In the early 1980s, the Soviet military ordered two Lun attack ekranoplans, with plans to build at least another eight by the year 2000. In 1989, the Navy had a change of heart - it was decided there would be no more aircraft to join the sole model in service.
The second Lun was about 80 percent complete before work was stopped. It was saved from the scrapyard by the decision to convert it into a Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft, named the ‘Spasatel’ (rescue worker). Funding appeared to have dried up - the planned completion date of 1994 did not happen. In 2001 a press release stated that - partly due to the Komsomolets, Kursk and MS Estonia disasters - the Spasatel was approaching completion…
It seems that the Spasatel is still in the assembly shop of the Volga shipyard in Nizhniy Novgorod, awaiting the money required to complete it..
September 10, 2009, 9:23pm
