U.S. NAVY TO TEST FLYING SAUCER

First Boeing approaches a Russian scientist regarding his antigravity
experiments; now the US Navy wants to test a Russian flying saucer.
What's next?


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AVflash Volume 9, Number 52a – December 22, 2003
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U.S. NAVY TO TEST FLYING SAUCER...
It may sound like something from Mars, but this pilotless flying
saucer is actually Russian and it has caught the eye of the U.S. Navy.
The pita-shaped Ekip drone could be flitting around the Navy's
Patuxent River test facility by 2007 thanks to a congressman who saw a
prototype on a tour of Russian aviation facilities last year.
Developed by Saratov Aviation, the craft takes off and lands on a
cushion of air, like a hovercraft, and needs less than 500 feet of
runway. The wheel-less drone would be propelled by "high-economy
bypass turbojet engines" and use "auxiliary high-economy dual
generator turboshaft engines ... for operation of air-cushion landing
gear and boundary layer control." The shape lends itself to lower
structural weight and loading while offering higher load-carrying
capability. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Penn.) was sufficiently impressed that
he passed the information along to the military, and the Navy's Naval
Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has agreed to help develop the flying
prototype and test it at Pax River.
http://www.ekip-aviation-concern.com/