Looks Like A Cheap Sci-Fi Prop, But It's Not

No, they're not reshooting a Robbie the Robot remake at Patuxent River (MD). That strange object you may see in the sky is called EKIP, a Russian acronym for "ecology and progress." It's almost round, with stubby little wings, an improbable flying design. But it does fly.

Its creators at Russia's Saratov Aviation Plant say they can create a vacuum around the hull of the airship, making what is otherwise characteristically un-aerodynamic capable of flight.

Sound whacky?

The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) doesn't think so. It's moving ahead with a UAV prototype of the Russian vehicle.

The prototype weighs just 500 pounds -- a fraction of the size compared to a similar aircraft Saratov claims to have actually flown a decade ago.

"But if we can make it work, it'll allow for new, radical concepts in aircraft design," said Dr. John Fischer, NAVAIR's director of research and engineering sciences.

The idea behind the EKIP is pretty simple. It's designed around the "Coanda Effect," which states that air will flow around a curved surface rather than simply flowing over it in a straight line. Engineers can use this effect to increase lift and reduce drag.

"It's what originated many people's belief in flying saucers," said Phil Scott, author of The Wrong Stuff: Attempts at Flight Before (and After) the Wright Brothers. "Anyone on a lot of drugs would think it was a flying saucer."

The EKIP project is not without precedents.

Remember the Flying Pancake? How about the Avrocar? But those projects never really made it out of the starting gate. Saratov and NAVAIR think the EKIP can.

EKIP's Patuxent River mission comes at the behest of Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Curt Weldon. He thinks it's time to "re-orient" the Russian aerospace industry toward what he calls "productive work."

"It keeps them from otherwise working with the bad guys around the world," Weldon said.

Weldon says he's most impressed with the Saratov team, because they've already put together a full-scale working model of the EKIP -- in spite of the ongoing difficulties that have battered Russia's aviation sector.

Fischer says he thinks there might be a military cargo application for the EKIP. It's designed to land just about anywhere, without needing an airfield. It begins flight like a hovercraft, requiring about 500 feet for take-off.

FMI: www.ekip-aviation-concern.com/index.htm