A-90 Orlyonok

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The A-90 Orlyonok (Russian: Орлёнок, English: Eaglet) is a Soviet ekranoplan that was designed by Alexeev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau.

History

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A-90 is not a proper aircraft, it uses ground effect to fly. Thus it is propely called GEV or Ground effect vehicle or Ekranoplan in Russian.

Soviet Navy command from the 1960s was interested in a very fast military transport with big payload. Alexeev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau was one of the organisations working on this project. The project was top secret and until the fall of the Soviet Union little was known about soviet research program on ekranoplans.

Chief Designer Alexeev designed several prototypes in the 60s, some of them were lately built as Lun-class ekranoplan. In the beginning of the 70s, Alexeev chose medium-sized ekranoplan to be fit for military transport. The new vehicle was named "Orlyonok" ("Eaglet" in English). The first flying unit (S-23) was tested on the river Volga in the autumn 1972. After that the craft was dismantled and transported to the Caspian Sea in 1973 for continued testing. In the 1975 S-23 crashed during testing. Part of the reason was the alloy used for the hull. After the crash the alloy was changed into different one in all subsequent units built.

Overall 5 units were built:

Non-flying for static testing
S-23 flying unit, crashed in 1975
S-21 first unit with hull made of different alloy, finished in 1978
S-25 finished in 1979
S-26 finished in 1980

A-90 entered military service in 1979. Units S-21, S-25 and S-26 remained in active service at least until 1993.

Specifications

General characteristics

Crew: 6
Capacity: 150 personnel
Payload: 28,000 kg
Length: 58.1 m
Wingspan: 31.5 m
Height: 16.3 m
Wing area: 304 m²
Maximum Take-Off Weight: 140,000 kg
Powerplant:

2× NK-8-4K turbojets 103 kN each
1× NK-12MK turboprop 152 kN

Performance

Cruise speed: 400 km/h
Range: 1,500 km
Maximum ceiling: 3,000 m
Cruise altitude: 5-10 m

External links

[Some specifications there seem to be incorrect]

[Short summary on Soviet ekranoplans]

[Alexeev Bureau (now a public company) page in English, contains a color photo of A-90 class ekranoplan]

[An article in russian about Lun and Orlyonok ekranoplans]

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