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 Classification:   UNCLASSIFIED       Status:        [STAT]
 Document Date:    25 Sep 92          Category:      (CAT]
 Report Type:      JPRS report        Report Date:
 Report Number:    FBIS-USR-92-133    UDC Number:
 Author(s):        KRASNAYA ZVEZDA correspondent Aleksandr Dolgikh: "They
 Are Putting `Flying Saucers' Together in Ulyanovsk"]
 Headline:  Thermoplane Flight Testing Highlighted
 Source Line: 934AO019A Moscow KRASNAYA ZVEZDA in Russian 25 Sep 92 p
 Subslug:   [Article by KRASNAYA ZVEZDA correspondent Aleksandr
 Dolgikh: "They Are Putting `Flying Saucers' Together in
 Ulyanovsk"]
 FULL TSxT OF ARTICLE:
 1.  [Article by KRASNAYA ZVEZDA correspondent Aleksandr Dolgikh:
 "They Are Putting `Flying Saucers' Together in Ulyanovsk"]
 2.  [Text] The concept of creating an aircraft whose principle of
 operation is based on lift from an inert gas (hydrogen, helium), as
 well as hot air, and which acquired the                     "this__.
 word is not in the dictionaries yet) came into being after 1984, when
 there was talk of developing the boundless expanses of Siberia as
 quickly as possible and utilizing its resources more efficiently. It
 is common knowledge that solution of this problem without the
 extensive use of aircraft is impossible because of the lack of roads
 there. Which of the existing types of aircraft are most suited to
 carry out this task?
 3.  Helicopters? A little expensive, and their lifting power is
 limited. Airplanes? It takes a lot of funds and time just to build
 the runways. Generally speaking, we have returned to where we began
 in the history of flight. Essentially, we have returned to the
 balloons. Taking into account everything that has been developed in
 aircraft manufacturing to date, naturally.
 4.  The project is being carried out by associates of the
 "Termoplan" Design Bureau, which was created especially in 1988 in
 the Moscow Aviation Institute imeni S. Ordzhonikidze. The program's
 objective is "to devise and develop aerostatic transport and
 installation aircraft (ALA) with a lifting capacity of 800 metric
 tons and a range of up to 5,000 kilometers" (this is how it was
 defined in the assignment from the Russian Federation Government). It
 is assumed that in the future, thermoplanes would deliver most of the
 industrial equipment and various facilities to regions in Siberia and
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 UNCLASSIFIED       Approved f pr Release
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 the Far North that are under development. One such aircraft is able
 to carry oil derricks, machinery, houses...that is, an entire
 settlement with all its infrastructure, for long distances, either
 suspended externally or carried on board, at a respectable speed
 (about 220 kilometers per hour).
 5.  Aside from purely transport assignments, the thermoplane will
 make it possible to conduct logging work, geological prospecting,
 large-scale emergency and rescue operations, and to perform work
 associated with tourism, including international tourism.
 6.  Dozens of Russian enterprises and different KB and NII [design
 bureaus and scientific research institutes] have been included in the
 project. A number of foreign banks and firms in Canada, Germany,
 Italy, and France have expressed'their desire to take part in it.
 7. So just what is this mysterious aircraft? From above, it looks
 like a disk about 20 meters in diameter. From the side, it looks like
 a lens, to which the fuselage and engines of an airplane have been
 "attached." It is planned to utilize the fuselages of Tu-142M,
 Tu-95, An-22, and other aircraft which have completed their service
 life or which have been removed from active service in the WS [Air
 Forces]. The "air" part of the thermoplane consists of two
 compartments: one of them is filled with inert gas, and the other one
 holds the engines' exhaust gases. By reguTt ng t e  ntake--of-iot
 air, not only the thermoplane's speed but the actual process of
 ascent and descent can be changed. Incidentally, it is planned to use
 hydrogen instead of the inert gas. Do not be surprised. One of the
 MAI [Moscow Aviation Institute] laboratories has developed a special
 inhibiting additive which makes hydrogen completely safe when it used
 as a working medium.
 8.  As already noted, the cargo may be transported on an` external
 platform or, if special care is required in carrying it, within the
 "balloon." A special chamber has been provided for this. A system
 of winches here will make it possible to hoist and lower cargoes for
 a distance of up to 60 meters.
 9.  The envelope for this "balloon" must be very durable,
 naturally. The "fabric" for it has already been developed by the
 specialists-chemists and textile workers. Composite materials, carbon
 plastics and fiber glass are used in its construction.
 10. How are things proceeding now? Yuriy Ishkov, head of the
 "Termoplan " KB, comments on this.
 11. "The other day we completed the first stage in the ground
 design tests of the industrial test stand prototype of the new
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 aircraft. For the time being, this model is one-fifth the actual
 size, but it has enabled us to thoroughly study all the aspects we
 were interested in. One or two drawbacks were revealed, of course,
 but generally speaking, even our boldest predictions were
 justified."
 12.  "This is interesting, too," the designer continued. "Even
 this small replica of the thermoplane, which is only an intermediate
 link in the research and logically should be turned over for scrap,
 has attracted the attention of various specialists-in communications,
 ecology, and polar studies. Specific orders are already being
 mentioned.  Experimental prototypes of the thermoplanes are being put
 together at the Ulyanovsk Aviation [Plant] now. Most likely the
 series aircraft will be assembled there as well. I will point out, by
 the way, that out of all the aircraft with such power today, the
 thermoplane is the most ecologically clean."
 13.  So if someone sees an unusual aircraft in the sky which
 resembles a giant disk in the not too distant future, he should not
 be in a hurry to talk about NLO [unidentified flying objects].

