Here’s What You Need to Know: The Yak-141 Freestyle may not technically count as a predecessor to the F-35, but the JSF does seem to have at least some Russian DNA floating around its engine design.

It is unlikely that, as many Russian sources brag, the F-35B was a direct rip-off of the Yak-141. However, there are many staggering similarities between the two planes. Most military and aviation ...

Key point: The beginning of VTOL systems started with Russia. For all the yelling and shouting over the Department of Defense’s much-maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, there’s an unusual, ...

Developed in the 1980s, the Yakovlev Yak-141 was the Soviet Union’s answer to the Harrier, a supersonic vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter designed for carrier operations. Equipped with a ...