Through a joint programme with Yakolev of Russia, Aermacchi is assisting in developing the Yak/AEM-130 to meet the Russian Air Force’s requirement to replace the L-29 and L-39. The aircraft is equipped with a quadruplex fly-by-wire flight control system and will be required to fulfil a broad range of tasks: from basic flying training to weapons training and aircraft carrier deck training. The aircraft are equipped with wingtip- and pylon mounted AAMs with a roulette and sensor pod also fitted.
The joint Italian/Russian Yak 130 technology development programme ran from April 1996 to December 1999, accumulating some 300hr flying. The two seat Yak-130 fighter/trainer was exported as the AEM-130.
The Yak-130 became all Italian in 1998 and served as a basis for the Aermacchi M-346.
Engine: 2 x Klimov RD-35, 22kN Max take-off weight: 5400-6200 kg / 11905 – 13669 lb Wingspan: 10.6 m / 35 ft 9 in Length: 11.3 m / 37 ft 1 in Height: 4.8 m / 16 ft 9 in Wing area: 17.6 sq.m / 189.44 sq ft Max. speed: 1000 km/h / 621 mph Ceiling: 12500 m / 41000 ft Range: 1850 km / 1150 miles Crew: 2
Yakolev ordered the development of a practical helicopter capable of being built in two forms, as a transport carrying a pilot and two passengers, or equivalent cargo, and as a two-seat, dual-control trainer. Design began in June 1947, this machine being one of several which were given out-of-sequence type numbers. The Yak-100 was externally similar to the Sikorsky S-51. The OKB team, under Erlikh, designed this single-rotor machine retaining similar dynamic parts the to EG. The drive and hub mechanism with damped flapping, feathering and drag hinges and hydraulic-dashpot control via swashplate were similar with three main blades of hardwood and pine as before, with ply skin and glued fabric overall. Root of each blade in upper/lower halves of bolted D1, steel hub. Main change in engine installation was vertical engine mount with several changes to enable engine to run in this attitude. Cooling fan, clutch/freewheel and reduction gear and angle box for tail rotor were more Sikorsky than scaled-up EG, though pilot controls and control system retained OKB belief in spring and oil vibration dampers (this time with pilot adjustment) and in spring-loaded actuation of pitch into autorotation following loss of drive torque. Pedal control of tail-rotor pitch. Airframe based on welded steel-tube frame carrying landing gear, seats, rotor hub and engine. Skin riveted D1, and cranked tailboom D1 monocoque. Basic design completed late 1947 as tandem trainer or as transport with single pilot in front and two-seat divan or other payload behind.
The engine was Ivchyenko’s AI-26 seven-cylinder radial, the version chosen being the 575hp AI-26GRFL designed to operate with crankshaft vertical. This drove via a cooling fan and centrifugal clutch to a main gearbox which turned the single main rotor at 232 (not 233) rpm, with a bevel drive to a shaft carried on external trunnions along the top of the long tail boom to a 2.6m three-blade tail rotor. The latter counteracted the main-rotor drive torque and provided yaw (directional) control, driven by pedals. Both rotors were again of fabric-skinned wood laminates, the main rotor having manual control via swash-plates, with spring-loaded automatic autorotative control following loss of drive torque.
The fuselage was again based on a welded-tube truss, with unstressed D1 skin, but the tail boom was a D1 semi-monocoque. The main gearbox was housed in a large mast fairing above the engine compartment, with a front air inlet for the fan-assisted oil cooler. Again the undercarriage was a simple tricycle, with a castoring levered-suspension nosewheel and triangular-braced main units with oleo shock struts pinned to the upper longerons. Track was 3m and wheelbase 2.865m. The entire front of the fuselage was transparent, with sliding doors on the right for the pilot and on the left for the backseater (who had dual control in the first prototype). The transport version was to have a two-seat divan at the rear.
Two prototypes built, first with VVS funds and bearing VVS insignia. The first prototype was tested from November 1948. Initially suffering from severe vibration and apparent blade flutter, the lades given ground-adjustable TE tabs and eventually modified with CG further aft, behind flexural axis. These blades first fitted to No.2 Yak-100, which began test July 1949. Gradually problems with vibration and flutter were solved, and a second prototype was built with modified blades with the cg behind the flexural axis which greatly improved behaviour without complicated damper systems. This dubler, first flown in July 1949, had a more-fully enclosed engine bay with grilled panels and an internally mounted tail-rotor drive shaft. NII-VVS testing took place in the second half of 1950.
Factory test complete June 1950 and NII tests successfully accomplished later same year, but Mi-1 already adopted and Yak-100 project was lost dropped.
The Yakolev OKB started development of helicopters after the war and designed an experimental machine in 1946, the Yak-EG (Eksperimentalnyi Gelikopter) with a coaxial rotor system, and widely known as the Yak-M11FR-1. The chief engineer was S.A.Bemov, assisted by I.A.Erlikh. From the outset it was planned as the smallest practical machine to solve basic problems. The engine was a 140hp M-11FR-1 mounted in the normal attitude with the drive taken through a cooling fan and centrifugal clutch to a 90deg bevel gearbox to co-axial vertical shafts. These turned two-blade rotors in opposite directions, at 233 rpm. After studying the possible use of pilot controlled tabs or auxiliary surfaces behind the blade tips the choice was a fully articulated hub with swashplates giving collective and cyclic pitch control. A unique feature was a spring-loaded hydraulic coupling which, upon failure of the drive torque, automatically moved the collective linkage to autorotative pitch. The rotor blades were laminated pine and hardwood, covered in glued fabric, held in a hub of steel and duralumin. The fuselage was a simple truss of welded steel tube, with Dl skin as far back as the rear of the engine compartment, where an aft-facing gap allowed fan-induced cooling air to escape. The fuel tank was under the main gearbox and the oil tank next to the engine. For better stability in cruising flight a light fabric-covered rear fuselage with twin fins and a tailskid was added behind this point. The welded truss was extended at the front and sides to three vertical shock struts with single wheels, the nose unit having levered suspension. Track was 2.8m and wheelbase 2.68m. The side-by-side cockpit had a door on each side and the largest possible window area. The Sh was completed in early 1947. The chief pilot was V.V.Tezavrovskii, who with others made forty tethered tests (total 5hr) followed by seventy-five free flights (total 15hr). Ground resonance, then little known, was avoided by pure chance. The centre of gravity was clearly too far aft, so the tail (and for a time the tail-skid) were removed and the oil tank relocated behind the cockpit bulkhead. Eventually the Sh hovered under good control, but as soon as forward speed exceeded about 30km/h vibration and progressive loss of control were encountered. Following testing it was decided that the coaxial rotor layout should be developed by the Kamov bureau, and Yakolev moved on to other helicopter configurations.
EG Engine: M-11FR-1 5-cylinder air cooled piston, 140 hp Rotor diameter: 10.0m Length: 6.53m Max take-off weight: 1020kg Empty weight: 878kg Payload: 142kg Fuel: 50kg Max speed at sea level: 150km/h Max speed reached: 70km/h Hovering ceiling: 250m Service ceiling: 2700m Service ceiling reached: 180m Range: 235km
A single-seat aerobatic aircraft (first flown 1989).
A team from Arizona led by mechanic and restorer Dall Koller and aerobatic flight champion Jeff Buerbon built two Yak-55M as Siamese twins.
As well as two M-14P engines of 360 hp, a TRD GE J-85 (in the variant GE CJ610) was installed.
For the first time it took to the air in June 2018, still without a jet, and flew normally. By October it flew with three engines. It flew and flew well.
The Yak-54 was designed in the 1990s as an improved two seat version of the Yak-55. Featuring a new landing gear that is raked forward, three blade propeller, and larger tail surfaces, the Yak-54 was first flown in December 1993. The airframe is built to 7G.
Publicy introduced at the 1994 Paris Air Show, manufacture came to a stop, after one production aircraft, in 1998, pending certification. Some modifications were made to improve stability, aerodynamics and aerobatic performance, plus the M-14 engine was not certified.
The production aircraft was purchased by Jim Bourke and after two years of inactivity was restored to flight in 1996.
The Yak-54 did eventually receive full certification and a series of five was under construction.
The Yakolev Yak-52 is a two-seater tandem low wing civil and military aerobatic trainer aircraft with semi-retractable tricycled landinggear. Development of the Yakolev Yak-52, originally known Yak-50U, started in 1973 as a successor of the Yakolev Yak-18 training aircraft. The Yakolev 52 was designed by the Yakolev Design Bureau as a trainer version of the single-seat Yak-50. The prototype was flown first in 1974. Production was initiated in 1976 at the Intreprinderea de Avioane Bacau factory in Bacau, Romania and production of the Yak-52 started in 1977.
The Romanian prototype Yak-52 was flown first in May 1978 and deliveries started the same year. The IAK-52 airplane is equipped with a 360 hp Ivchenko Vedeneyev M-14P nine cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine. The 400 hp M14PF can also be fitted. The Yak is all-metal, fully aerobatic machine with an inverted fuel system, and features semi retractable tricycle landing gear. As an aircraft with excellent performance and +7/-5 G limits with two pilots and full fuel, the Yak-52 enables training from basic to unlimited level.
The Yak-52 was used in the Soviet Union as a basic military trainer as well as primary and advanced aerobatic trainer. A vast majority is in use with the Russian DOSAAF Clubs. The I.Av. Bacau was renamed Aerostar S.A. in 1991. Over 1800 have been produced starting with series-production in 1979. At the peak of production 150 aircraft were manufactured per year. Aerostar in Bacau, Romania as of 2009, was still producing the Yak-52 in limited numbers on request. The models were the Yak-52W, an upgraded derivative with Western instruments, radio, electrical etc. and the tail wheel version Yak-52TW.
Yak 52 TW
The 2025 developed Yak-52B2 variant is tailored for counter-drone operations. It features a 90 kg payload capacity under each wing. One pylon mounts a circular-view radar capable of air-to-air, air-to-ground, and weather tracking. The other currently carries a 12-gauge semi-automatic carbine.
The aircraft is further equipped with a weapon aiming subsystem and modern flight control and navigation systems, enabling reliable operations in all weather conditions.
Motor-Sich developed an upgraded version of this aircraft, which received a AІ-450S turboprop engine with 5-blade variable-pitch propeller MTV-5, as well as a number of other new systems. Also, the upgraded version received a new instrument panel with liquid crystal indicators.
Engine: Vedeneyev Ivchyenko M-14P, 360 hp Crew: 2 Height: 2.7 m Length: 7.745 m Wing span: 9.3 m Wing area: 15 sq. m Dihedral: 2 degrees Wing incidence: 2 degrees Propeller diameter: 2.4 m (V530TA-D35 constant speed propeller) Wheel track: 2.715 m Dry weight: 1035 kg Maximum takeoff weight: 1315 kg Maximum landing weight: 1315 kg Weight of crew with parachutes: 180 kg Fuel weight: 90 kg Oil weight: 10 kg Maximum fuel load: 120 L Maximum oil load: 16 L C of G limits (%): 17.5 – 27.0 Maximum level airspeed (at altitude 1000 m): 270 km/h Range (10% fuel reserve at 190 km/h): 465 km (2 h 30 min) Takeoff roll: 180 – 200 m Landing roll: 330 m Stall speed, engine at idle – erect flight, clean: 120 km/h Stall speed, engine at idle – flaps, gear down: 110 km/h Stall speed, engine at idle – inverted: 150 km/h Approach speed: 160 km/h Cruise 70%: 130 kt / 60 lt/hr. Touchdown speed: 115 – 120 km/h Takeoff speed: 120 km/h Climb speed: 170 km/h ROC: 1800 fpm. Never exceed speed (VNE): 420 km/h Maximum manoeuvring speed: 360 km/h G limits: +7/-5 Maximum gear extended speed: 200 km/h Maximum flaps extended speed: 170 km/h Minimum fuel qty for aerobatics: 24 L Maximum inverted flight time: 2 min (followed by at least 3 min of erect flight) Maximum oil load for cross-country: 16 L Maximum oil load for aerobatics: 10 L Minimum oil load: 8 L
Yak 52TW Engine: 400 HP Prop: MTV-9-B/260-29
Motor-Sich UTL-450 Engine: AІ-450S turboprop Propeller: MTV-5 5-blade variable-pitch Empty aircraft weight: 900 kg Maximum take-off weight: 1315/1500 kg (pilot/multi-purpose category) Maximum horizontal flight speed: 350 km/h Maximum flight range with 10% fuel reserve: 650 km Maximum flight range with additional fuel reserve: 2890 km Practical ceiling: 9000 m
The Yakolev Yak-50 is a single-seater aerobatic low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear with tail wheel. Development of the Yakolev Yak-50 started in 1972 based on the single-seat Yak-18PS. With a new wing planform and more power, the Yakolev Yak 50 provides more performance than its predecessor.
The center spar box appeared to have been removed and the wing panels, with squared tips, now join the fuselage directly, with very little dihedral. Both the 18PM and 18PC had 300 hp Ivchenko AI14RF engines, whereas the 50 uses a 360 hp M 14P radial that looks quite similar as it is installed; it drives two large, constant speed, paddle like propeller blades that are geared down. Gross weight of 900 kg or 1,980 pounds and the span is down, from 10.6 meters to 9.5, which means they’ve clipped between a foot and a half and two feet from each wing, and the wing area is correspondingly reduced nearly 12 percent. The airplane is also shorter than the 18s by a bit less than a meter. Its gear is fully retractable. The pilot sits near the trailing edge of the wing, which affords a fairly good view of the ground in vertical maneuvers, when such views are most needed.
The first of two prototypes built was flown first in 1972. After a series of modifications and a considerable amount of testing the Yak-50 was put into production at Arsenyiev in the Russian Federation as a duraluminium skinned semi monocoque airframe and deliveries started early 1975. The Yak-50 proved its aerobatic versatility and worth at the 8th World Aerobatic Championships in 1976. Yak-50’s ended first, second and third in the men’s championships, took the top five places in the women’s competition and the overall men’s and women’s team prizes. The Yak-50 airplane is equipped with a 360 hp Ivchenko Vedeneyev M-14P nine cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine. When production ended in 1985 a total of 312 were built, of which the vast majority were for the Russian DOSAAF Clubs. With the introduction of the Yak-55, Moscow instructed all DOSAAF Clubs to scrap the Yak–50s and return the logbooks to Moscow, with the result that there are less than sixty Yak-50s left in the world.
May 2000
Engine: Vedeneyev Ivchyenko M-14P radial, 360hp / 265kW Max take-off weight: 900 kg / 1984 lb Empty weight: 765 kg / 1687 lb Wingspan: 9.5 m / 31 ft 2 in Length: 7.8 m / 26 ft 7 in Height: 3.2 m / 11 ft 6 in Wing area: 15.0 sq.m / 161.46 sq ft Max. speed: 320 km/h / 199 mph Cruise speed: 240 km/h / 149 mph Ceiling: 6000 m / 19700 ft Range: 550 km / 342 miles Crew: 1
With V-VS formulation of a requirement for a single-seat limited all-weather fighter, the Yakolev OKB developed the Yak-50 in competition with the MiG-15Pbis. The wing, mounted in full mid position, was a two-spar structure of constant 12% thickness sweptback 45 degree at quarter chord. The OKB used magnesium alloys in the structure for the first time to any great extent as a contribution to weight reduction, a further weight-saving measure being the adoption of a velosipedno tipa, or “bicycle type” undercarriage. This zero-track arrangement, earlier tested by the Yak-25, comprised a single nosewheel member and a twin-wheel main unit, the latter taking 85% of the total aircraft weight; in addition, small outrigger stabilising wheels retracted into wingtip fairings. Power was provided by a single 2700kg Klimov VK-1 turbojet, armament consisted of two 23mm NR-23 cannon and provision was made for the installation of a single-antenna, fixed-scan, manually-tracked Korshun (Kite) AI radar in a housing above the nose air intake splitter. The first of three Yak-50 prototypes was flown on 15 July 1949, several months before the first radar-equipped MiG-15Pbis (SP-1), and demonstrated an outstanding speed performance, exceeding Mach=1.01 in a shallow dive on several occasions during manufacturer’s trials and Mach=1.048 during State Acceptance testing. It could take-off within 578m and land within 965m, but in more than a 18km/h crosswind, the Yak-50 tended to swerve from the runway, and it was barely controllable on a wet surface. In level flight at speeds between Mach=0.92 and 0.97, the Yak-50 suffered lateral oscillation preventing gun aiming. These shortcomings, coupled with the fact that the Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB was offering the potentially superior Izumrud radar-equipped MiG-17P, led to termination on 30 May 1950.
Max take-off weight: 4155 kg / 9160 lb Empty weight: 3125 kg / 6889 lb Wingspan: 7.98 m / 26 ft 2 in Length: 11.20 m / 37 ft 9 in Wing area: 16.00 sq.m / 172.22 sq ft Max. speed: 1170 km/h / 727 mph Range: 1100 km / 684 miles
All Aero 