What Happened to the Soviet Supersonic Jump Jets?

A couple extra points that have been brought up in the comments are the YAK-41/F-35B connection and that the harrier has nothing to do with the F-35B design. The first one is that Lockheed bought the tech from YAK. Well, the rotating nozzle (three-bearing swivel duct or 3BSD) was designed in the US in the 1960s by Pratt & Whitney for the Convair Model 200 but the project was not continued. The Soviet version appears to be a very similar setup and they were the first to fly this type of rotating nozzle but Lockhead had resurrected the 1960 US design for the F-35B before the YAK intervention. Lockheed wanted the flight information so see how they worked in an operational aircraft and Yakovlev needed the cash in the newly market driven Russia after the Russian Navy cancelled the contract. As for the Harrier, this is my take on it in that the Harrier proved you could run the whole VTOL setup with a single-engine were as all the other setups had used multiple engines which tended to burn up the runways and landing areas with the hot exhaust. The F-35B uses an engine-driven cold air fan for half of the lift which greatly reduces this effect thought it can still burn the runway at the other end of the plane if it hovers low down for too long.

I would imagine an unexpected auto-ejection is quite the experience.

I feel physical pain when I see planes being scrapped:(

An accidental automated eject must have been awful. The idea of your cockpit suddenly being ripped away from you- I can only imagine the danger to hands and legs.

Man, the Soviet union was kind of insane.. the technologies that they created were rough around the edges sometimes, but.. its undeniable, their creative ambition was incredible. The rapid development of ambitious new technology that was considered impossible just a year before it was done.. respect.

So the Yak and Harrier set their differences aside one cold winter night and made passionate love. Then years later the F-35B was born

I had no idea that “ Yak “ and Lockheed Martin had collaborated with each other. Talk about strange bedfellows.

In Soviet Russia the jets eject you...

So the Russians help Lockheed develop the F35? Wow, I never knew this, incredible.

This is what YouTube was made for. Thank you Curious Droid for the content.

In Soviet Union, AIRCRAFT EJECT YOU!

I'm sure that the wifes of the Russian pilots were not particularly impressed with their premature ejection problems.

Russian out of the box thinking and mindset always amazes me. Beautiful aircraft Yak 141

I have to admit: Lord Varys is a pretty good online teacher. Three cheers for the Spider

The auto eject was actually the first time Ai became self aware and decided the best thing to do was destroy all humans. Thankfully it failed.

09:25 - my heart stopped.... how dared you?!

Imagine being accidentally ejected.

I cant say enough about this channel. Love the research and technical content

Well, well, well... I never knew about the Lockheed purchase of Yak aircraft. Sneaky buggers!

Amazing info. Never heard before that Lockheed actually bought Russian VTOL for their development.