NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Oct 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Alexeyev hydrofoil boat central design bureau is ready to scale up development of new ground- effect machines and upgrade of older ones, if their funding is resumed, Valery Blokhin, department chief in the bureau, has said.
"The Navy considers possibilities of resuming the funding of research, development and test projects related to ground-effect machines. We hope that the economic situation will change, and we will build the machines again," Blokhin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The ground-effect machines currently in the Navy inventory are mothballed, he said.
"We are ready to implement upgrade projects for Orlyonok, Lun and Spasatel machines, because many on-board systems have become obsolete over the past decade and require modernization. But no decision has been made to this effect," Blokhin said.
Speaking about new developments, he said that a ground-effect machine of any cargo capacity can be created in theory. At the moment its size is mostly development by the thrust of available engines. "The engines that Russia and Ukraine have provide for creating ground-effect machines with a take-off weight of up to 600 tonnes," he said.
According to him, there is serious interest in machines with a take-off weight of 20-25 tonnes. "We have a series of developments in this field, in particular, upgrade of the Volga-2 ground-effect machine and creation of machines with a take-off weight of 19-20 tonnes that are intended for transporting about 40 passengers," Blokhin said.