A-90 Orlyonok

55.85159337.456243Koordinaten: 55 ° 51 'N, 37 ° 27' O

The A-90 Orljonok (Russian Орлёнок; German eaglet ) is a Soviet ground effect vehicle.

History

From the 1960s, the command of the Soviet Navy put his strategy for amphibious warfare redefines. The aim of the strategy was to be able to land troops on the shores of the Baltic and the Black Sea quick and surprising. This resulted in a strong interest in vehicles that large contingents of troops could quickly be transported over long distances.

For this reason, among others, the Central Development Office for Hydrofoilfahrzeuge Alexeyev was created under the direction of Rostislav Alexeyev, about almost nothing was known until the end of the Soviet Union in the West. Main task of the office was the exploration of ground effect vehicles and their development.

From the 1960s began work on various prototypes of ground effect vehicles, which led in the 1970s, for the first production car, the Lun - class. After that, the focus was on medium-sized transport vehicles, which eventually led to " Orljonok ". The first flight of the prototype S-23 was performed on the Volga River in the fall of 1972. From 1973 then extensive tests were carried out in the Caspian Sea. 1975, the project suffered a setback, was destroyed as S-23 during a test. After a review and revision of the metal alloy of the shell three more vehicles were built.

A total of five vehicles were built:

• A vehicle for static tests
• S-23, destroyed in 1975
• S -21, completed in 1978
• S-25, completed in 1979
• S -26, completed in 1980

The A-90 class went into service in 1979, and the three remaining vehicles were withdrawn from service in 1993.

Specifications

• Two Kuznetsov NK -8 -4K - turbojets, each with 103 kN thrust
• Kuznetsov NK - 12MK a turboprop with 152 kN thrust