The company was founded in 1932 in the Transbaykal region of the Soviet Union as the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP).

From 1942, the IAP started mass production of two long-range bomber aircraft: Ilyushin Il-4 and Yermolayev Yer-2 until 1945, probably for the Soviet Air Forces for World War II.

The Irkut Corporation became the first Russian defence firm to carry out an initial public offering in March 2004.

[7] As a result EADS owned a 10% stake in Irkut which it planned as of 2007 to convert into United Aircraft Corporation shares.

[8] In 2006, the Russian government merged Irkut with Ilyushin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi, Tupolev and Yakovlev as a new company called United Aircraft Corporation.

[10] In June 2011 the joint venture project with EADS to convert old A320 passenger aircraft to freighter mode was terminated because of increased demand for the precursor products.

[10] In December 2016 the joint venture project to build and market a seaplane based on the Beriev Be-200 firefighter with EADS-Airbus was terminated.

The new commercial division will also include the Yakovlev Design Bureau, avionics specialist UAC—Integration Center and composite manufacturer AeroComposit.

[14] In January 2024 was published a report on how Yakovlev evaded sanctions to continue to procure components from US firms like Honeywell, through a European intermediary.