Tu-244 - supersonic passenger aircraft

After the man began to master the heavenly expanses, he always tried to maximally improve the aircraft, make them more reliable, faster, more roomy. One of the most advanced inventions of mankind in this direction is supersonic passenger aircraft. But, unfortunately, with rare exceptions, most of the developments were closed or are currently at the project stage. One such project is the supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-244, which we will talk about below.

Faster than sound

But before we start talking directly about the Tu-244, let's take a short digression into the history of overcoming humanity's speed of sound, because this aircraft will be a direct continuation of scientific developments in this direction.

A significant impetus in the development of aviation was given by the Second World War. It was then that the real projects of aircraft with jet engines appeared, capable of speeding up more screw ones. Since the second half of the 40s of the last century, they have been actively adopted in both military and civil aviation.

The next task was to maximize the speed of the aircraft. If to reach the supersonic barrier was not difficult, simply increasing the engine power, then overcoming it was a significant problem, since the laws of aerodynamics at such speeds change.

Nevertheless, the first victory in the race with sound was achieved already in 1947 on an American experimental aircraft, but supersonic technology began to be used extensively only in the late 50's - early 60's of the XX century in military aviation. There were such serial models as MiG-19, North American A-5 Vigilante, Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and many others.

Passenger Supersonic Aviation

But civil aviation is so unlucky. The first supersonic passenger aircraft appeared only in the late 60's. And to date, only two serial models have been created - the Soviet Tu-144 and the Franco-British Concorde. These were typical long-haul aircraft. Tu-144 was in operation from 1975 to 1978, and "Concord" - from 1976 to 2003. Thus, at the moment, no passenger supersonic aircraft is used for passenger air transport.

There were many projects to build super- and hypersonic airliners, but some of them were finally closed (Douglas 2229, Super-Caravelle, T-4, etc.), and the implementation of the others stretched indefinitely (Reaction Engines A2, SpaceLiner, Next Generation Supersonic Transport). The latter concerns the design of the Tu-244.

Start of development

The project to create an airplane, which was to replace the Tu-144, was launched by the Tupolev Design Bureau back in Soviet times, in the early 1970s. When designing a new airliner, the designers used the developments of his predecessor, Concorde, as well as the materials of American colleagues who took part in the works. All developments were conducted under the leadership of Aleksey Tupolev.

In 1973, the projected aircraft was named Tu-244.

Tasks of the project

The main objective of this project was to create a truly competitive supersonic aircraft for passenger transportation in comparison with subsonic jetliners. Almost the only advantage of the first over the second was the gain in speed. In all other respects supersonic airliners lost to their slower competitors. Passenger transportation on them is simply not economically paid off. In addition, flights to them were more dangerous than on simple aircraft with a jet engine. The latter factor, by the way, became the official reason for the termination of the operation of the first supersonic Tu-144 airplane just a few months after its beginning.

Thus, it was the solution of these problems that was put before the developers of the Tu-244. The aircraft must be reliable, fast, but, at the same time, its operation for the purpose of transporting passengers should be economically viable.

Specifications

The final model of the Tu-244, adopted in the design, was to have the following technical and operational characteristics.

The crew of the airliner consisted of three people. The capacity of the cabin was taken at the rate of 300 passengers. True, in the final version of the project it had to be reduced to 254 people, but in any case it was much more than the Tu-154, which accommodated only 150 passengers.

The planned cruising speed was 2.175 km / h, which was twice the speed of sound. For comparison, the analogous figure for the Tu-144 was 2,300 thousand km / h, and the "Concorde" - 2,125 thousand km / h. That is, the plane was planned to be made slightly slower than its predecessor, but due to this, it significantly increased its capacity, which should provide an economic benefit from passenger transportation. The movement was provided by four turbofan engines. The range of flight of the new aircraft was to be 7500-9200 km. The carrying capacity is 300 tons.

The airliner was to have a length of 88 m, a height of 15 m, while the span of its wing was 45 m, and the working surface area - 965 m ² .

The main external difference of the new aircraft from the Tu-144 was to change the design of the nose.

Continuation of developments

The project of building a supersonic airliner of the second generation Tu-244 took a rather protracted character and several times underwent significant changes. Nevertheless, even after the collapse of the USSR, Tupolev's design bureau did not stop development in this direction. For example, already in 1993 at the air show in France was given detailed information about the development. However, the economic situation of the country in the 90s could not fail to affect the fate of the project. In fact, his fate hovered in the air, although the design work continued, and there was no official announcement of its closure. It was at this time that American specialists began to actively join the project, although contacts with them were still being made during the times of the USSR.

To continue research into the creation of second-generation passenger supersonic airliners, in 1993 two Tu-144 aircraft were converted to flying laboratories.

Closing or freezing?

Against the backdrop of ongoing developments and statements that by 2025 TU-244 aircraft will be put into operation by civil aviation in the amount of 100 units, the absence of this project in the state program for the development of aviation for 2013-2025, which was adopted in 2012 . It should be noted that the program did not include a number of other notable developments, which until that time were considered promising in the aircraft industry, for example, the supersonic business jet Tu-444.

This fact could indicate that the Tu-244 project is either completely closed or frozen for an indefinite period of time. In the latter case, the release of these supersonic aircraft will be possible only much later than 2025. However, no official explanation on this issue has been given, which leaves a rather wide field for various interpretations.

Prospects

Considering all the above, it can be stated that the Tu-244 project is at the moment at least frozen in the air, and, possibly, is generally closed. Official announcement about the fate of the project has not yet been. Also, the reasons why it was suspended or permanently closed are not announced. Although it can be assumed that they can be a lack of public funds to finance such developments, the economic disadvantage of the project, or the fact that in 30 years it could simply become morally obsolete, and now more promising tasks are on the agenda. However, it is entirely possible to influence all three factors simultaneously.

In 2014, media were suggested that the project would resume, but so far they have not received official confirmation, as, indeed, refutation.

It should be noted that foreign developments of second-generation supersonic passenger aircraft have not yet reached the home stretch, and the realization of many of them is under big question.

At the same time, while there is no official statement of authorized persons, it is not worthwhile putting an end to the design of the Tu-244 aircraft.