Work on the Yak-104 was terminated in favour of an aircraft with a single lift/cruise engine with rotating nozzles, similar to the Hawker Siddeley P.1127, which was nearing completion in England.

The fuselage was substantial forward of the wing trailing edges, due to accommodating the engines, cockpit, fuel tanks and equipment bays as close to the centre of gravity as possible, tapering sharply to the swept tail surfaces with a high-set tailplane.

The suction effect of the exhaust on the ground (which made a higher engine power needed) and problems with control systems caused further difficulties.

After much testing and practice the first public presentation of the Yak-36 was made on 9 July 1967 at an air show at Moscow-Domodedovo airport, marking the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution.

After the promising results obtained from the flight test programme of the Yak-36, the next development step was the Yakovlev Yak-36M which flew for the first time on 27 September 1970.