TTS-IS (Russian Тяжелый транспортный самолет интегральной схемы (ТТС-ИС), heavy transport aircraft integrated circuit (HTA-IC)) is a project by

TsAGI The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (also (Zhukovsky) Central Institute of Aerodynamics, , TsAGI) is a Russian national research centre for aviation. It was founded in Moscow by Russian aviation pioneer Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky on Decemb ...

for a very large

wing-in-ground-effect A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIGE or WIG), ground-effect craft/machine (GEM), wingship, flarecraft, surface effect vehicle or ekranoplan (), is a vehicle that is able to move over the surface by gaining su ...

, lifting-body

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft generally feature one or more large door ...

with a take-off weight of 1000 tons, a payload of 500 tons, with a flight range of over 6000 km, a cruising speed of 500 km / h. Although the aircraft typically flies at above water, ice, or ground to reduce

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street a ...

, it is designed to take off and land at conventional airports, unlike most

ground effect vehicles Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the solid terrestrial surface of the Earth * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical circ ...

but similar to the

Boeing Pelican The Boeing Pelican ULTRA (Ultra Large Transport Aircraft) was a proposed ground effect vehicle, ground effect fixed-wing aircraft under study by Boeing Phantom Works in the early 2000s. Development The Boeing Pelican ULTRA is intended as a Strat ...

. As with the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

and the

Boeing 747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is the final series of the large, long-range wide-body airliners in the Boeing 747 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the largest model variant of the 747 and Boeing's largest aircraft overall. Following the intro ...

, the aircraft is designed to land at airports that meet the Aerodrome Reference Code code 4F standard of the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

(ICAO). It is also notable for the use of

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

(LNG) as its

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are either petroleum-based or blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground applications, such as heating and road transport, and they contain add ...

source, and for the use of

intermodal containers An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different mod ...

that are standardized in train, ship, and truck freight instead of the smaller unit load devices that are common in air freight transportation. Also called Heavy Cargo Aircraft with Lifting Body (HCA-LB), the aircraft is the result of work beginning in 2014 as a proposal by TsAGI under a Russian government contract. The HCA-LB was formally introduced to the public in January 2017, and it began wind tunnel testing in 2018. The aircraft is targeting for a service entry in the 2030s or later. It carries

twenty-foot equivalent units The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is a general unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box that ...

(TEUs) in four rows of six containers side by side on the

port and starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...

parts of the aircraft, for a total capacity of 48 TEUs. The two cargo areas are separated by an insulated fuel tank stretching the length of the center

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

, holding

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...

liquefied natural gas (

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

). The HCA-LB is nominally powered by a row of four turboprop engines positioned behind the cargo, atop the fuselage in a

pusher configuration In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, wh ...

, although the propulsion method will be investigated with greater detail in the future. The HCA-LB has a pi-tail

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

, with the twin vertical tails extending from near the back outer corners of the cargo sections. Outboard of the cargo sections are non-cargo bearing, shorter, thinner

swept wing A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Ge ...

s with downward-pointing wingtips. The HCA-LB is similar in configuration to the Boeing Model 754.

Specifications

References

{{reflist Soviet and Russian cargo aircraft Proposed aircraft of Russia Lifting bodies Ekranoplans Four-engined pusher aircraft

Specifications

See also

References