Russia’s Answer To The Airbus A380: The Sukhoi KR-860 - The Sukhoi KR-860.jpg ...

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What is the story?

Revealed at the 2001 Paris Airshow, the Sukhoi KR-860 is a four-engine
double-decker aircraft (similar to the A380). A direct translation of its name,
Kryl’ya Rossii, means the ‘Wings of Russia’, with the 860 referring to how many
passengers it could carry. It was under development from Sukhoi, a Russian
aerospace firm that also builds a multitude of fighter jets for the military.
The aircraft was never actually built, but a 1/24 scale model was created to
showcase their future concept.

Three variants were initially proposed.

1.A passenger variant (below)

2.A cargo variant that could hold railcars/cargo containers (so normal modular
shipping containers would not have to be de-loaded for transport).

3.A liquid gas variant used to transport products from oil fields. The liquid
gas could have been used to power the plane instead of jet fuel, meaning the
flight would have been free for the airline.

Let’s have a look at the statistics:

General characteristics
•Capacity: 860-1000 passengers
•Length: 80 m (262 ft 6 in)
•Wingspan: 88 m (288 ft 9 in) with the wings unfolded or 64 m (210 ft) span with
wings folded
•Wing area: 700 m2 (7,500 sq ft)
•Max takeoff weight: 650,000 kg (1,433,005 lb)
•Powerplant: 4 × General Electric CF6-80E1A4B turbofan, 320 kN (72,000 lbf)
thrust each or
•Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney PW4168A turbofan, 305 kN (69,000 lbf) thrust
each

Performance
•Cruising speed: 1,000 km/h (621 mph; 540 kn)
•Range: 15,000 km (9,321 mi; 8,099 nmi)

Whilst the above suggests either a GE or Pratt engine, there was also the
possibility of using eight Kuznetsov NK-93 engines (in pairs) as the cheapest
possible solution.

How many passengers could it carry?

The typical A380 can carry around 550 passengers, with an all-economy variant
carrying 800. The KR-860 far outstrips this, accommodating 860 passengers and up
to 1,000 in an all-economy configuration. To put this in perspective, the
designers intended for the lower deck to be 12-abreast seating with three aisles
(a first for commercial travel) and the upper deck to have 9-abreast seating
with two aisles.

To help passengers get on and off rapidly, the aircraft came with three
escalators built into the hull. That’s right! Under the plane were escalators to
ferry passengers from the ground quickly up to their respective deck.

Boeing copied the wings

This plane had such a large wingspan that the wings themselves had to fold up to
arrive at 747 airport gates. Sound familiar? The new Boeing 777x actually uses
the same system (although not as extreme as the KR-860).

Why did it never fly?

The program originally predicted there would be a market for 300 aircraft. As we
now know, Airbus only sold 290 A380s over the course of its entire program, so a
Russian made super A380 claiming to sell more is highly unrealistic. Possible
markets would have been Russia, China, India, Vietnam, and Africa. Western
countries were still wary of Russian made aircraft at the time, and would have
gone with Airbus or Boeing in preference.

The program itself was estimated to cost around $10bn in 2000. To help with this
cost, Sukhoi turned to China and India to create a joint venture. This made the
Russian government uneasy about funding an aircraft that ultimately would see
little use in Russia. As a result, they diverted funds to other projects in
2001.

Whilst we can agree that Russia (and the world) would never have seen a use for
this aircraft, it would have been quite a sight to see.




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