The Yak-2 was initially known as the Ya-22, in the Yakovlev OKB numbering sequence, before it was redesignated as the Yak-2 in 1941. It was of mixed construction with wooden wings and center fuselage, duralumin forward fuselage, and steel tube framing in the rear fuselage with a wooden upper decking and fabric skin. The cockpit was at the very tip of the nose, but the navigator/gunner was in a compartment behind the trailing edge of the wing. The prototype was unarmed and no bomb shackles were fitted. It also lacked a radio and navigational equipment. It was, however, the fastest multi-engined aircraft in the Soviet Union, able to reach 567 km/h (352 mph) at 9,900 m (32,500 ft), not least because it lacked heavy military equipment. Yefim Gordon does mention a Yak-2KABB ground-attack variant which might have been confused with the I-29 because it had two ShKAS in the nose and two 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK cannon in a depressible ventral pack. Unfortunately no other details are available, although photos do exist.