I’m not sure the Yak-141 was the first v/stol to go supersonic. I believe that would be the German VJ-101, which would be another candidate for the “best never operational.”

http://www.tomtom-net.de/resources/vj101/vj101.htm

–Gavin.

Are there any photos of the XXJ wind tunnel model that show the top side of the model? Any idea what the tail configuration is?

Surely somebody has done some concept drawings or CG based on this model?

–Gavin.

Aerospacetech, the link I provided doesn’t mention the name CL-1980, but it does say this: “Lockheed believed high speed and the ability to carry long-range weapons were key to the ATF mission, so its original concept was derived from the YF-12A.”

The so-called CL-1980 in the drawing certainly looks like an F-12 derivitive.

And apparently the plane was originally intended for the Navy: “Lockheed had done the first studies by the early 1970s for a ‘superstealth’ air-to-ground attack airplane for the US Navy.”

“But as the 1.44 prototype never was intended to be fitted with operational equipment, why was it then (apparently) built with conformal AAM carriages in the first place?”

Here’s a theory that I’ve seen at other aviation forums, although I don’t know how legitimate the idea is: The production MFI would have carried AAMs inside conformal pods that would have completely encassed the weapons. The pod presumably would be jettisoned after the AAM is launched.

According to this theory, the conformal pods would have been a stealthy way to carry the weapons, without resorting to an internal weapons bay.

I’ve never quite known what to think of that theory …. but who knows?

–Gavin.

A question for SOC: If there’s a picture of the 1.42’s intake configuration, can you post it? I haven’t seen such a thing.

And a question for Aerospacetech: Have you done a full 3-view of “your” 1.42? The planform reminds me a little of Lockheed’s early ATF proposal.

–Gavin.

Indeed, at first glance, the Yak design seemed to have a lot of potential. Not only does it look stealthier than MiG’s MFI, the bifurcated intake presumably would have allowed an interal weapons bay.

I wonder if it was intended to have v/stol capability. That might explain the choice of using only one engine.

Are you sure it was an MFI contender? The scale and configuration looks very similar to an early Lockheed mockup for the JSF. The Russian equivalent would have been the LFI, not MFI.

Either, it’s shame this plane will never fly.

–Gavin.

P.S. — I registered at ACIG a while ago, but I got frustrated that nobody ever seemed to respond to my posts … oh well.

A question for Aerospacetech

Aerospacetech,

I registered for this forum just so I could ask you about Yak’s MFI proposal, so I hope you will respond.

That is the first picture I have seen of Yak’s project. Do you have any more photos or information? It looks very similar to the MiG-1.42/.44, but I cannot see the configuration of the air intake.

Any additional info would be appreciated … for a long time I have been fascinated by Russia’s MFI program.

Thanks.

–Gavin.