The notification received by the author on the positive result of the examination of the application for the invention of "Ekranoplan" will make it possible to promote this project, which is able to say a new word both in transportation and in the creation of a real ocean-going fleet of Russia.
Heavy ekranoplanes are actually the only type of weapons and military equipment where our country has been ahead in design and engineering developments for more than 50 years ("Dry cargo ship" Farewell, Montana "). I will try once again to substantiate the absolute possibility and extreme necessity in the development of this "our" type of transport, which is easily transformed into a new type of strike weapons.
We will consider any ekranoplan with takeoff weight from 500 to five thousand tons heavy, and over and up to 18-20 thousand tons - super heavy. By the way, so far no one in the world has exceeded the displacement characteristics of the KM-1 developed by Rostislav Alekseev. It is also necessary to determine what an ekranoplan is in terms of flight altitude. It should not exceed the chord length of the main or main wing, and the roll and pitch are within strictly defined and relatively small values established by full-scale tests.
The aircraft layout of the ekranoplanes under construction and being designed has no future - it does not contribute to the self-destruction of involuntary pitching. The design of the center section in the form of a mono-wing is due to the need to have on the upper plane of the runway sufficient for takeoff and landing of two aircraft in a displacement mode of movement. Inside, in the diametrical plane, the vessel has paired, at least two-level (double-deck) rooms, the peculiarity of which is composite overlappings (deck-platforms) with measurements that are multiples of the number of sea containers and the dimensions of combat aircraft. The main power plant is two nuclear reactors with a total capacity sufficient to move on the screen in cruise mode at a speed of 300 knots (approximately 300-450 MW each with a take-off weight of 16 thousand tons).
At the start and landing, additional power of turboprop fan engines (TVVD) is switched on - about half of the power required for cruising. The center section is adjoined by trapezoidal wings with swiveling floats at the ends, where propulsion systems are located - TVVD on pylons.
To improve the aerodynamic properties in flight and reduce the starting power of the propulsion system, the displacement hull - a hydro-ski with water jet installations - is able to retract into the center section after the start. In contrast to traditional schemes for creating an air cushion with separate drives for it and for movement, a scheme with a drive from a high-speed engine is applied to fan-compressors mounted in the side wings flush with the wing system, which are closed by louvered grilles in cruising mode.
The underwing space when starting or landing on an air cushion is fenced off by a system of swivel slats, flaps and limit washers. To stabilize the pitch flight, three systems were used: a certain location of the center of gravity and aerodynamic focus of the vehicle, fan-compressor installations at the ends of the mono-wing, used at launch to create an air cushion, as well as a system of stern and bow horizontal stabilizers installed on the center section and side wings. All parameters of the device have been calculated. In the transition mode from planing to separation from the water surface, columns with supercavitating tandem propellers are extended from the aft vertical stabilizers.
Approximate dimensions of the ekranoplan: length - 250 meters, width - 300 meters, height - 35 meters, draft - 3, 5–4, 5 meters. The total power of the power plant at launch is within 840–900 MW, in flight - 550–650 MW. In this case, the thrust-to-weight ratio will not exceed 0, 115–0, 120, which is more than two times less than this value for the KM ekranoplan. To facilitate the launch, the load per unit area of thinner wings in comparison with the KM and Orlyonok is approximately halved - about 200-250 kilograms per square meter versus 450, which corresponds to modern fighters. The aerodynamic quality of the apparatus at a flight altitude of 40-50 meters should be at least 22-26, the Froude number - within 10-11. Power distribution of the power plant - 4 water cannons NKA 20 or NK-20 engines of 20 MW each); retractable columns-tandem with supercavitating screws, hydro- or electric drive (with cryogenically cooled superconducting windings of built-in electric motors) from nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 150-220 MW; 4 NCA 40 30-40 MW each - a drive to the fan-compressors installed at the ends of the center section of the mono-wing in the usual non-nuclear version, 8 tandems of high-pressure turbine engines - channelless high-turbine engines, that is, 16 engines of 40 MW each (with 55 MW afterburner) with a drive (mechanical, hydraulic or other) for 8 fan-compressors in the side wings behind the pylons. In the nuclear version, 10–12 tandem engines closest to the center section NKA-1055 (development of NK-93 and GE-36), 50–55 MW each. The rest of the conventional TVVD are used for launch and landing. I omit the subtleties and details.
For heavy and superheavy ekranoplanes, it is preferable to have the most economical transport nuclear power plants in conjunction with a high-pressure propulsion system. Although there is an opinion that at speeds up to 600 kilometers per hour, Balandin's powerful rodless ICEs can also be suitable. The experience of creating atomic-powered aircraft in our country is quite significant: in the 60s, the atomic Tu-119 was tested with two NK-14A engines with a good weight-to-power ratio - about 3–3, 5. The anti-submarine An-22 with almost a spent nuclear power plant was able to fly without refueling for at least 48 hours.
On the clock in Hudson Bay
Combat ekranoplanes can be aircraft-carrying, anti-submarine, anti-missile and landing. The latter includes any civilian option, since the relatively shallow draft and the bow overhanging the water allow you to approach the shore and land military equipment and soldiers. As for the over-the-horizon landing, which is now fashionable in the West, there are no problems at all. From the bow end of the device, high-speed floating craft with a displacement of up to 500 tons with weapons and manpower are launched. The second combat method of using civilian ekranoplanes in the event of a military threat is the transportation of 300 40-foot or 600 20-foot containers of the "Club" system to the enemy's coast. They can be used from four lifts on the upper plane of the mono-wing, and in volleys of several dozen at once.
The aircraft-carrying ekranoplan will house 22-24 heavy fighters and AWACS aircraft. Heavy high-altitude drones will land on the upper plane of the mono-wing outside the runway; it is advisable to use them as reconnaissance drones. The use of aviation is possible in two modes - in displacement (for reconnaissance and patrol aircraft) and in combat, at a speed of about 150 knots, while no catapults are required. The maintenance of aircraft is carried out according to the conveyor principle: aircraft sit down and roll out onto the bow lifts, descend to the lower deck and move there to the aft lifts, preparing for the next combat missions.
In the anti-submarine version, inside the mono-wing center section, it is possible to place two automatic submarines like the Project 705 nuclear submarine with a displacement of up to two thousand tons or several underwater drones, on the upper plane of the mono-wing center section - helicopters and PLO aircraft. Since the routes of combat duty of American SSBNs are known, on occasion it is possible to completely disorganize the action of the main, the most dangerous component of the US strategic nuclear forces today.
There is no point in describing the anti-missile ekranoplan in detail. Three tasks can be noted for this type. The first and foremost is the neutralization of ground-based strategic nuclear forces. The starting position is near Vancouver in the Pacific Ocean, next to Halifax in the Atlantic, in Hudson Bay, from where it is easiest to intercept the launching Minutemans from North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The second task is to cover the Arctic and adjacent areas together with the Russian Aerospace Forces. And the third is the neutralization of interceptors capable of shooting down nuclear warheads on a downward trajectory.
Eurasian Arctic Bridge
The Russian Navy has a choice: copy old Western technologies or outstrip them forever. Aircraft carriers "Storm" and nuclear destroyers with a displacement of heavy cruisers will not take us to the forefront. Following this path, we will not create a real ocean-going fleet, except that we will get a combination of motley ships scattered across the water area and dangling in all directions at the speed of the tankers accompanying them. Right now, until the construction of heavy ships has begun, it is possible and necessary to fulfill the dream of Admiral Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov about several hundred combat ekranoplanes for the Russian Navy. Moreover, there are technical possibilities and economic prerequisites for the creation, together with Chinese, and perhaps with Indian, Iranian partners, of a new type of sub-Eurasian water transport.
We propose to arrange an open or closed competition for the development of a new shipbuilding program that would meet the realities of the 21st century. We lost time, but we still have about 10 years to decide what to build - aircraft carriers, and most likely coastal defense, such AUGs, like those of the United States, equipped with ships with nuclear power plants, we will not master. You can already start designing and in two or three years start building an intermediate version of a heavy ekranoplan with a displacement of up to five thousand tons, using as a nuclear power plant a project of a homogeneous reactor with a liquid metal coolant with a capacity of up to 100 MW and modified NK-93 engines developed by Gidropress. And after testing the apparatus, determine the directions for the development of the shipbuilding program.
We still have the opportunity to become a scientific and technical Eurasian transport bridge between the booming Southeast Asia and the rest of the world through a new transport system and at the same time create a new type of weapons that will exert direct pressure on the main potential enemy.
The development and operation of such a system at the total cost of the Eurasian countries will not become an unbearable burden for the RF budget. The civilian version of ekranoplanes can initially be used on the Northern Sea Route, in increasing the traffic through which China and Europe are primarily interested. Calculations show that for the transportation of 50 million tons, and the need for such volumes may already arise by 2020, 90-100 vessels with a deadweight of 65 thousand tons are needed on the Murmansk-Shanghai line, while crossing the Northern Sea Route at an average speed of 13.4 knots takes about 23 days. To deliver a similar cargo by heavy ekranoplanes with a deadweight of 10 thousand tons at a speed of 324 knots (600 kilometers per hour), no more than 18–20 vessels will be required, and the transit time will not exceed 24 hours. The potential demand for transportation along this route exceeds 650 million tons - this is how much cargo is currently passing through the Suez Canal.
The main design solution of the project is the use of specialized cargo spaces of the same type inside the center section, equipped with several loading and unloading systems. In the military version, they can accommodate aircraft and any other equipment, in the civilian version - standard containers and other cargo. With the threat of a nuclear confrontation, both combat and transport ekranoplanes armed with cruise missiles can be transferred to the shores of the main potential enemy in less than a day. Calculations show that in peacetime it is necessary to keep from four to six groups of super-heavy ekranoplanes near the coast of the United States. Each consists of three to four ships with functionality ranging from anti-submarine to anti-missile and a total of up to 80 combat aircraft.
Native ocean expanses
The strategy of using the USSR Navy in peacetime presupposed the duty of ocean-going multipurpose formations, first of all, near the coast of the main potential enemy. This was the time of the country's highest military power: there were magnificent middle-class ships, excellent naval aviation, a huge number of diesel submarines, but all this threatened a potential enemy in the European or Far Eastern theater of operations. In fact, we were able to create only one permanent naval formation outside our coastal zone - the Mediterranean squadron. Even when we start building the latest ocean-going ships, we will never achieve the combined power of the NATO and Japanese fleets, which are armed with the latest modifications of the Aegis system.
Therefore, it is proposed to step over the standard approaches to building a fleet and create a universal maritime transport-combat system capable of bringing us to the forefront. At the same time, the civilian branch is a purely Eurasian one, serving the transport needs of the SCO and, as the transport of ocean transport by the BRICS develops. There is no need for many communications, for example, in the Panama Canal: super-heavy ekranoplanes can cross the isthmus over the territory of Nicaragua at altitudes up to 200 meters above sea level.
The Russian Federation has the greatest scientific and technical groundwork in ekranoplanes and in aviation with nuclear power plants. We are the only ones in the world who have experience in the construction of transport homogeneous reactors: there is a project "Hydropress" with a capacity of under 100 MW, it is only necessary to increase it, there are developments in the creation of ultra-light and ultra-strong structural materials.
It is necessary to correctly set the tasks and immediately build ekranoplans by an order of magnitude more powerful than Alekseev's, which our probable "partners" called "Caspian monsters." The task is difficult, but quite capable. You have to understand what chunk of the loaf of the global transport infrastructure can be grabbed and even hobbled around the "partner".
