Soviet planes that did not see the sky

In the days of the USSR, in the aircraft industry, priority funding and preference were given to military equipment, which was justified. The Cold War, local conflicts did not allow either the United States or the Soviet Union to relax. However, civil aviation also developed and quite rapidly. This is evidenced by many projects, some of which were not implemented, others ended with the release of aircraft in the form of separate concepts or even small batches of aircraft. What did the Soviet countries dream about and what did they want to create in aviation?

Be-2500 "Neptune"

This amphibian, capable of lifting up to a thousand tons of cargo into the air, was accepted for development in 1987. Beriev Design Bureau. By design, the giant heavyweight resembled an ekranoplan (more precisely, its mixture with a seaplane) with a wingspan of 125 m. In water at a height of several meters, the structure was supposed to reach speeds of 450 km / h, and in the air up to 770 km / h. The range of movement or flight (as you like) is 16 thousand km.



Takeoff is carried out from the water surface, while the length of the "GDP" reaches 10 km. But the chassis is also there. The power armament consists of six NK-119 engines with a thrust of 100 tons: four of them are in the front of the fuselage, which looks very unusual. The collapse of the USSR slowed down the implementation of the project, but in 2010 they returned to it. It is possible that the similar American development of the Boeing Pelikan, which had approximately the same characteristics as the Neptune, became the reason. To continue work on the creation of a heavy-weight amphibian, at least 10 billion dollars will be required: it is hardly possible to count on getting them at the present time. However, the project is not officially closed.

An-218

By the 80s of the last century in the USSR, there was a need to create a long-range wide-body aircraft capable of accommodating at least 350 passengers. By the 90s, the project was implemented by almost 90%. We built a mock-up in full, even launched posters and calendars with the image of an airliner on sale, ordered components and parts for assembling a real aircraft from suppliers. It was planned that in the middle of the decade the first flight would be carried out. But the collapse of the Union crossed out all plans: Antonov's design bureau was located in Ukraine, in 1994 the funding was closed, supplies were stopped, and the model was destroyed.



If the project had been implemented, the An-218 would have significantly surpassed such “classics of the genre” as the Tu-154 or Il-96 in terms of its characteristics. The designed aircraft is cheaper, more comfortable and easier to maintain. In fairness, it is worth adding: there was also the “most little-known in the Soviet aircraft industry” An-318 project, designed to replace the Il-86. The reason for the closure is the same - the collapse of the USSR.

An-418

Also the brainchild of Antonov Design Bureau, which is a double-deck liner designed for long-distance flights. In fact, this is a passenger version of the more successful Ruslan - An-124. As a result of a long design, a real passenger giant was developed. An-418 could accommodate up to 800 people and was able to overcome up to 10 thousand kilometers! “Ultra-advanced” technologies were used that were 20 years ahead of their time. This is confirmed by the construction of the A-380 in 2005, which consumed much more fuel than the An-418 (the same can be said about the Boeing-747).



However, promising success was hampered by the collapse of the Union. The project required joint efforts, but Antonov Design Bureau refused further work. And the plane remained in the form of a layout on the table.

Tu-244

Inspired by the success after several successful flights of the Tu-144 and taking into account the mistakes made during the design, the Tupolev team confidently began to develop the next project - the Tu-244. At the same time, economic feasibility was also taken into account. We can confidently say that the commercial effect of the new aircraft would be greater than that of its predecessor. Tu-244 was developed in two versions:

✅ 360-ton liner, designed for 300 passengers
✅ aircraft weighing 275 tons

In 1973, the SPS-1 model was approved. 4 motors with a thrust of 37,5 tf were installed on it. The cruising speed of the liner is 2400 km / h: on it he covered a distance of up to 8 thousand km at a 20-kilometer altitude. Along the way, we considered the version of the SPS-2 with engines running on liquefied hydrogen. The Tu-244 no longer had a downward-sloping nose. But there were variable cycle engines that could be used in different flight modes. But the impending restructuring prevented the implementation of the project. Moreover: nothing was known about him until 1993.



In 2014, information appeared about the possible revival of the project, and in 2019, the resumption of work was officially announced. It is assumed that the "restyled" version of the supersonic aircraft will be distinguished by lower fuel consumption and greater range. The Tu-244 was planned to take to the skies in 2025. However, there is no fresh data on the fate of the project yet.

Tu-404

Another very interesting superliner idea. Work on it began in 1991 (TsAGI). Initially, the “super heavyweight” was designed for flights up to 13 thousand km with 1200 (!) passengers on board (6 departments of 200 people each). The aircraft, made according to the design of the "carrier wing" had a length of 60 m with a height of 19. Energy was "supplied" from six propfan power units that developed a thrust of 108 tf. There was also a variant of a double-deck liner with the same passenger capacity. In this case, it was supposed to install NK-44 turbojet engines with a thrust of 160 tf.



The plane was supposed to fly at a speed of 900 km / h at an altitude of up to 11 thousand meters. A special infrastructure was required to receive and send the liner. The runway alone must have a length of more than 3 km. Add here the 90s with their chronic underfunding and it becomes clear why the project was closed by 1994.

KR-860

A three-deck giant that should be the world's largest passenger aircraft. The project was deciphered as "Wings of Russia", the figure means the number of passengers carried. The model aircraft was presented at the air show in Le Bourget in 1999. The liner turned out to be so huge that the designers had to provide for the folding of the wings, as is done with carrier-based military aircraft. Also, the aircraft had its own gangway. Even three modifications were supposed:

✅ passenger option
✅ flying tanker
✅ air truck

They wanted to build and sell the aircraft abroad - the design bureau expected that the overpopulated countries of the Asia-Pacific region would be interested in it. The role of the power plant was to be played by a "system" of eight NK-93 or PS-90 engines. But there were also options with motors from Rolls-Roys. The aircraft could reach speeds of 1000 km/h. And the project is not at all far-fetched, it could well be translated into reality. Although virtually, it was possible to achieve high performance in aerodynamics, some ideas, such as a folding nose in a cargo version, were implemented in other aircraft.



What prevented the project from being realized? The answer is simple. Even if we take into account the difficult 90s, when the country produced 2-3 aircraft a year, by the mid-2000s the world realized that narrow-body airliners were cheaper and simpler. This is confirmed by the impossibility of paying back the A-380, the failure for the same reasons of the Boeing-747, which brought only losses during operation.