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Prospective Front-line Fighter (PFI) - Origins

In the Soviet Union the development of a light fighter, especially after the tandem Su-27 - the MiG-29 was considered less prestigious than the creation of a heavy fighter. It is obvious that this trend continues to this day. Design offices are fighting for the right to develop a "prestigious" planes, while light unjustly considered "weapons of the poor."

The transition from third generation fighters to the fourth is associated with the Vietnam War. In April 1966, the Soviet Union delivered the MiG-21 fighter jets to North Vietnam, which collided with American F-4 Phantom IIs in the sky. It was these air battles that made it clear what the future aircraft would be like. At that time, it was believed that a maneuverable air battle was a thing of the past, and even air cannons were removed from airplanes. Why are they needed if the enemy can be easily destroyed with the help of missiles for tens of kilometers? However, the war showed that reality is always different from theory.

The F-4 had the best locator, but the MiG-21 was more maneuverable. And unexpectedly for the Americans, it was the latter that proved decisive. From May to December 1966, they lost 47 aircraft against 12 Vietnamese. The United States took into account the bitter experience and began the development of the F-16 and F-15 fighters, and the Soviet Union in turn - the MiG-29 and Su-27.

In 1971, Soviet aviation industry and Air Force institutes started research on the formation of the concept of building a new fighter aircraft fleet. As a result, it was concluded (as in the US) that the Air Force required two types of aircraft - heavy and light. In 1972, the Air Force reviewed preliminary designs performed in OKB Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev. These were the light fighter aircraft MiG-29 and Yak-45 projects and the heavy fighters T-10 and Yak-47. Eventually two types of fighters were built: lightweight MiG-29 and Su-27 heavy.

There were several Yak-45 designs. First was the MiG-27 type ground attack design with middle mounted wings. Then there was a derived fighter which was competing in PFI competition along with the scaled up Yak-47. Lastly there was a derived VTOL fighter design which had underwing engines.

The Vietnam War forced the two warring parties to make certain conclusions. First of all, it affected aviation, with both the tactics of its application, and the types of aircraft. The US widely used aviation to support ground troops subsonic attack aircraft A-1, A-4, A-6, OV-10A and multipurpose supersonic fighter F-105 and F-4 had a low survivability and a number of qualities can not effectively carry out the functions of stormtroopers. The United States made a number of attempts to rectify the situation, modified aircraft "directly in the ranks." However, field modification of existing aircraft did not bring the desired result.

Soviet aviation up to that time also had a dedicated attack aircraft. Fire support for ground forces on the battlefield was to be provided by multipurpose supersonic MiG-21 and Su-7B and subsonic MiG-17. This doctrine was tested in the fall of 1967 during a large-scale maneuvers "Dnepr" in Belarus. It turned out that the ground troops support by the latest supersonic fighter jets was worse than subsonic MiG-17. The pilots of the MiG-17 quickly found the target, its time to recognize and destroy the first approach. The high speed of the MiG-21 and Su-7B and a bad view from a cabin made it difficult to search, detection, identification and tracking.

In the early 1970s the Soviet VVS expressed a desire to replace the MiG-21 with a more modern twin-engine fighter with greater air-superiority capabilities. Yakovlev's entry was a series of designs submitted under the designation Yak-45. Yakovlev Yak-45 was the designation for a series of design studies in 1973-1974 for a single-seat fighter, which lost out to the MiG-29.

In February 1968 came the first sketches for a modern attack aircraft TTT - specialized aircraft to the battlefield. In May 1968, the work of Sukhoi was reported on, and two months later the general designer of the project reported to the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR P.V.Dementev. And in early 1969, the USSR Defense Minister Grechko turned to P.V.Dementev with a proposal to hold a design competition light aircraft, attack aircraft (LSSH). The TTT appeared on March 19, 1969, four KBparticipated in the competition : Ilyushin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.

In July 1969 the Air Force considered the Commission proposal. After a lengthy discussion, projects Il-42 and Yak-28LSH were rejected. The competition continued with the attack aircraft MiG-21LSH and the project of attack aircraft Yak-45.

In 1971, the Soviet Air Force formulated the TTT for a new aircraft - the prospective front-line fighter (PFI). The program attracted all fighter KB country - Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev. PFI had to fight with the fighters in the near maneuverable air combat (using SD and guns), to intercept air targets at long range when you move from the ground or off and to dogfight in the medium range, covering troops and infrastructure from attack from the air, to counteract means of aerial reconnaissance, accompanied by heavy aircraft and to protect them from fighters to conduct aerial reconnaissance and destroy small ground targets in clear weather conditions. The main opponents of the plane initially considered promising American fighter F-15, P.530 and YF-17 (future F-18).