Spasatel (russian: Спасатель "Rescuer", "Lifesaver", Project 9038) is a

ground-effect vehicle A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG), ground-effect craft, wingship, flarecraft or ekranoplan (russian: экранопла́н – "screenglider"), is a vehicle that is able to move over the surface by gainin ...

, originally planned by the

Soviet Ministry of Defense The Ministry of Defense (Minoboron; russian: Министерство обороны СССР) was a government ministry in the Soviet Union. The first Minister of Defense was Nikolai Bulganin, starting 1953. The Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) was the ...

. The vehicle was intended to serve as the missile carrier of the project ''Lun''-class ekranoplan, but was then converted into an ambulance craft. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, construction was halted and the vehicle was never completed. By 2018, Russia had revived the project, with plans to use it for search and rescue operations in the Arctic and Pacific, as well as cargo and troop delivery (up to 550 troops) to remote military bases.

Goals

A military advantage of ground-effect vehicles over ships and submarines was that they did not have

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

during operation, and therefore could not be detected by

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

and could not be hit by torpedoes. Advantages over

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

include operation at low

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

, which makes

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

acquisition difficult, and a larger

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

. This was particularly interesting during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

as a way to inconspicuously and quickly transport many people or large cargo over long distances.

History

The ''Spasatel'' was originally built as a second ''Lun''-class anti-ship missile-carrying ekranoplan. After the Soviet nuclear submarine '' K-278 Komsomolets'' sank in 1989, killing 42 people, the ''Spasatel'' was repurposed to be deployed in the

maritime search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

mission, and seating for up to 500 passengers was planned.Ekranoplane «Spasatel» presentation
iiaat.guap.ru (English) After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the project was cancelled for financial reasons. Military operations at sea were also greatly reduced, so the intended use became less important. The unfinished ''Spasatel'' is stored in an old industrial complex in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

as of 2020.

Potential resumption

According to press reports in December 2017, the development of the ''Spasatel'' might be resumed, for use mainly in Arctic waters, with production beginning as early as 2025. According to Russian media, , the project was included in the arms budget for the years 2018 to 2025.{{update after, 2019

External links

Presentation of Ekranoplans '' Spasatel ''
at '' International Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies ''

(French)

References

Ekranoplans Aircraft manufactured in the Soviet Union Proposed aircraft of Russia Eight-engined jet aircraft

Goals

History

Potential resumption

See also

External links

References