In Russia want to create a unique passenger hydrofoil

Even in the Soviet Union, civilian hydrofoil ships Meteor and Kometa, as well as hydrofoil ships, were designed and built. Miracle technology was created under the leadership of Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev.

To date, the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoil Vessels. R.E. Alekseeva in Nizhny Novgorod is headed by Sergei Vyacheslavovich Platonov. To a large extent, thanks to his hard work and very principled position, Russia, having nearly lost, shipbuilding on hydrofoils, managed to revive it on a qualitatively new level.

Need to mark, that there are simply no alternatives to high-speed vessels in very many regions of the planet, since the island states prefer to operate high-speed hydrofoils for the transport of passengers and goods. If you take into account the great Russian rivers, then there is nothing more profitable and convenient for transportation of people, than high-speed vessels. It would seem that if it is so profitable, then under the laws of the market, hydrofoil ships should have filled the whole world long ago. The problem is that the design of a submarine wing is much more complicated than an aircraft wing that works in the air. And after calculating the cost of design, and then construction, Western ship owners decided not to invest in underwater wings.

In the USSR, the costs were not considered. Back in the middle of the twentieth century in the Soviet Union began to develop high-speed vessels, which in the third millennium will allow to lead.

In the new project of the hydrofoil Comet-120M wireless communication and control communications are widely used. This allowed us to save a few tons of weight by weight, since thick copper cables were used before, even in the lead shell. Plus to this — composite materials. Reducing the weight of the vessel made it possible to reduce the draft, which made it possible to make the wings of a new profile,and hence — to increase speed and seaworthiness. The noise of the engines is reduced at times.

The hydrofoil vessel Kometa-120M is designed to carry 120 passengers in salons equipped with aviation type seats, and designed in two versions — for use in river and sea water.

Structurally high-speed vessels are similar, but they will differ in anti-corrosion protection and in size of the wings — in the marine version they are larger in area. The ship's speed will reach 60 knots. Shipbuilders say that the payback period of passenger ships of this project is not more than 5 years, and the service life is not less than 25.

Technical characteristics of the hydrofoil vessel Kometa-120M:

• Full displacement — 73 tons
• Draft overall draft 3.5 m
• Speed is 35 knots
• The range is 200 miles
• Crew — 5 people
• Passenger capacity — 120 people
• Seaworthiness (wave height) with the wing wings — 2.0 m
• Seaworthiness in displacement position — 2.5 m

Probably, in the near future it will be possible to start construction of a small hydrofoil vessel of the Valdai project with a capacity of 40 passengers. Unfortunately, even deep-water rivers have recently melted, and the Valdai will safely pass at a high speed where the waterway is already closed to the ships of old projects.

A more powerful hydrofoil with a capacity of 250 people was also developed — the Cyclone. This is the nearest prospect.

In addition to hydrofoil ships in the Central Design Bureau R.E. Alexeyeva is designing unique high-speed vessels on the air cavern. Speed, payload, safety and cost-effectiveness are their key indicators.

At the international exhibition in St. Petersburg in 2013 were presented models of several promising projects of high-speed vessels in the air cavern.Several of them can carry 120 passengers and 70 tons of cargo.

Impressive line of models of ekranoplans of new generations, intended for use in purely civil purposes. In an initiative and at their own expense in Nizhny Novgorod, the ekranoplane topic was continued. Very many experts are sure: flying ships over the water with aircraft speeds are combat and transport means of the XXI century.