US Navy to order unique aircraft.

US Navy to order unique aircraft in Saratov

SARATOV - The US Navy Department intends to subsidize the development of an advanced Russian aircraft, which will eventually be extinguishing forest fires on US territory. This UFO-shaped flying machine is currently being designed by the Saratov aviation concern.

The US Navy has successfully negotiated terms with Saratov Aviation Concern. The contract terms and agreements are not yet disclosed, but one facet of the agreement is that the US Navy will subsidize the development of the EKIP, which is a Russian acronym for Ecology and Progress.

The remote piloted aircraft/hovercraft will be used mainly for the purpose of aiding in extinguishing forest fires here in the US.

Here is a link to the home site for Saratov Aviation Concern Company:
EKIP Aviation Concern


Pretty cool, IMHO.



seekerof

Interesting find, definatly looks odd.

It says that it carries 100 ton loads. How much water is that? Enough to be effective for forest fires?

My math is a little rusty right now, but it seems that that's roughly 25,000 gallons. Thats a good amount to fight a forest fire with. -Muzz

What's with the second picture? Are those rows of seats? Where does it mention being a passenger vehicle?

I'm not a hundred percent sure intrepid, but muzz may be onto something.
I have been looking for more information on this, but not found anything.

I do feel and from my limited understanding of the current firefighting aircraft that the US Forestry does use, that this above aircraft will carry and dispense more water or fire retardent chemicals than the current in service aircraft we utilize. Besides, past and current US Forestry reports indicate that the US fire fighting fleet aircraft are very aged and in need of suitable replacing.



seekerof

[Edited on 23-4-2004 by Seekerof]

Well, with the payload and hover capabillity, as opposed to strafing, this might be a huge jump in fire containment.

PS, thanks Muzz, been living with the metric system too long.

Originally posted by Carvador
What's with the second picture? Are those rows of seats? Where does it mention being a passenger vehicle?

The Aviation Concern makes multiple versions of the aircraft....what you see is one such version....sellability.


seekerof

Most of the US Dept air tankers are just 1500-2000 gallons and can lose much retardant because it has to strafe. It would be really nice if they had a way to control how much they release, 5,000 gallons here, 8,000 gallons here. Right now it's either all or none. I can only speak for the air tankers on the east coast, cause thats where I fight fire. Lets just say that if I was fighting a forest fire and I had this thing hovering over me with 25,000 gallons of water, I wouldn't say no. -Muzz

PS: Not a problem, I like to help out when ever possiable.




[Edited on 4-24-2004 by muzz]

Sincce were talking about the navy:
www.invisible-defenders.org...

looks like its going to utilise "ground effect" - very low level flying

SO is it a WIG [Wing in ground effect]. It looks alot different from the paintings that were circled around at the end of the cold war.

Are there any flying yet?

psteel....
Click the two links in my original posting...some good information in there that may answer your questions.


seekerof

Great post seekerof,

The very proposition of this EKIP carrying 1000+ people is mindblowing in every sense of the way.(no wonder the US navy is interested!)

I mean if it all works out, EKIP can become larger than Airbus.It can put the Russian civil aviation industry on top, etc ..etc ......

How come there has been no publicity of such a momentous project in the western media ?

Are all the pics at www.ekip-aviation-concern.com... those of flying models or has a real working prototype been built ?

Any idea of when it may enter production ?
What are its competitors?
Is this the first UFO like aircraft ?

[Edited on 28-4-2004 by Stealth Spy]