Airforces

72 // FEBRUARY 2018 #359 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

he Yak-130 advanced jet trainer was

formally taken on strength by the

Russian military in 2010. However,

it wasn’t until 2013 that student pilot training

started on the type. This relatively advanced

and highly agile combat trainer is employed

by the Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily

Rossiyskoy Federatsii (VKS RF, Russian

Federation Air and Space Force) to train

new aviators destined for fighter and

ground-attack fast jet communities. The

little Yak combines a high-tech training

environment, which immerses the students

in a contemporary glass cockpit, with

fighter-like handling characteristics. It also

features a combat training and offensive

capability with both guided and dumb

ordnance. Perhaps most important for its

basic role are its safety features, including

a pair of Zvezda K-36LT-3.5 zero-zero

ejection seats – arguably the best in the

world in a training aircraft. The twin-engine

jet features g-limits from -3 to +8 and can

pull a sustained 7g at a speed of 450kts.

Alongside its domestic success – which is

now being expanded through introduction

to the Russian Navy – the Yak-130 is also

in service with four export operators, all of

which turned to the nimble trainer due to

its compatibility with their respective fleets

of MiG-29 and Su-27/30 derivatives.

On the downside, the Yak’s performance

and advanced systems make it one of

the more expensive jet trainers currently

available. When combined with relatively high

direct operating costs, this has stymied the

trainer’s ambitions. Indeed, to date Russia

has only been able to justify a small number

to replace L-39Cs, MiG-29s and Su-25s as

lead-in fighter trainers (LIFT) at Armavir and

Borisoglebsk air bases. In this role, compared

with its aged predecessors, the modern

Yak represents a cost-effective investment

with a 30-year, 10,000-hour service life.

Protracted development

The Yak-130 traces its origins back to 1990

when the then Soviet Air Force commander-

in-chief, Aviation Marshal Alexander

Yefimov, publically articulated the need

for a new jet trainer. It was designed to

replace the versatile and popular Czech-

built Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, which

was ill-suited to training pilots destined for

modern, high-performance fourth-generation

fighters. A formal decree was issued by

the Soviet government in June of that year,

ordering the Mikoyan Experimental Design

Bureau (OKB MiG) to begin drafting a new

twin-engine jet trainer. The estimated

requirement was 1,200 new aircraft. The

specifications stipulated a landing speed

not exceeding 92kts, while take-off run and

landing roll were to be less than 1,600ft

(500m), including those from unpaved

runways. There was also a new requirement

to be able to reprogramme the flight control

Yak-13 0

T

Russia’s tenacious trainer

The second pre-production aircraft, used

for testing and demonstration purposes,

was painted in 2013 in a ‘retro’ red and

white colour scheme used in the past

on Yakovlev trainers. It took part in the

International Aviation and Space Salon

(MAKS) at Zhukovsky in 2017.

Robert Kysela