Project 903.7 / 902R - Spasatel
As reported by the NIA Nizhny Novgorod news agency on August 11, 2016 , the unfinished Ekranoplan Rescue (C-33) project 09037 left the shop in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Shipbuilding Plant Volga JSC and transferred to the adjacent territory of Krasny Sormovo Plant JSC. At the enterprise "Volga", the agency was informed that the ekranoplan was most likely being withdrawn due to rearrangements in the workshop. The interlocutor said that in the near future the ekranoplan will not leave the territory of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant. Talk about how to give the object the status of a museum exhibit, also currently not being conducted.
This configuration, the SPASATEL, was intended for rescue work. In 1969, the project landing WIG 902 project was created with the take-off weight of 400 tonnes, able to carry up to 900 people. But for large-scale production a more modest version of the 904, "Eaglet" chosen. However, a pilot project of 902 KM, and were the basis for the world's first WIG - support anti-ship missiles. Rocket ship-WIG pr.903 (code "Lun") designed to CDB for SPC in Gorky under the direction of VN Kirillov. Pr.903 "Lun" was designed in the CDB for SPC in Gorky under the direction of VN Kirillov. The project was based on the achievements of the project amphibious WIG 902 and experimental WIG KM.
In 1989, after the tragic accident on nuclear submarine "Komsomolets" where 42 mariners died, the decision was made to re-equipment the second "Lun", being at that time under construction, into a search-and-rescue maritime ekranoplane "Spasatel". The second copy of "Lun" had 6 engines, instead of 8. A considerable part of the work had already been accomplished by the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union, following which there was a drastic reduction of the budget of the Russian Navy.
In 1990-1991, with the participation of «902R Lun" exercises in the Caspian Sea to rescue people at sea were carried out. These exercises are vividly demonstrated that on set tasks and ease of use of the ship's life-saving appliances WIG are excellent sea rescuers. Indeed, surface ships are not able to quickly arrive at the accident area, and the air force is not always able to provide effective assistance, since can not perform landing in stormy conditions in the area of the ship suffering a disaster or vessel. Modern seaplanes and helicopters have over WIG significantly smaller payload, range and seakeeping, and these qualities are primarily needed rescuer. The second ship type «902R Lun" also pawned as a missile, but the outbreak of the conversion brought about changes, and now he is being completed as a life (PSE Rescuer).
Back in 1992, the Ministry of Defence decided to establish on the basis of winged missile for maritime search and rescue of victims of accidents. The project was given the name of the Savior . After conservation project in the mid-90s due to lack of funds, works were continued. It is assumed that the rescue WIG craft can operate in high winds and land at five-meter wave, and its structure is such that it will cover its body affected and take them with water through the tail portion, followed by a lull formed. In the WIG capable to take off with 500 passengers, will house the hospital to the operating room, intensive care and burn centers.
The Soviet-made ground effect vehicle, known as Ekranoplan Spasatel (Rescuer) and mothballed during the 1990s, will become a test lab for a new generation of jet powered water-skimming aircraft, Alexeyev Central Design Bureau director Sergei Dementyev told RIA Novosti 25 September 2016.
Its construction at the Volga Shipyards was 90 percent done when military funding ended and it was never completed. This technological marvel has since been gathering dust in Nizhny Novgorod. “We still have a life-size model here which we are going to use as a test laboratory for future aircraft,” Sergei Dementyev said on the sidelines of a hydro-aviation expo now underway in Gelendzhik, Crimea.
He added that the ground effect vehicle is primarily viewed by the Alexeyev Central Design Bureau as a civilian project, but if necessary, it could be converted for military use as well. “This is a multirole craft, which can be used for high-speed transportation of cargoes and passengers, in search-and-rescue missions, and it can also carry arms,” Dementyev noted, mentioning the great deal of domestic and foreign interest in this type of high-speed water-skimming aircraft.
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