 C00174744
 Page: 23    of 28
 Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1992
 Document 15 of 20                                                Page   1
 Classification:   UNCLASSIFIED       Status:        [STAT]
 Document Date:    29 Sep 92          Category:      [CAT]
 Report Type:       JPRS report       Report Date:
 Report Number:    FBIS-USR-92-149    UDC Number:
 Author(s):  Marina Kolosova: " `ALA'-a `Flying Saucer' for the
 Builders-]
 Headlines  'Flying Saucer' to Aid in Construction Projects
 Source Line:  934AO224A Moscow NOVAYA STROITELNAYA GAZETA in Russian
 29 Sep 92 p 13
 Subslug:  [Article by Marina Kolosova: " 'ALA'-a `Flying Saucer' for
 the Builders',]
 FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
 1.  [Article by Marina Kolosova: " `ALA'-a 'Flying Saucer' for the
 Builders"]
 2.  [Text) The first information about an unusual "flying
 saucer"-an aerostat aircraft-that appeared in STROITELNAYA GAZETA
 caused much interest among our readers. And so we decided to turn to
 the Deputy Chief Designer on Economic Problems of the Termoplan KB
 [Design Bureau] of MAI [Moscow Aviation Institute], Igor Starostin,
 with a request to describe its brainchild in greater detail.
 3.  "The 'ALA-600' [aerostat aircraft-600] is being developed in
 accordance with an order from the 'Gazprom' concern, the
 'Rosneftegazprom' corporation, and other organizations of the
 fuel-and-power complex. The KB is under the leadership of Academician
 Yu. Ryzhkov and Chief Designer Yu. Ishkov. The craft is capable of
 supporting construction work and buildup of the facilities of all
 enterprises that are extracting resources in the North, the Far East,
 and any place difficult of access, with maximum effectiveness.
 Supermodule-type construction can be performed with the ALA-600's
 help.  The operating principle here is simple: large-dimension
 constructional structure or construction modules that are assembled
 on the ground and weigh up to 600 tonnes are lifted and transported
 to and installed in the place required, the craft being capable of
 covering up to 5,000 kilometers without landing, while developing a
 speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour-"
 4.  It can also be used in the buildup of oilfield facilities and in
 operation of the oil and gas recovery industry's facilities. When
 developing new wells, the drillers will not need to spend a great
 part of their time in disassembling, moving, and, assembling
 equipment, which the existing technology requires now. The ALA-200
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 will move the equipment that must be transported-the whole platform
 with the drilling installation and auxiliary structures-in assembled
 form from place to place.  Consider how much money and effort will be
 saved in this case and how many hectares of forest will be left
 untouched. The amount of fuel raw material recovered will be greatly
 increased, and the time spent assimilating a new well will be cut by
 a half to two-thirds.
 5.  Expenditures for the transporting and assembling operations and
 containerized freight hauling that the "flying saucer" will perform
 will be cut severalfold. Another example: when rebuilding
 metallurgical enterprises, new furnaces must be installed to replace
 older ones. Today this very complicated technological operation
 requires enormous cost. Billions of rubles will be saved if this
 operation is entrusted to our aerostat aircraft.
 6.  Its potential uses are vast and in the most varied fields.  These
 include transport services during emergency and rescue operations,
 and tourism. The "Termoplan" Design Bureau, jointly with Svyatoslav
 Fedorov's eye center, is developing a new type of building, with
 autonomous power and water supply systems, the constructional
 structure of which will enable it to be transported over various
 distances and to be used as a surgical unit, a hotel complex, or a
 store. The use of such modules will enable a unique technology for
 tourism to be developed.  Then, for example, foreign guests who have
 been hunting for the famous Russian bears on the streets of our
 capitals will be able to encounter them in the taiga. For this
 purpose the ALA craft will deliver a multiple-star hotel module in
 this manner to the Yenisey, in the impassable taiga. And, perhaps,
 you will relax with Western comfort in dense exotica.
 7.  But seriously, for example, a hospital module, stuffed with
 modern equipment, can be transported to the most inaccessible places.
 People get sick, as is well known, not just in big cities, and the
 problem of extending skilled medical care to our wilderness sites
 still remains insurmountable.
 8.  But as yet these are dreams. At present, an experimental model
 with a disk diameter of about 40 meters has been built at
 "Aviastar," Ulyanovsk's joint-stock company.  For comparison, the
 ALA-600 will have a disk about 200 meters in diameter.
 9.  As Igor Starostin said, the uniqueness of this transport resource
 lies, first, in its load-lifting capacity; second, in its ecological
 cleanness, for the craft will use phlegmatized (that is,
 explosion-proof) hydrogen, which plays the role of gas filler and
 fuel simultaneously. And, third, thanks to its independence of
 airfield service, the craft does not require airports with
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 Document 15 of 20                                                 Page   3
 multikilometer concrete landing and takeoff strips. And "flying
 saucers" that are not in operation will "rest" in the air and be
 tied down with cables. The equipment will descend to the ground only
 when required for repair.
 10.  The first stage of design testing on the ground and
 technological refinements on the captive model will be completed at
 the end of autumn. For simplicity, not only various components and-
 assemblies but also all the systems of constructional structure and
 equipment have been checked, in wind gusts that reached up to 15
 meters per second. The tests confirmed the designers's analyses in
 all the most important design solutions. The second stage of the
 tests lies ahead.
 11.  It is to be hoped that both the sky, with its unforeseeable
 "considerations," and the state will treat the "flying saucer"
 kindly.

