A-90 Orlyonok

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A-90 "Orlyonok"
Type	Ekranoplan
Manufacturer	Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau
Designed by	Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev
Maiden flight	1972
Introduced	1979
Retired	1993
Primary user	Soviet Navy
Number built	5

The A-90 Orlyonok (Russian: Орлёнок, English: Eaglet) is a Soviet ekranoplan that was designed by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev (1916-1980) of the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau.

[edit] History

The A-90 is not a conventional aircraft, but uses the ground effect to fly a few meters above the surface. Thus it is properly called GEV or Ground effect vehicle or Ekranoplan in Russian.

The Soviet Navy command of the 1960s was very interested in a fast military transport capable of carrying a large payload. The Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau was one of the organizations working on this top secret project, about which little was known until the fall of the Soviet Union.

Chief Designer R.E. Alexeev designed several prototypes in the 1960s, some of which were later built as the Lun-class ekranoplan. At the start of the 1970s, Alexeev designed a medium-sized Ekranoplan to be used as a military transport. The new vehicle was named "Orlyonok" ("Eaglet"). The first flying unit (S-23) was initially tested on the Volga River in the autumn of 1972, and the next year dismantled and transported to the Caspian Sea for continued testing. In 1975 the S-23 crashed during testing, later proved to be due to a deficiency in the alloy used for the hull. A different alloy was used in all subsequent units built.

Overall only five units were built:

Non-flying unit for static testing
S-23 flying unit, crashed in 1975
S-21 completed in 1978
S-25 completed in 1979
S-26 completed in 1980

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

[edit] Specifications (A-90)

General characteristics

Crew: 6
Capacity: 150 personnel
Payload: 28,000 kg (61,730 lb)
Length: 58.1 m (190 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 31.5 m (103 ft 4 in)
Height: 16.3 m (53 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 304 m² (3,272 ft²)
Max takeoff weight: 140,000 kg (308,647 lb)
Powerplant:
- 2× Kuznetsov Kuznetsov NK-8-4K turbojet, 103 kN (23,155 lb_f) each
- 1× Kuznetsov NK-12MK turboprop, 152 kN (34,171 lb_f)