Spasatel Karev
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Spasatel (russian: Спасатель "Rescuer", "Lifesaver", Project 9038) is a ground-effect vehicle, 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 A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
and
submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...
was that they did not have draft during operation, and therefore could not be detected by sonar and could not be hit by torpedoes. Advantages over aircraft include operation at low altitude, which makes radar 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 K- or k- may refer to: *K-, insensitivity to the K spot test *, a negatively charged kaon *K-, a prefix meaning the Korean Wave such as K-pop, K-drama Korean dramas (; RR: ''Han-guk deurama''), more popularly known as K-dramas, are televisi ...
'' 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 dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, 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 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


See also

* ''Lun''-class ekranoplan (military variant, basis of ''Spasatel'') *
TTS-IS TTS-IS (Russian Тяжелый транспортный самолет интегральной схемы (ТТС-ИС), heavy transport aircraft integrated circuit (HTA-IC)) is a project by TsAGI for a very large wing-in-ground-effect, lifting-b ...


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