The EKR (''Eksperimentalnaya Krylataya Raketa'', or ''experimental winged rocket'') was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

intermediate range

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

History

By 1951 - 1953 the Korolev bureau had prepared an experimental design, incorporating a prototype

astronavigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space (or on the surface o ...

system. In 1953 an expert commission examined the design and felt that there were still many technical problems needing to be solved, which would be better handled by an aircraft designer rather than Korolev. Additionally, Korolev's chief priority was the development of the R-7

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

. In 1954 a government decree authorised the

Lavochkin NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...

and

Myasishchev V. M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau (Экспериментальный Машиностроительный Завод им. В. М. Мясищева) or OKB-23, founded in 1951 by MGB UdSSR Vladimir Myasishchev, was ...

aircraft design bureaus to proceed in parallel with full-scale development of trisonic intercontinental cruise missiles.

Design

The EKR as designed by Korolev would have been a Mach 3

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an ass ...

, accelerated to supersonic cruise speed by an R-11

rocket booster A booster rocket (or engine) is either the first stage of a multistage launch vehicle, or else a shorter-burning rocket used in parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability ...

. Smaller than the missile proposed by the Germans, it would have had a range of 730 km with a flight time of 927 seconds, a lift to drag ratio of 2.51, and a wing area of 3.31 m².

Specifications

General characteristics

*Function: Nuclear cruise missile *Launch mass: 7,874 kg (17,359 lb) *Total length: 21.00 m (68.00 ft) *Launch platform: Launch pad *Status: Canceled

Launch booster (stage 1)

*Function: Launch booster *Engine: S2.253 rocket engine *Length: 8.29 m (27.19 ft) *Diameter: 0.88 m (2.88 ft) *Thrust: 107.333 kN (24,129 lbf) *Oxidizer:

LOx Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

*Combustible:

Kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

Cruise missile (stage 2)

*Engine: 1× EKR ramjet *Speed : Mach 3 *Range: 730 km *Flight altitude: *Warhead: 200 kg (440 lb) *Length: 9.43 m (30.95 ft) *Diameter: 0.65 m (2.13 ft) *Wing span: 2.02 m (6.62 ft) *Wing area: 3.31 m²

References

{{cite web , last = Wade , first = Mark , title = EKR , publisher = Astronautix.com , url = http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/ekr.htm , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020313135616/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/ekr.htm , url-status = dead , archive-date = March 13, 2002 , access-date = 2008-01-17 Cruise missiles of the Cold War Cold War guided missiles of the Soviet Union Cruise missiles of the Soviet Union Ramjet engines