In Rybinsk, the local enterprise Rybinskaya Verf, which has been part of the Kalashnikov group of companies since 2015, is working on a project for a new hovercraft called Huska 10. The new multipurpose vessel, intended for civil and military use, was developed jointly with the engineers of the Vympel shipyard, which is also located in Rybinsk. The construction process of the first hovercraft (SVP) "Huska 10" has already begun.
What is known about the project "Huska 10"
On March 16, 2020 Dmitry Tarasov, who is the general director of the Kalashnikov group of companies, paid a working visit to the city of Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl region. Here the top manager of the arms corporation visited Rybinsk Shipyard, and it was at this enterprise that a new vessel was created, called the Huska 10. It is planned to hold a presentation of the new vessel to the general public at the end of August 2020 as part of the Army 2020 International Military-Technical Forum.
In Rybinsk, Dmitry Tarasov met with the managing director of the Vympel shipyard Vadim Sobko and the general director of the Rybinsk shipyard enterprise Sergey Antonov, both companies are now part of the Kalashnikov Group of Companies. During the meeting, the parties agreed to cooperate in the construction of a new hovercraft. As noted on the official website of the Kalashnikov group of companies, the material intended for the production of the central part of the new vessel has already been delivered to the Vympel shipyard; work on the construction of the ship was planned to begin by the end of March this year.
According to Sobko, at the Vympel shipyard, part of the hull of the new SVP will be manufactured, for this the enterprise has trained personnel and all the necessary production facilities. At the same time, the work will be carried out jointly with Rybinsk Shipyard within the framework of establishing cooperation of the local shipbuilding cluster. The joint work of the two enterprises will help accelerate the construction of the Huska 10 multipurpose hovercraft of the skeg type with flexible skegs (SVPSG) with a maximum payload of 10 tons.
Work on the new vessel is being carried out within the framework of the state program "Development of shipbuilding and equipment for the development of offshore fields for 2013-2030". It is known that the design and engineering department of the Rybinsk Shipyard began to implement the Huska 10 project in January 2018, when the first renders of the future ship appeared on the network. The project is positioned as an economical universal transport vessel for military and civilian use. It is obvious that the demand for SVPSG can be not only in the civilian market, but also on the part of Russian law enforcement agencies.
According to the materials already published, it is clear that the vessel will be able to take on board up to ten tons of various cargoes and can easily accommodate a three-axle KamAZ truck. The project length of "Husky 10" is 20, 8 meters, width - 12, 5 meters, height - 7, 4 meters. Full displacement - 35, 7 tons, empty - 20 tons. It is assumed that the hovercraft will be equipped with two Russian engines developing a maximum power of 800 hp. each. Such a propulsion system would be sufficient to provide the vessel with a maximum cruising speed of 40 knots (approximately 73 km / h). The crew of the ship will be three people, the declared autonomy is 3 days. The cruising range is 400 miles (740 km).
The main feature of the project being implemented in Rybinsk is flexible skegs. Most often, skeg ships are hovercraft, in which the hull does not completely detach from the water surface, and the side fences (skegs) themselves go into the water. To give the entire structure more stability, such fences are most often made rigid. However, another technical solution was implemented in the Huska 10 project - flexible skegs. The designers believe that this will improve the performance of the vessel. Such a solution should increase the seaworthiness and passability of the vessel by eliminating abrupt overcoming of the oncoming wave or various obstacles.
Dmitry Tarasov, general director of the Kalashnikov group of companies, has already named the Huska 10 vessel the most promising product of the corporation for future export. It is reported that the hovercraft has already managed to interest the concern's partners from Vietnam, India and Kazakhstan. The domestic Russian market is also considered promising for the Haska 10 SVPSG. It is planned that the vessels of this project will be in demand in the transport system of remote Russian regions, primarily in the Arctic, Siberia, and the Far East. Also, the vessels can be effectively used in the Baltic and on the rivers of the Volga-Kama region.
Hovercraft market prospects in Russia
Considering the size of the territory of the Russian Federation and the presence of huge remote areas, including those with difficult terrain for conventional equipment, the development and construction of hovercraft seems justified. However, experts are not sure that there will be private buyers for civilian versions of hovercraft. Most likely, these will be large state-owned companies or departments.
In 2016, the Hovernetic company, which is going to organize the production of SVPs in St. Petersburg, intended primarily for private consumers, estimated the entire market of Russian amphibious vehicles for the next decade at 45 billion rubles. At the same time, according to the company, there were approximately three thousand hovercraft in the country.
The use of such vessels in Russia is justified, especially to improve the transport accessibility of the regions of Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic zone. Such vessels can be actively used on rivers for the rapid transportation of people and goods, as well as in the coastal strip. Vessels can deliver new construction and drilling equipment, construction materials, wheeled and tracked vehicles within the limits of their available carrying capacity. This fits well into the ongoing state program "Development of shipbuilding and equipment for the development of offshore fields for 2013-2030." It just so happened that the main resources of the country, which are represented by natural resources, are concentrated today in hard-to-reach regions, where there is practically no transport infrastructure, and rivers are replacing highways. At the same time, hovercraft can be used to deliver goods to remote settlements and for passenger transportation.
True, the future of the Huska 10 SVPSG lies precisely in the plane of the state order. Most likely, only large state-owned companies, primarily those engaged in oil and gas production, will be able to afford such vessels with a carrying capacity of up to 10 tons. It is also possible to purchase them for some departments, for example, the Ministry of Emergency Situations. At the same time, it is still difficult to believe that non-state-owned companies will be interested in such an offer. In Russia, private customers of hovercraft, primarily small boats capable of transporting up to a ton of cargo, account for only 15 percent of sales. It is no coincidence that many experts believe that in addition to state-owned companies, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations will remain the main customers of such equipment in Russia for many years.
"Huska 10" may well be of interest to the Russian Ministry of Defense
In any case, the demand for such equipment in the near future will be due to the development of the Far North, the coast and shelf of the Russian Arctic. This is directly related to the program of industrial development of the remote northern and eastern regions of Russia, in which huge natural resources and the largest deposits of natural resources are concentrated, all of this must be protected. Therefore, in these areas, the military presence of Russia is growing and the number of military bases, airfields, border outposts, radar stations and air defense systems is increasing, which also need to be supplied with everything necessary from the mainland.
It can already be assumed that one of the customers of the Haska 10 hovercraft of the skeg type with flexible skegs (SVPSG) will be the Russian Ministry of Defense. Outwardly, the new Russian development resembles a smaller version of the American air-cushion landing craft LCAC. Such boats are actively used by the US amphibious forces to transport marines, various equipment, military equipment and military cargo from amphibious assault ships to the shore. Also, the ship can be effectively used for humanitarian operations. The American LCAC air-cushion landing craft are actively operated on the American UDC.
It is quite possible that the Huska 10 will also become a similar vessel for future projects of domestic universal amphibious assault ships, if the Russian budget will have money for their design and construction. True, the capabilities of the Husky 10 will be limited, the vessel is only suitable for transporting armored vehicles (of the Tiger type), unarmored wheeled vehicles, guns, mortars, marines, various military equipment and munitions, which in itself is not so small.
