Tasked by the Council of Ministers in a directive issued on 11 March 1947, with producing a straight winged fighter similar to the earlier Yak-19, but powered by a Rolls-Royce Derwent V, OKB-115 swiftly produced the Yak-25, which blazed several trails as the first Soviet fighter with a fully pressurised cockpit, air conditioning, jettisonable canopy, and hydraulic airbrakes on the fuselage amongst other innovations.

[1] The cockpit was very similar to the earlier Yakovlev jets, though the Yak-25 was pressurized using an air-cycle system based on engine bleed.

[1] Flight tests followed quickly, and showed that the Yak-25 was easy to fly, and had exceptional performance and maneuverability for a straight-wing aircraft.

Unfortunately it soon became clear that the laminar flow section used for the tail unit was totally unsuitable, with extremely severe buffeting setting in at 500 km/h (310 mph).

Selyakov reporting that the buffeting was so bad that he was thrown about in the cockpit, banging his head on the canopy, and the needles fell off all the flight instruments.

This came in response to a proposal by the headquarters of Long Range Aviation, calling for a method of towing short-range jet fighters, code-named Burlaki (barge hauler).

[3] Data from Early Soviet Jet Fighters,[4] and OKB Yakovlev [5]General characteristics Performance Armament