Flying saucer originally from the USSR

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Revolutions are not needed not only in the energy sector. In the global aviation industry, too. A lot of money has been invested in "classic" aircraft, thousands of people are employed in the production and maintenance of "conventional" aircraft. In 1994, unusual tests took place on the territory of the Saratov Aviation Plant. The aircraft, one and a half meters in diameter, took off from the ground and flew.

This device was called EKIP (stands for "ecology and progress") and the outstanding engineer Lev Nikolaevich Shchukin was engaged in its development. The first samples began to be produced in 1992 and two years later the model flew.

Flight of EKIP over the Saratov airfield

What was this amazing apparatus like? Belonging to the class of ekranolets, it had the advantages of the "airplane" scheme "flying wing", had a disk fuselage, and, thanks to the use of an air cushion instead of the traditional chassis, it also had the property of "no aerodrome". Those. take off and land, EKIP could almost everywhere and from everywhere - "old" airfields, earthen pads and water surface.

It is no secret that the wing is almost the most difficult part of the aircraft, and the “flying wing” type has a number of advantages: “absence” of a fuselage, large control planes, reduced mass of devices … using computers, and it is successfully solved.

EKIP model for testing. Never flew

In the case of EKIP, a number of almost brilliant ideas were implemented, for example, the use of an unusual fuselage surface, which made it possible to remove most of the air turbulence, get rid of vibrations and increase lift. According to experts from the German aerospace company DASA, the relative weight of the structure in relation to takeoff is thirty percent less than that of traditional aircraft. Those. the payload is also increased by thirty percent.

EKIP in the assembly shop of the Saratov aircraft plant

In addition, it should be said that the Saratov engineers immediately laid down the possibility of using gas fuel for their apparatus. It is almost impossible to do this with conventional planes - there is nowhere to place the tanks. And EKIP made it possible to place increased-volume tanks without changing the external geometry. Reducing harmful emissions and reducing operating costs - "ECology and Progress" in action.

Draft passenger version of EKIP for civil aviation

EKIP could be used for a variety of tasks. Several modifications were developed: unmanned EKIP-AULA L2-3, EKIP-2; for passenger transportation (two or more people) and "transport worker": L2-3, LZ-1, LZ-2; patrol service apparatus for monitoring disasters and detecting forest fires: EKIP-2P; as well as "landing" and "combat" options for the army.

According to calculations, EKIP could fly at an altitude of three meters to ten to thirteen kilometers. The flight speed could be from one hundred and twenty to seven hundred km / h (in the "ekranollet" mode up to four hundred, and the air cushion made it possible to move both above the ground and above the water). As for the carrying capacity, then the possibilities are even wider: both ultra-small "four-ton trucks" and giants of one hundred and even one hundred twenty "ton trucks".

Surprisingly, even for the most super-heavy versions, the length of the runway should not have exceeded six hundred meters (with today's usual five to six kilometers). The aircraft took off along a special trajectory at an angle of up to thirty degrees (the maximum angle of attack, in theory, was forty degrees).

Cross-section of an aircraft with a UPS system (from RF patent RU2033945)

With all this, the device turned out to be very stable in the air, and even if all the propulsion engines failed (at least two were installed), it was able to make a trouble-free landing. This required the operability of only one auxiliary engine (and at least four were installed). Auxiliary engines made it possible to control directional stability and roll when flying at low speeds.

Aircraft gas-dynamic system, top view (from RF patent RU2033945)

But the main "highlight" of EKIP and the technical solution that distinguished the apparatus was still the flow control system in the boundary layer on the aft surface (UPS). The same "anti-vortex" system, which provides a decrease in aerodynamic drag and other "wonderful" properties. Lev Nikolayevich Shchukin developed a device for neutralizing transverse vortices (special fans "sucked" them into the "fuselage-wing"). This system is patented in Russia, Europe and the USA.

Part of the fuselage EKIP

When the model was tested in 1994, EKIP showed potential. But, despite the fact that the flying qualities were good, the times were not the best, and the project was frozen three years later due to lack of funding. Ten years later, the military department from America was interested in him, an investment plan was ready. The Chinese investor also showed interest. But…

This is where the state support for EKIP ended

… But financial problems put the Saratov aircraft plant in 2005 on the brink of bankruptcy, and five years later the plant ceased to exist. EKIP, according to the most conservative estimates, was ahead of the development of aviation by two decades, but it remained only in the form of a flying model, and never a prototype for testing. It can be seen in the museum in Chernogolovka.

EKIP in Chernogolovka

Engineer Lev Nikolaevich Shchukin died in 2001. He fought to the last for the fate of his invention, but did not get the deserved recognition.