The Beriev Be-2500 Neptun transoceanic-amphibious aircraft will be capable to take away four times bigger payload than Antonov An-225. At the moment the An-225 is the largest aircraft of the world.
In order to be familiar with the size of these planes, lets see the smaller first. We made a video at the last visit of the Antonov An-255 in Budapest.
The planning of the Be-2500 started as a military contemplation, but continued as a civilian project. This is the usual way of Beriev’s practice. The story of the Beriev Be-200 firefighter- and airliner-family is a good example.
From the view of solutions, the “Monster of the Caspian sea” (or ekranoplan) could be an antecedent of the Neptun’s design. Some of the engines of the Be-2500 were also placed at the nose of the aircraft.
Some facts about the aicraft expected to arrive at 2022: the wingspan is almost as long as the lenght of the aircraft (130 meters). With its pressurized cabine, the Be-2500 is able to fly with a speed of 800 km/h at altitude around 10 000 meters. This power is provided by six engines.
Be-2500 is able to fly at 400 meters, exploiting the cushion effect (“wing in ground”). This time the speed is only a little bit more than 400 km/h.
This giant is capable to take away a payload of 1000 tons for more than 16 000 kilometers. More accurate details available on the Beriev-link below.
like in 3D form
Due to the expansion costs (10-15 billion dollars) it is not sure we will ever see the Neptun flying. Notwithstanding, if the Be-2500 project would come to fruition, we hope to see an airliner version as well.
Compared to the australian low-cost Airbus A380 (with more than 800 seats available), the Neptun would be capable to provide almost twice as many seats onboard.
After a hundred years, a flying boat will be the largest airliner again?
Previous articels:
Video: Interwiew about Beriev Be-200 amphibian
Video: The flight of Beriev 103 in Gelendzhik
A gigantic birch flying boat
Suggested links:
Be-2500 on Beriev Aircraft Online
Video about Neptun
You’re exactly right about the Ekranoplan antecedents: all the design hallmarks of a power-augmented-ram (PAR) wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vehicle are here: forward-mounted engines (probably with some degree of thrust vectoring), low aspect ratio/long chord inner wing, and vertical under-wing fences to contain the area of high pressure. The innovative thing here is the higher aspect ratio outer wings, which are intended to enable higher altitude performance out of ground effect.
An important point is that it probably won’t fly with a full load, or not for as king.
In GE, it can, on partial power.