Yak-38 as the other Cold War V/STOL fighter

The Forger was a flawed aircraft with a more serious legacy than its reputation suggests. It was the Soviet Union's first jet carrier fighter built around vertical takeoff and landing, which brought several unfamiliar engineering problems together in one program. The F-35B's hover arrangement is closer to the Yak-38's than to the Harrier's. That relationship brings a less remembered Soviet solution into the usual Harrier-centered V/STOL story. As a first Soviet V/STOL carrier fighter, it warrants assessment against its intended mission and development constraints.