A prototype of Orlan wing-in-surface-effect craft armed with missiles is to be created in Russia in the framework of the arms program up to 2027, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said.

A prototype of Orlan wing-in-surface-effect craft armed with missiles is to be created in Russia in the framework of the arms program up to 2027, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said.

Russia to create missile armed surface effect craft prototype by 2027  Project A-080-752 on display at IMDS 2013. According to Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, this craft has a length of 47.6 meters, a width of 45.3 meters, a full displacement of 100 tons, a payload capacity of 20 tons, a cruising speed of 450 Km/h and  a flight range of 5000 Km.

"The state armaments program for 2018-2027 includes Orlan R&D, which stipulates the construction of the wing-in-surface-effect craft. The prototype will be created as part of this armament program and it will carry missiles," he said.

The wing-in-surface-effect craft will be used to protect the Northern Sea Route where infrastructure is weakly protected.

"It can hover and monitor the areas, as well as the internal seas: the Caspian and the Black Seas," he said. The new craft can also operate as a patrol vehicle to rescue ship crews, Borisov said.

Russia to create missile armed surface effect craft prototype by 2027 2 RProject A-080-752 on display at IMDS 2013. It can carry up to 6x cruise missiles.

A wing-in-surface-effect craft is a multimode vessel, which in its basic regime performs a flight using the surface effect over the water or other surface without constant contact with it. The craft is kept in the air by the aerodynamic lifting force generated on the air wing, the body or their parts designed for the use of the surface effect. The craft normally performs flights at lower altitudes than ordinary aircraft but moves at a higher speed than a ship.

At the MAKS-2015 international air show outside Moscow, Russia’s Naval Aviation Chief Igor Kozhin said that the fleet expected to get a standardized wing-in-surface-effect platform with a lifting capacity of up to 300 tons by 2020. A representative of the Ramenskoye Instrument-Making Design Bureau told TASS the company has completed developing the project of the control and information provision system for wing-in-surface-effect craft in the interests of the Russian Navy.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau Georgy Antsev told TASS that the development of the promising universal wing-in-surface-effect craft for Russia’s Defense Ministry was at the stage of conceptual design.

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