Tupolev's V/STOL '136' Fighter: Soviet Equivalent of the Harrier/Pegasus?

Hi,

Tupolev Tu-136 VTOL aircraft of 1963/64.

hesham said:

Hi,

Tupolev Tu-136 VTOL aircraft of 1963/64.

Click to expand...

Wow! This is entirely new to me!

I have never seen a Soviet-era V/STOL concept with a 4-poster Pegasus style engine.

Why Tupolev? Who would have proposed a Pegasus style engine? Did all of the latter lift engine proposals come about because the Soviets had failed to produce a viable Pegasus-type turbofan?

I can. Tupolev izdelije (object, thing) 136 - so not "Tu-136" - was one of soviet first generation V/STOL projects. Generally it resembles Yak-36MP - serial version of the experimental Yak-36, except the four nozzle engine. Do not confuse it with Tupolev izdelije 136 "Star". It was different project of spaceplane as competitor to X-20 DynaSoar.

Another project with the same configuration was Yak V (Vertikalnij - vertical).

http://www.hitechweb.genezis.eu/vtol2b.htm

Some info in English can be found in Tony Buttler´s book Soviet Secret Projects: Fighters.

The 136 was essentially a private venture by Tupolev. According to Gordon & Rigmant in "OKB Tupolev", the OKB produced draft studies for a subsonic tactical VTOL fighter on Tupolev's own initiative. Draft specifications and a model were shown to the VVS who appear to have expressed no real interest and the project was dropped.

The 136 would have been slightly smaller than the Yak 38, with a span of 5.12 metres and a length of 11.8 metres

With regard to the engine layout, the Pegasus style engine with four vectoring nozzles was Yakovlev's first choice for his original Yak-V VTOL fighter project. This was designed around 1960/61 to have a 10,000 kgp turbofan with four vectoring nozzles. However no such engine existed in the USSR and Yakovlev was unable to obtain government backing or funds to develop it and had to go down a different route, leading to the Yak 36 and Yak 36M/Yak38. Presumably Tupolev would have had a similar problem if the 136 had gone ahead.

Confusingly, Tupolev re-used the 136 designation in the mid-Seventies for an airliner project developed from the Tu-154, with underwing podded engines, a new wing and a tail based on the TU-134. Versions of this were proposed as pilot, navigator and WSO trainers but no Tu-136 was ever built.

Hi!
http://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=fr&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwarfiles.ru%2Fshow-46510-proekt-istrebitelya-vvp-136-sssr.html&sandbox=1

Good for speculative cutaway drawing...!