Why in Russia they are reluctant to talk about the resurgence of WIG

15
The collapse of the USSR was a serious blow to Russian industry and scientifictechnical the thoughts of designers, which is often far ahead of its time. To the great relief of the West, a whole series of breakthrough developments was put an end to, among which the Caspian Monster draft ekranoplane can be especially distinguished.





Soviet engineers figured out how to use the so-called screen effect, which occurs under the wing at very low altitudes, reflecting the aircraft from the surface. The idea to put this effect on the service arose in 1961 with the talented Russian designer Rostislav Alekseev. In 1966, the device was first launched, and in 1967, American spies discovered it in the Caspian Sea and gave it the name “Caspian Monster” because of the abbreviation KM on board, which meant “mock-up ship”.

There was something to push the Pentagon about. The Soviet ekranoplan at that time was the largest aircraft in the world. His characteristics were also striking. The “Caspian monster” could move above the surface with an airplane speed of up to 500 kilometers per hour, while the enemy air defense was powerless against it, since the flight altitude was barely more than a few meters above the surface of the ocean.

Yes, during the Cold War, such developments were made with a military bias, ekranoplanes were designed to destroy aircraft carriers and large vessels of the US Navy. Tenfold superiority in speed of movement made them dangerous opponents. On the basis of the "Caspian Monster" a whole series of missile ekranoplanes of the Lun project was planned. However, of the eight devices, only one was built. The construction of the second was frozen in the nineties at the stage of 75% readiness. There was an attempt to give him a new life as a rescue ship, but failed.

The only Lun missile carrier built was decommissioned and is in storage. In 2011, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation under Serdyukov decided to ekranoplans to utilize and generally abandon such ideas:

In the state defense order for 2011-2020, financing for development and the construction of ekranoplanes is not provided. These ships are not present in the plans for the development of the Navy for the next decade ... Even talk about their revival is not conducted. Now the fleet has many other serious tasks, no longer as bold as before. We prefer not to build illusions anymore.


However, in Russia there are still people with "illusions" who believe that the country needs breakthrough technologies that are much ahead of their time. NPO Ekolen tried to revive the idea of ​​building ekranoplanes in a civilian version. Obviously so as not to annoy a certain circle of people, the developers preferred not to use the word "ekranoplan", calling it ground-air amphibian (NVA). However, the principles used are the same as in the Caspian Monster.


The Russian NVA is capable of flying at the speed of an aircraft, but with a much greater payload, from 1,2 to 750 tons. For their operation there is no need to build a network of roads and airfields. Domestic amphibians can freely be used on the seas, and on rivers, and in the tundra, and in the desert. The construction of large amphibians would allow for the transshipment of cargo both in Russia and around the globe. The ekranoplanes encountered along the way can fly, rising if necessary to a height of up to 3 km. At the same time, the cost of delivering a ton of cargo will be lower than that of aircraft or the railway.

But ... Extremely promising amphibians are still at the prototype stage in NGOs. The state "has no money, but you hold on," and all that. Apparently, financing is still needed for "more serious tasks."
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15 comments
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  1. -3
    7 June 2019 12: 21
    Everything is much simpler. Very voracious, hazardous and most importantly - very whimsical to weather conditions.
    (Information gleaned from apolitical air forums)
  2. +2
    7 June 2019 12: 37
    Quote: Oleg RB
    Everything is much simpler. Very voracious, hazardous and most importantly - very whimsical to weather conditions.
    (Information gleaned from apolitical air forums)

    And in these forums they write that the weather negatively affects other types of troops?
    By the way, what is more important for the killer of aircraft carriers, the ability to destroy the aircraft carrier, or how much it "eats"?
    1. -1
      7 June 2019 16: 32
      It is important to complete the task, but he cannot fulfill it if the wave has risen a little. Etc. etc.
      In general, the topic has long been recognized unpromising - a dead end, both in the USSR and abroad. Carriers are more efficiently destroyed in simpler and more reliable ways.
    2. 0
      7 June 2019 16: 35
      "Negative" is too general a word. I wrote it differently.
      For example, a guard on guard is also negatively walking in the cold with a gun on the street, but he performs the task.
  3. +1
    7 June 2019 17: 34
    -Well, over the taiga, over the tundra, over the desert, over the steppe, over the sea (and there is plenty of "all this" in the vast territory of Russia) ... -the screen plane can easily fly ...- "up and down" ... -And the ekranoplan will transport many times more (will do much more) than the "gluttonous engines" will devour it ... -And ekranoplanes can extinguish the burning taiga (giant areas of fire) ... -A few dozen ekranoplanes will arrive and extinguish any fire ... - well, they will burn (use up) several tons of aviation fuel., but .. - this is a million times better and more profitable than allowing thousands of hectares of forest, dozens of villages and settlements to burn out from a fire and lose human lives .. ...
    -Russia can afford the construction of entire armies of ekranoplanes ...
  4. 0
    8 June 2019 06: 47
    Quote: gorenina91
    -Well, over the taiga, over the tundra, over the desert, over the steppe, over the sea (and there is plenty of "all this" in the vast territory of Russia) ... -the screen plane can easily fly ...- "up and down" ... -And the ekranoplan will transport many times more (will do much more) than the "gluttonous engines" will devour it ... -And ekranoplanes can extinguish the burning taiga (giant areas of fire) ... -A few dozen ekranoplanes will arrive and extinguish any fire ... - well, they will burn (use up) several tons of aviation fuel., but .. - this is a million times better and more profitable than allowing thousands of hectares of forest, dozens of villages and settlements to burn out from a fire and lose human lives .. ...
    -Russia can afford the construction of entire armies of ekranoplanes ...

    Well, a comrade from Belarus, following Serdyukov, convinced us of the futility of the undertaking lol
    Yes, probably in the USSR Ministry of Defense, which ordered 8 ekranoplanes, people were worse than Oleg RB and Anatoly Eduardovich.
    1. 0
      8 June 2019 16: 50
      Maybe you need to read on the topic at the proforums before you rise above a comrade from Belarus? wink
  5. 0
    8 June 2019 06: 48
    Quote: Oleg RB
    Carriers are more efficiently destroyed in simpler and more reliable ways.

    It turns out? At least one was destroyed "in another" reliable way to reason about it substantively?
    Do you consider yourself smarter than the Soviet military, who ordered a series of 8 combat ekranoplanes?
    1. 0
      8 June 2019 16: 52
      Do not confuse really military with zhurnalyugami
  6. +1
    8 June 2019 20: 12
    Most likely, now there is simply no one to implement large-scale projects on this topic.
    That IL-112 turned out to be heavy and the CEO blames the designers. And what did he do to keep these designers interested in staying and working? After all, the best were probably gone. Well, yourself, beloved, gd hardly cheated. Well, now the designer is to blame.
    But the IL-112 has been in development for more than one year, they have been doing it for a long time. But they decided to feed the Ukrainian designers, instead of ours, and now they are surprised that ours have gone somewhere.
    And with ekranoplans the situation is much worse. They were banned even during the USSR. Therefore, apparently, one has to start from scratch, gain experience on small devices that are in operation and at the exit. And then take up serious projects.
    And now they’ll spend the money, nakosyachit out of inexperience and there will be unnecessary conflicts, people will be fired, which in 2 - 3 projects would work normally.
    This is just the price of Gorbachev's betrayal, the collapse of the USSR.
  7. 0
    9 June 2019 06: 30
    Quote: Oleg RB
    Do not confuse really military with zhurnalyugami

    Yes? In the Ministry of Defense of the USSR were people more stupid than you and Serdyukov?
  8. 0
    9 June 2019 06: 30
    Quote: boriz
    And now they’ll spend the money, nakosyachit out of inexperience and there will be unnecessary conflicts, people will be fired, which in 2 - 3 projects would work normally.

    This is whom we are fired for the jambs?
  9. 0
    9 June 2019 06: 32
    Quote: Oleg RB
    Maybe you need to read on the topic at the proforums before you rise above a comrade from Belarus? wink

    I read various forums, not one year. It is not interesting for me to rise above you.
    But I clearly see what contingent speaks out against promising projects.
  10. +1
    10 June 2019 13: 51
    This topic has been around for 20 years.
    But technology is evolving, and ekranoleta never do. Neither in China, nor in Iraq, nor in the USA or India.

    There are probably reasons?

    Look at the photo - a bunch of engines, an ugly shape, 8 missiles ....
  11. +1
    4 August 2019 21: 40
    The ekranoplan is not as promising as the SVP - ekranoplan hybrid. It is the combination of a static and a dynamic pillow that will make it possible to neutralize the disadvantages of both, which appear in the case of their separate use. The implementation of the SVP - ekranoplan hybrid leads to the emergence of a vehicle with such qualities as speed, efficiency, all-weather resistance, and non-attachment to infrastructure. And most importantly: all this can be fully realized with the transition to ELECTRIC MOTION. The task of creating this type of high-tech transport, which includes an energy component in the form of fuel cells, has prerequisites for reaching the level of a national project. Ideas of Rostislav Alekseev to life!