Lun class
Coordinates: 42 ° 53 ' N , 47 ° 40' E
| Lun class | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Ground effect vehicle |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Central development office for hydrofoil vehicles Alexejew, |
| First flight: |
1975 |
| Commissioning: |
1979 |
| Production time: |
1970-1975 |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
The Lun class ( Russian Лунь , ' consecration '), Project 903 , NATO code name Utka (Russian 'duck') is a Soviet ground-effect vehicle class.
history
From the 1960s, the command of the Soviet Navy redefined its strategy for amphibious warfare and coastal defense. The aim of the strategy was to be able to land troops quickly and surprisingly on the coasts of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea . This resulted in a keen interest in vehicles that can quickly transport large contingents of troops over long distances. In addition, the navy was interested in vehicles that can attack enemy ships at very high speed and as undetected as possible.
For this reason, among other things, the Central Development Office for Hydrofoil Vehicles Alexejew was created under the direction of Rostislaw Alexejew , about which almost nothing was known in the West until the end of the Soviet Union. The main task of the office was the research and development of ground-effect vehicles.
In the 1960s, work began on various prototypes of ground-effect vehicles such as the "Caspian Sea Monster" (KM) , which led to the first vehicle in a planned series, the Lun class, in the 1970s. Since radar ground-effect vehicles are difficult to detect due to their special design and low flight, the main task of the Lun-class should be to carry out fast and flexible attacks against enemy fleets. Since ground-effect vehicles need a high propulsion force to take off, and because they often "hit the ground" during take-off, the Lun class was planned as a flying boat . Additional engines were installed to provide the propulsion power for takeoff.
In the 1970s, a Lun-class vehicle, the MD-160 , was completed and tested. From 1987 the model served in the Caspian Flotilla . In the 1990s, it was taken out of service and was 2020 on the Navy Yard Kaspijsk in Dagestan ( 42 ° 52 '54 " N , 47 ° 39' 26.3" O ). In 2020 it was towed to Derbent , where it will be an exhibit in Patriot Park .
A second vehicle, the Spasatel , was planned as a mobile field hospital for the amphibious fleet, but the project was discontinued in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Spasatel is still largely completed at the shipyard in Nizhny Novgorod.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| Length: | 73.3 m 1 (240 ft) |
| Wingspan : | 44 m (142 ft) |
| Weight: | 286 t 1 |
| Weight with equipment: | 380 t |
| Engine : | 8 × Kuznetsov NK 87M turbojet with 127.4 kN each |
| Top speed: | 550 km / h 1 |
| Range: | approx. 2,000 km (1,100 nm ) |
| Crew: | 6 officers , 9 staff 1 |
| Armament: | 3 × 2 SS-N-22 Sunburn ( anti-ship missile ) 2 × Pl-23 (23 mm twin automatic cannon ) |
literature
- Ю.В. Апальков: Корабли ВМФ СССР. Том II. Ударные корабли. Часть II. Малые ракетные корабли и катера. (For example: JW Apalkow: Ships of the Soviet Navy, Volume 2, Assault Ships Part 2, Small Rocket Ships and Boats. ) Saint Petersburg 2004, ISBN 5-8172-0087-2 .
Web links
- Lun class at fas.org ( Memento from December 31, 2019 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Photo series for the MD-160 at the Kaspiysk shipyard (November 11, 2009; Russian)
- Side of the Alexejew Development Office (English)
- History - Undercover - Documentation on the Soviet Ekranoplan program on YouTube : Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3
- Russia's last Ekranoplan becomes a museum piece
Individual evidence
- ↑ 'Caspian Sea Monster': Unique Soviet Cold War-era flying ship to become main attraction at military theme park in Russia. rt.com , August 1, 2020, accessed on August 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Корабли ВМФ СССР. Том 2. Ударные корабли. Часть 2. Малые ракетные корабли и катера e-reading.club (Russian), accessed September 16, 2015