The Yakovlev Yak-45 as the designation for a series of design studies in 1973-1974 for a single seat fighter. It lost to the MiG-29

Mikoyan MiG-29

The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a fourth-generation jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union for an air superiority role. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1983, and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other...

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History

In the early 1970s the Soviet VVS expressed a desire to replace the MiG-21 with a more modern twin-engine fighter with greater air-superiority capabilities. Yakovlev's entry was a series of designs submitted under the designation Yak-45.

Development

The Yak-45 would have been powered by two Favorski Type 69 non-vectoring turbofan engines with afterburner. Dervived from the R-28, they were rated at 8,000kg (17,635lb) thrust each. The engines would have been positioned ahead of a large delta wing, with an additional large canard

Canard

Canard may refer to:*Nicolas-François Canard , French mathematician and economist*Canard , a small wing mounted on the front of some aircraft, which can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the design of the plane and its intended use*Canard , a phenomenon in some slow-fast dynamical systems...

 foreplane, giving the aircraft an appearance similar to the Saab Viggen.

The design was rejected in favor of the MiG-29.

In 1978-1979 Yakovlev attempted to restart development of the Yak-45 by designing a V/STOL version with two vectoring thrust nozzles and two RD-38 jets. This aircraft was not developed because the problem of roll associated with the loss of one engine during VTOL operation was never solved.