PJSC Yakovlev continues to work on the Yak-152 light trainer aircraft project, designed for the initial training of pilots of the Russian Air and Space Forces. At the end of 2023, state joint tests of the Yak-152 were completed, during which the main flight performance characteristics of the aircraft were confirmed. The next stage of the project’s development will be the import substitution of the German RED A03 engine, propeller and other Yak-152 components with Russian analogues.
The VK-650V turboshaft engine, originally developed to equip Ka-226, Ansat and VRT-500 helicopters, is considered as a potential replacement. Preliminary design work for adapting the VK-650V to the Yak-152 has already been carried out, and according to the developers, the engine is suitable for the aircraft.
‘We and our colleagues from UDK have carried out preliminary design work to ‘tie’ the VK-650 engine to this aircraft. The engine is suitable, but their priority is an engine for a helicopter. Then we will work on this engine for the aircraft. We have done such preliminary work with ODK. We are not leaving this machine,’ Yakovlev CEO Andrei Boginsky told a RIA Novosti correspondent.
When choosing domestic analogues, Yakovleva is guided by the need to preserve the already achieved flight characteristics of the Yak-152. At the same time, the designers are striving to ensure maximum unification of placement and geometry of the bonnet group, which will minimise the amount of additional testing.
The Yak-152 is an addition to the Yak-130-based combat training complex. The integrated use of two machines – piston at the initial stage of training and jet-powered combat trainer to improve the acquired skills – is considered to be the optimal combination in the system of training of VKS cadets.
The experience gained in the development of the Yak-152 is planned to be used for the development of a new training aircraft designed to train civil aviation pilots. The project of the civilian trainer is at the initial stage, but it can be assumed that the arrangement of a cadet and an instructor in it will be realised in a row, shoulder to shoulder, as on all civil aircraft. Moreover, the Yakovlev Design Bureau has experience in building light aircraft with such a cabin – the Yak-18T four-seat training and passenger aircraft.
