The "Volga-2" is an eight-seat civilian passenger ground-effect vehicle (ekranoplan) developed by the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoil Ships named after R. E. Alexeyev. A prototype was built in 1986; the vehicle never entered full-scale series production. [1][2]
An ekranoplan for passengers
Military ekranoplans — the KM, the Orlyonok (ekranoplan))", the "Lun" — were enormous and secret machines. The "Volga-2" was conceived differently: a small civilian craft with eight seats, suited to carrying passengers in places with neither roads nor equipped moorings. [1][2]
A prototype was built in 1986. The idea of a mass-produced civilian ekranoplan was never realized: the vehicle did not go into full-scale series production, and the program soon lost its funding as well. [1][2]
Sources
- airwar.ru — Ekranoplan "Volga-2" (archive)
- arsenal-otechestva.ru — Arsenal Otechestva — Ekranoplans (archive)