The Sukhoi KR-860 "Wings of Russia" (russian: КР-860 «Крылья России», translit=Kryl'ya Rossii), earlier named the SKD-717, was a proposed design for a
double decker wide-body superjumbo jet aircraft
A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines.
Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...
by
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n aerospace company
Sukhoi
The JSC Sukhoi Company (russian: ПАО «Компания „Сухой“», ) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer (formerly Soviet), headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, that designs both civilian and milita ...
. A 1/24th scale model was shown at the 2000
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
.
Development
The design had a maximum weight of about 650 tonnes, a payload of about 300 tonnes, the main deck having a 12-abreast seating with three aisles, while the upper deck had 9-abreast seating with two aisles. It was intended to carry 860 to 1000 passengers. Entry would be through conventional fuselage doors or forward and aft ventral escalators. The wing design had
winglets
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
and a fold outboard of the outer engine. For comparison the
Antonov An-225
The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.
It was ...
had a maximum weight of 640 tonnes and a payload of 250 tonnes. A 1/24 scale model was shown at the 1999
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
. If built, the aircraft would have been the world's largest, widest, and heaviest airliner.
The concept for the aircraft began in the 1990s with a forecast programme cost of US$10 billion (early published figures were US$4–5.5B) and called for the first aircraft to be built before 2000. With an estimated price per unit of about US$160–200 million (an earlier published estimate was US$150 million) the market was forecast for a total of 300 aircraft, with production planned for the
Kazan Aircraft Production Association
Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO; russian: Казанское авиационное производственное объединение имени С. П. Горбунова, Kazanskoye Aviatsionnoe Proizvodstvennoe Obyedinen ...
facility. Initially designed for the carriage of passengers, later a KR-860T (T stands for Tanker) version was proposed for use as an aerial
liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker for
far-north regions. Taking advantage of the presence of LNG on the aircraft, the design proposed using LNG to fuel the turbines, rather than conventional
jet fuel
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...
, like on the
Tupolev Tu-206.
The project did not proceed beyond the stage of marketing models.
Specifications (projected - KR-860)
See also
*
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
*
Antonov An-225 Mriya
The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.
It was o ...
*
Boeing 747-8
The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747.
After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck ...
*
Boeing New Large Airplane
The Boeing NLA, or New Large Airplane, was a 1990s concept for an all-new quadjet airliner in the 500+ seat market. Somewhat larger than the 747, this aircraft was similar in concept to the McDonnell Douglas MD-12 and later Airbus A380. In 1993, B ...
*
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...
*
McDonnell Douglas MD-12
The McDonnell Douglas MD-12 was a large wide-body airliner concept planned by the McDonnell Douglas company in the 1990s. It was first conceived as a trijet larger than the MD-11, then stretched to a quadjet airliner. It was to be similar in ...
References
External links
Sukhoi KR-860
{{Sukhoi aircraft
KR-860
Abandoned civil aircraft projects
Quadjets
Low-wing aircraft