaft propfan engine developed by Ivchenko Progress. The gas generator was designed using experience from the Lotarev D-36 turbofan. The D-27 engine was designed to power more-efficient passenger aircraft such as the ...
propfan
A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed an ...
s rated at 14,000 ehp (10,290 kW) each, driving
contra-rotating propellers. The crew of five were to be accommodated in a pressurized fuselage, while the aircraft's rotodome, carrying a
NPO Vega pulse-doppler radar could be retracted to reduce the aircraft's height when stowed below decks in the carrier's
hangar. The aircraft's wings also
folded upwards, while a
twin tail was fitted.
[Gunston and Gordon 1997, pp. 201–202.]
The aircraft was stressed to allow
catapult
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...
launching and
arrested landings, but was also capable of operating from the
ski-jump ramps of the
Project 1143.5 carriers (later to become known as the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' class).
[Gordon, Komissarov and Komissarov 2005, p. 348.]
A detailed full-size
mockup
In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at leas ...
was completed in 1991, and approved with minor changes by the
Soviet Naval Aviation (A-VMF). The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the program being delayed, with the catapult-equipped
''Ulyanovsk'' being cancelled and scrapped, and the second ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' class carrier, the
''Varyag'', being left incomplete. The Yak-44 program was abandoned by the
Russian Navy in 1993.
[Gunston and Gordon 1997, p. 202.]
Specifications (Yak-44E)
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* Gardiner, Robert and Stephen Chumbley. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. .
* Gordon, Yefim, Dmitry Komissarov and Sergey Komissarov. ''OKB Yakovlev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft''. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2005. .
*
Gunston, Bill and Yefim Gordon. ''Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924''. London, UK: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1997. .
* Taylor, Michael. ''Brassey's World's Aircraft & Systems Directory 1996/97''. London: Brassey's, 1996. .
External links
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Line drawing*
{{Yakovlev aircraft
Yak-044
Carrier-based aircraft
AEW aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union
Propfan-powered aircraft