New Russian Ekranoplan
 

Stated as for SAR, but would also be militarily useful as military interest in the high Arctic continues to grow.

EERussia researching on 600-ton ekranoplan for missions in Arctic and Pacific

A report from Izvestia says Russia is researching on a new ekranoplan – aka ground effect vehicle – that can perform rescue missions and resupply remote bases in Arctic and Pacific. The project is given the code-name Rescuer and will be handled by Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, which in the past produce ground effect vehicles such as Lun and Orlenok.

The vehicle is expected to weigh 600 tons with a length of 93 meters and wing span of 71 meters. It will be able to operate on land as well. Top speed is 550 km/h. Scaled models have completed wind tunnel testing and the timeline to complete the project is 2025.

Utter bull****, will never happen.

Well that isn't it in the picture - that's one of the old Caspian Sea monsters. I have seen a picture of the proposed new design which is quite interesting. It has already apparently passed wind tunnel tests.

According to the links below the code name for the programme is “Lifeguard” and it will be a scaled up development of their previous “Lun” design “rescuer”.

http://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/fo...3Fquality%3D85

http://weaponews.com/news/17242-in-r...heavy-wig.html

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...rctic-missions

It already happened.... 51 years ago :rolleyes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea_Monster

And though KM (a.k.a. Caspian Sea Monster) was rather an experimental machine, the following one was close to enter into service
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

There was no real "use case" for it during the Gorby's "detente" thus it never went into a serial production.

Confirms my point, this is yet another in a long line of plastic models alluding to the Soviet Unions past, in a feeble attempt to prove to its citizens that Russia is a super power and not a Third World country entirely dependant on its oil exports.

Just thought that, as a development of “Rescuer”, and with a rear ramp and all that cargo space, it shouldn’t be called “Lifeguard” but “Deliveroo”.

Just saying.......

Eight jet engines flying pretty much MSL all the time.
I wonder what the theoretical fuel burn might be....

Doesn't matter if you are one of the biggest oil producers in the world

Aaaargh, it lives again. Someone get a mallet and a stake.

The story I was told was that Alekseyev was politically well connected, and had designed the passenger hydrofoils that were a bit of an icon of "advanced Soviet society" in the 1950s and 1960s. The original idea of the Ekranoplan was wake-free fast river transit.... but every time it didn't work, Alekseyev would claim that it would work if you made it bigger, culminating in the CSM.

The Monster was a huge puzzle for the intel community, because they kept trying to figure out the mission that would justify its cost, and there wasn't one.

Size has a fascination for every dictatorship - it doesn't have to work but it should be BIG.........................

In principle pretty low - the point of WIGEs is that once airborne they operate in a very low-drag regime. Based on the data from the original one I'd guess that the eight engines are only used for take-off; cruising flight will probably use only four or even just two.

Of course this does mean that the take-off run can be a bit "leisurely", but then flying boats always did exploit the option of using very long "runways" and shallow climbs. Who cares if it takes 20,000m to leave the water and only climbs at 50ft/min? It will reach top-of-the-climb at 200 feet anyway, so there's no real "noise abatement" benefit to steeper climbs.

No, the *actual* disadvantages are that they can only operate over large areas of water, so the would be as much use as a chocolate fireguard for arctic/ant-arctic rescue. They also can't run over rough seas - even if anyone wanted to they don't have the control authority to safely fly at 200 feet through a deep ocean storm, and the WIGE principle is a bit dodgy if there's a deep swell running.

IMHO the whole WIGE thing is still very much a solution desperately seeking a problem.

PDR

Doesn't matter how much oil you can afford to buy of putting enough on your aeroplane to lift it limits the payload to half a size-zero supermodel and your range to the breadth of Trump's intellect.

PDR

You're suggesting it's a big, beautiful WIGE - the bigliest WIGE in the world, and the conventional aircraft are going to pay for it...

:E


PDR

Well if we are back to imaginary aeroplanes.....

https://i02.fotocdn.net/s6/93/public...2446881116.jpg

https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets...jpg?1445249388

I was wondering the same thing. Marketing it as a humanitarian rescue do-gooder could well be a sly disguise. After all, the original Caspian Sea Monster was designed to transport troops and goods. That said, the links acknowledge it could be employed for multiple purposes.

Not having any familiarity with the model illustrated in ORAC's post above, does anyone know what is supposed to be contained in the forward assemblage of the T-tail? Looks like it's intended for something.

I've always been fascinated by these things, for some reason. Having been employed with a number of naval engineers, I know they drive the IMO folks crazy -- how do you deal with large 500 km/h vehicles in shipping lanes with massive vessels averaging 10 knots or so? Maybe in the Arctic it won't be much of an issue, but with the ice cap dissolving there is also a lot more interest in shipping through that area.

A crow's nest? If you are operating it for SAR purposes I can see that a viewpoint that's a bit higher off the surface could be useful.
Someone posted lots of photos of the outside and inside of the 'Lun' Ekranoplan in storage several years ago and I remember that there were internal passages to the top of the tailfin and rear of the fuselage. Probably for maintenance or gunners positions on that one, but I guess they took that aspect and integrated it into the new concept.

They look for investment in various models here, including the “Lifeguard”, but give a displacement of 390T. Does that equate to a max weight of 600T, or is that before they started to scale it up? Does look like an unsustainable product line and more a fishing trip however.

Ekranoplans and Ships to dynamically supported - itc-invest.hk

“Today we are pleased to present the products of our partners - the Ekranoplans -speed vessels and the new generation. This unique vehicle, using the principle of hydrodynamic maintain. This hovercraft and hydrofoil vessels with air cavity on the bottom, transport and amphibious platform and airfoil. According to their tactical and technical characteristics of high-speed sudanashih partners ahead of world-class high-speed shipbuilding, high reliability, efficiency and simplicity of operation. Today we are prepared to order by delivering a new generation of high-speed vessels for military and civil purposes.



Marine Ekranoplan of the "Eaglet"
Maritime cargo Ekranoplan "Geologist"
Project 903E missile Ekranoplan "Lun E"
Search and rescue Ekranoplan "Lifeguard"
Sea passenger Ekranoplan "Seagull-2"
Border hydrofoil Project 133 "Antares"
Marine hydrofoil "Comet 120M"
Landing craft air cavity at the bottom of "Dugon"
High-speed landing craft air cavity on the bottom, "Serna"
A patrol boat air cavity "Mercury"
Transport and amphibious platforms TAP-150
Light boat amphibious hovercraft "Sagittarius» C-51 RT”

SEARCH AND RESCUE EKRANOPLAN "LIFEGUARD"

Designed to assist seagoing vessels, rescue of passengers and crews.
It can be used to extinguish fires, oil spills and the evacuation of people from coastal seas.

SPECIFICATIONS

Displacement - 390 t
Draft - 2,4 m
The speed of 400-500 km / h
The flight range of 3000 km
Crew 9 people.
The rescue team 19 people
Capacity to save
Normal - 150 people.
Maximum - 500 people.
Seaworthiness (wave height)
Rise 2.5 m
Planting 3.5m
Flight 5 m and drift
Engines 8h13000 kg. traction

Instead of lots of silly posts, this is the URL of the maching that is actually being planned. https://www.rt.com/news/375477-groun...ian-transport/

Can't see a big wave causing any problems at all