Nuclear plane: the most secret weapon of the USSR. Aircraft with nuclear power plant

26 Sep 2012

In the USSR and the USA, flight tests were carried out on aircraft with a nuclear reactor placed on board, which was not connected to the engines: Tu-95 (Tu-95LAL) and B-36 (NB-36), respectively. Flight tests were preceded by a series of ground tests, during which the effect of radioactive radiation on on-board equipment was studied. The nuclear aircraft never entered service. In the USSR, the work was carried out jointly by the Flight Research Institute (LII) and the Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE). A series of flight tests were carried out on the Tu-95LAL with the reactor running, during which control of the reactor in flight and the effectiveness of biological protection were studied. In the future, it was planned to create engines powered by nuclear power supply systems, however, due to the stop of the program, such engines were not created.

The Tu-95 turboprop strategic missile-carrying bomber is still in service.

An-22PLO is an ultra-long-range, low-altitude anti-submarine defense aircraft with a nuclear power plant. It was developed in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated 10/26/1965 at the Antonov Design Bureau on the basis of the An-22. Its power plant included a small-sized reactor with bioprotection developed under the leadership of A.P. Aleksandrov, a distribution unit, a pipeline system and special turboprop engines designed by N.D. Kuznetsov. During takeoff and landing, conventional fuel was used, and during the flight, the operation of the control system was ensured by the reactor. The estimated flight duration was determined to be 50 hours, and the flight range was 27,500 km. In 1970, An-22 No. 01-06 was equipped with a 3 kW point source of neutron radiation and a multilayer protective partition. Later, in August 1972, a small lead-clad nuclear reactor was installed on plane No. 01-07.

An-22 "Antey" is a Soviet heavy turboprop transport aircraft.

A preliminary design for the M-60 was developed. The 250-ton machine with four Lyulka nuclear engines in the tail was supposed to rise 20 kilometers and fly at a speed of 3000 km/h. The crew was located in a sealed capsule with multi-layer protection. The capsule did not have windows, but there were periscopes, radars and television screens. And the automatic control system was supposed to ensure takeoff, landing and reaching the target. In fact, it was a sketch of an unmanned strategic bomber. But the Air Force insisted on a manned version.

In the United States, Convair was developing a supersonic aircraft under the ANP program (tailless and canard designs were considered) under the designation X-6. The aircraft was supposed to have a take-off weight of up to 75 tons, and the B-58 bomber was chosen as its prototype, which made its first flight in June 1954. The X-6 was supposed to take off and land using turbojet engines running on conventional chemical fuel; during cruising mode, a nuclear power plant came into operation.

The nuclear power supply system consisted of a reactor in the rear fuselage and four X39 engines. Various versions of the project provided for the installation of engines under or above the fuselage in the area of ​​the reactor compartment. The turbojet engines, running on chemical fuel, were located on pylons under the wingtips. The cockpit was located in the forward part of the fuselage.

Since the weight of the required radiation shielding for the reactor exceeded the design load capacity of the future aircraft (with a compromise version of radiation shielding - the so-called “shadow” or divided), its thickness was minimized and made it possible to fit the reactor into the contours of the fuselage.

The crew cabin was supposed to be enclosed in a shielded capsule, and behind it an additional protective panel was provided with an aqueous solution of the boron isotope, which absorbs neutrons well.

The problem of radiation protection of ground personnel after the landing of a nuclear aircraft was going to be solved in the following way. The landing plane with the reactor shut down was towed to a special site. Here the nuclear power plant was removed from the aircraft and lowered into a deep shaft and placed in a room equipped with radiation protection. The first test flights of the X-6 were planned for 1956.

The concept of "shadow" protection had to be tested in flight conditions. For this purpose, the heaviest bomber of the US Air Force at that time, the B-36N, was best suited, allowing take-off with a weight of 186 tons and capable of carrying a bomb load of 39 tons. In May 1953, a machine with onboard number 15712 was chosen for conversion, awaiting repair after receiving in September 1952, damage from a typhoon.

On the tail of the NB-36H you can see an emblem denoting nuclear danger.

A test reactor with a power of 1 MW, a diameter of 1.2 m and a weight of 16 tons, operating on fast neutrons, was placed in the rear part of the bomb bay of the flying laboratory. Uranium dioxide was used as nuclear fuel. The reactor was turned on in flight and cooled by atmospheric air, supplied by high-speed pressure through air intakes specially made on board the aircraft. The heated air was thrown out through the exhaust pipes.

A protective capsule weighing 12 tons with a crew cabin was located in the forward part of the fuselage. The walls of the capsule were made of lead and rubber, and the cabin glazing was made of lead glass 25-30 cm thick. At the rear of the crew cabin there was a protective screen made of steel and lead with a diameter of 2 m and a thickness of 10 cm.

During the flight, the operation of the reactor was monitored from the cockpit using an internal television network. After the flight, the reactor was removed and stored in an underground box at the Convair test site in Texas.

Tory-IIC nuclear rocket engine, USA. The size can be judged by the figures of the two people on top.

The upgraded aircraft was designated NB-36H. It first took to the air on September 17, 1955. All test flights were carried out over sparsely populated areas of Texas and New Mexico. The NB-36H was always accompanied by an amphibious transport aircraft with a platoon of armed Marines, ready at any moment to parachute in the event of an NB-36H accident and take it under guard.

It took off for the last time at the end of March 1957, having completed 47 flights during testing. Fortunately, the test program ended without incident and the NB-36H was eventually taken out of service at the end of 1957.

Nuclear aircraft development programs in the USA and USSR were closed in the mid-1960s. Cheaper technologies were developed: in-flight refueling deprived this project of the advantage of unlimited flight, and long-range and high-precision ballistic missiles deprived the idea of ​​a large bomber.

Dr. Herbert York, director of Defense Research (Rtd), one of the leaders of the US nuclear aircraft program said:
Practically, I would reduce everything to three points, closely related to each other:
Firstly, planes sometimes crash. And the very idea that there was a nuclear reactor flying somewhere that could suddenly fall was unacceptable.
Secondly, all these once-through systems, once-through reactors, direct heat transfer, would inevitably lead to the release of radioactive particles from the tail of the aircraft.
And thirdly, these are the pilots themselves. The issue of their protection was very serious.
In 2003, the Air Force Research Laboratory funded the development of a nuclear engine for the unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft with the goal of increasing flight endurance to several months.
RQ-4 Global Hawk is an American strategic reconnaissance UAV.
The first flight took place on February 28, 1998 from the US Air Force base in California. The first Global Hawk was delivered to the US Navy in 2004 and began combat missions in March 2006.
The device can patrol for 30 hours at an altitude of up to 18,000 meters. Developed by the American company Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.

They are going to install a nuclear engine on the Global Hawk.

While the engine is not nuclear, maintenance personnel move freely around the unmanned vehicle.

I shared with you the information that I “dug up” and systematized. At the same time, he is not at all impoverished and is ready to share further, at least twice a week. If you find errors or inaccuracies in the article, please let us know. I will be very grateful.

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Nuclear-powered strategic bomber

“Project of an atomic/>flying laboratory/>based on the M-50”

At the height of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA, there were all sorts of proposals for military dominance over the rival country.

The flight range of aircraft in the 1950s was limited by many factors, but for the USSR, during the absence of intercontinental missile systems, a serious question arose about delivering an atomic bomb to enemy territory.

Because US bombers using the airfields of NATO countries could deliver an atomic bomb to the territory of the USSR by flying no more than 10 thousand km, and for USSR aviation it was necessary to cover more than 20 thousand km to enter US airspace. An airplane capable of flying such a huge distance without landing did not exist in the USSR.

The existing supersonic bombers in the USSR, capable of carrying a payload of 5 tons, theoretically required two refuelings in the air to cover 15 thousand kilometers. Moreover, in 1957, the USSR had only two dozen Tu-95 and M-4 bombers, the flight range of which only allowed them to fly through the Arctic and reach the border between Canada and the United States. The US armed forces at this time possessed about 2 thousand B-52 and B-47 bombers, as well as older B-36s.

In connection with this balance of power, a strategic supersonic bomber with a nuclear engine or the M-60 project, capable of unlimited flight distances, became a promising weapon of retaliation in the USSR.

In those years, this project was not considered absurd.

“Flying laboratory, built on the basis of the Tu-95”

Within ten years after the creation of the atomic bomb, the USSR created a powerful scientific base for the use of nuclear energy, which could afford unlimited production capacity and large financial support from the country's budget.

The scientific elite in the nuclear field was brought up thanks to Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was created and led by Igor Kurchatov. Many subsequent famous scientists were his students and colleagues.

At the scientific and technical councils under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the issue of using nuclear energy in energy-dependent installations installed on ships, submarines, which is not surprising now, but also aircraft was discussed.

Power plants for aircraft began to be developed by Anatoly Petrovich Aleksandrov, I.V. Kurchatov’s deputy in Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Initially, an open and closed cycle based on ramjet and turboprop engines was proposed for a nuclear aircraft engine. Reactor plant with various types of cooling from air to liquid.

Options for protecting the crew and aircraft equipment from harmful effects were calculated. The research was so successful that in June 1952, Aleksandrov reported to Kurchatov about the possibility of creating an aircraft engine in the near future.

Three years later in 1955, when the first nuclear power plant began operating in the USSR and the finished project for the first nuclear submarine of the USSR began to be built at shipyards, intelligence reports that in the United States there is a project to create a supersonic bomber with a nuclear engine.

This information prompted the Council of Ministers of the USSR to issue a Resolution ordering a number of design bureaus of the aviation industry to begin designing a bomber with nuclear engines.

The OKB, under the leadership of S.A. Lavochkin, developed an engine with a ramjet operating principle.

“Turbojet engine with an open-type nuclear reactor”

The design was used in an open cycle: the nuclear reactor took the place of the combustion chamber, i.e. air passed through the active zone. Lavochkin's death in 1960, along with the engine project, was not further developed.

During the implementation of the project of a supersonic bomber with a nuclear engine, the OKB under the leadership of Myasishchev initially seemed simple, but by the middle of 1956 difficult tasks emerged.

When installing a new power plant, aircraft designers were faced with difficult problems that had not previously been solved.

The first task is radioactive radiation during the open cycle of a nuclear engine. Radiation protection is required for the crew and equipment of the aircraft. Protection requires thick-walled lead shields, which affects crew positions and weight restrictions.

The second challenge is the impossibility of using conventional metal alloys in aircraft construction due to radiation and heat generated from the reactor. New alloys are required that can withstand such loads and at the same time be light enough.

The third task is the need to build special air bases equipped with decontamination and remote systems for aircraft maintenance, because the open cycle of a nuclear engine causes severe contamination of its surfaces.

“Turbojet engine with open-type ring nuclear engine”

A stopped engine reactor is deadly to humans for a long time.

And the most important task is to ensure safety, especially in the event of an airplane accident.

All these problems forced us to abandon the original idea and move to a new aircraft layout, which was developed as part of the M-60 aircraft project. The design of the M-60 aircraft was a mid-plane with a trapezoidal wing and a horizontal tail at the top of the fin.

The entire power plant of the aircraft was located in the tail section at the maximum distance from the crew. The plane had four nuclear turbojet engines, which were located in pairs one above the other.

The total length of the aircraft was 66 meters, while its estimated weight was supposed to be 250 tons. The estimated cruising speed is over 3000 km/h, and the maximum altitude ceiling is up to 20 thousand meters.

The crew cabin was designed as a multilayer capsule made of special metal alloys, which was completely isolated from the external atmosphere due to the presence of radioactivity. It is not possible to take air into the capsule from outside, so it was assumed that an oxygen-nitrogen mixture would be generated by gasifying liquid gases from tanks on board the aircraft.

The crew capsule did not have a window, so television screens and periscopes were supposed to be used for visual viewing.

“Project of the strategic/>nuclear/>bomber M-30”

It was proposed to equip the crew capsule with an automatic aircraft control system, which would be capable of not only taking off, landing and maneuvering the aircraft, but also performing combat missions.

All this meant abandoning people altogether and creating an unmanned guided strategic bomber, but the leadership of the USSR Air Force considered a person more reliable for carrying out a combat mission.

Experimental nuclear turbojet engines for the M-60 aircraft were designed to create a take-off thrust of up to 23 thousand kg. The OKB under the leadership of A.M. Lyulka prepared two versions of new engines.

The first, according to the “coaxial scheme”, when the ring-shaped reactor is located behind the combustion chamber, and accordingly the turbocharger shaft passes through it.

The second, according to the “yoke” scheme, when the reactor is located outside the shaft and forms a curved flow chamber.

Myasishchev OKB tried both engines, but each had its own pros and cons. The engineers solved many design problems, but the main problem - safety in servicing the aircraft on the ground, they did not yet know how to solve.

Safety issues related to ensuring ground operation and maintenance of the aircraft, protection of the crew and personnel, the terrain where the aircraft is stored, as well as in the event of an aircraft crash, became prophetic in the feasibility of creating such an aircraft.

V.M. Myasishchev translated the solutions to these problems into the practical field by starting the creation of a flying laboratory, using the M-50 aircraft project as a basis.

“Project/>strategic/>nuclear/>bomber M-60”

The radical solution was that the plane had to use the water surface for takeoff and landing. This solution partly solved a number of issues more easily, but not all.

The designers had to solve the most complex problems and they themselves were confident in the success of their business. In 1958, V.M. Myasishchev addressed a report to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, where he pointed out criticism of the range of current projects of conventional bombers and the need to concentrate all work on bombers with nuclear engines.

Before this report, Myasishchev was inspired by the closed-cycle nuclear engine project created at the Design Bureau under the leadership of N.D. Kuznetsov. The closed engine cycle simplified many safety issues and Myasishchev expected to present a finished aircraft within 7 years.

Six nuclear turbojet engines were located in the tail section, and the reactor itself was located in the fuselage. The coolant was supposed to be lithium and sodium. The crew capsule becomes ventilated and lighter.

Also, the total length of the aircraft was reduced to 46 meters, the wingspan was 27 meters. The total weight of the aircraft was also reduced to 170 tons, the weight of the engines and reactor was about 30 tons, the crew capsule and aircraft equipment were 38 tons, and the payload was 25 tons.

But this plane was not destined to be built.

“Atomic Seaplane Project”

The Myasishchev Design Bureau was urgently involved in the creation of a multi-stage ballistic missile, and in 1960 it was completely liquidated by joining another design bureau.

For the team of the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau there was a more realistic task of developing a strategic bomber, which was supposed to be subsonic.

In 1955, further information from USSR intelligence forced us to once again speed up the creation of the aircraft. The United States conducted test flights of the nuclear-powered B-36.

A scientific council was convened, which decided that the flight was powered by ordinary engines, but with a nuclear reactor. Tupolev was asked to do the same experiment together with Kurchatov.

The Tupolev Design Bureau began developing a flying nuclear laboratory based on the existing Tu-95 production aircraft. A series of lectures by the best nuclear physicists on atomic processes, reactors, protection, materials, reaction control, etc. were organized for Tupolev engineers.

At these lectures, joint discussions arose on the use of nuclear technologies in addition to the limitations of aircraft construction requirements. As a result, a team of scientists and designers developed a compact nuclear reactor that could fit into the fuselage of a Tu-95 aircraft.

The main goal of creating a flying nuclear laboratory based on the Tu-95 is to study the radiation effect on the life of the aircraft; assessment of radiation protection systems; study of the reflection of radiation from air masses at different altitudes.

Many design bureaus worked on the creation of LAL based on the Tu-95, which modified the basic equipment of the aircraft.

"Ground stand for nuclear reactor testing"

To evaluate and test the operation of the reactor, a ground model was built from part of the fuselage from the Tu-95.

Radiation protection at LAL used new metal alloys not previously used in aircraft production. All alloys were developed at the Design Bureau of Non-Metals together with the Research Institute of the Chemical Industry.

The ground stand was ready by 1958 at the Semipalatinsk test site, and in June the reactor on a mock-up was launched. The first launch was successful: the reactor accelerated to operating power, the control system and radiation protection were developed, and instructions were developed for the LAL crew.

The flying laboratory received the designation Tu-95LAL; earlier, the Tu-95M strategic bomber was converted from which its weapons were removed. The crew was protected in a sealed cabin, which was closed with a five-centimeter lead plate and a twenty-centimeter plate made of protective materials polyethylene and ceresin.

The aircraft was equipped with sensors to record the level of radiation emission in the bomb bay, in the crew cabin, one sensor each on the wings and in the tail of the aircraft.

The nuclear reactor was isolated in a special shell made of lead and combined materials. At the same time, it was not connected to the engines, but was used only as a radiation source.

“Reactor placement on the Tu-95LAL”

Distilled water was used as a coolant, which heated up and transferred its heat to the heat exchanger of another water circuit. Next, the second circuit was cooled through a water-air radiator, blown by air flows through the existing air intake in the aircraft fuselage.

The reactor turned out to be slightly larger than the fuselage of the aircraft, so it had to be slightly expanded around the fuselage. As a result, the protection of the reactor was effective, allowing the protection in the crew capsule and other equipment to be reduced.

In the period 1959-1960, the Tu-95LAL nuclear reactor aircraft was ready and based at an airfield in the Moscow region. Minister Dementev personally came to see him. During the fall of 1961, the aircraft made 34 successful missions. Test pilots M.M. Nyukhtikov, M.A. Zhila, E.A. Goryunov and scientific developers flew the aircraft, both with a working reactor and a stopped reactor.

During testing of the Tu-95LAL, satisfactory characteristics were obtained to protect the crew from radiation, but the bulky protection required a further reduction in weight characteristics.

The main problem in the operation of the Tu-95LAL was the consequences of the destruction of the reactor from a possible aircraft accident.

“Dismantling the reactor from the Tu-95LAL aircraft”

The degree of contamination of vast spaces with radioactive components predetermined the future fate of the Tu-95LAL. For almost ten years it was at the airfield near the Semipalatinsk test site and in 1970, after the reactor was removed, it was transferred to the Irkutsk Military Aviation School as a museum exhibit.

During “Gorbachev’s perestroika” and the reduction of military offensive weapons, the aircraft was recognized as a combat aircraft and was cut into scrap metal.

It would seem that the project of a strategic bomber with nuclear engines was abandoned, but the results obtained allowed the Tupolev Design Bureau to continue in parallel in the 1970s the development of another experimental project of the Tu-119 aircraft with engines capable of running on kerosene and energy from a nuclear reactor.

Such aircraft had to be completely abandoned when ballistic missiles were able to cross continents and could carry enough nuclear warheads to completely destroy a potential enemy. In addition, the problem of the safety of operating aircraft with a nuclear reactor was still not resolved, as was the case elsewhere in the United States.

As a result, the USSR Government considered that the huge funds allocated for the creation of the aircraft were less profitable than the intercontinental missiles created, and the projects of aircraft with nuclear reactors were closed.

Nevertheless, thanks to the Tu-95LAL aircraft project, unique research results were obtained that provided knowledge for other projects using a nuclear reactor.

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M-60 with coaxial engines

Seaplane M-60M

M-60M seaplane layout option

M-30 flight profile

Coastal nuclear seaplane base

Diagram of the M-30 high-altitude bomber

The advent of the atomic bomb gave rise to the temptation among the owners of this miracle weapon to win the war with just a few precise strikes on the enemy’s industrial centers. The only thing that stopped them was that these centers were located, as a rule, in the deep and well-protected rear. All post-war forces focused precisely on reliable means of delivering “special cargo”. The choice turned out to be small - ballistic and cruise missiles and ultra-long-range strategic aviation. At the end of the 40s, the whole world leaned towards bombers: such gigantic funds were allocated for the development of long-range aviation that the next decade became “golden” for the development of aviation. In a short time, many of the most fantastic projects and aircraft have appeared in the world. Even Great Britain, bloodless by the war, showed off its magnificent Valient and Vulcan strategic bombers. But the most incredible projects were strategic supersonic bombers with nuclear power plants. Even after half a century, they fascinate with their courage and madness.

Atomic trace

In 1952, the legendary B-52 took off in the United States, a year later the world’s first supersonic tactical bomber, the A-5 Vigilante, and three years later, the supersonic strategic XB-58 Hustler. The USSR did not lag behind: simultaneously with the B-52, the strategic intercontinental bomber Tu-95 took off into the air, and on July 9, 1961, the whole world was shocked by the giant supersonic bomber M-50 shown at the air parade in Tushino, which, rushing over the stands, made a slide and disappeared into sky. Few people realized that this was the last flight of the superbomber.

The fact is that the flight radius of the built specimen did not exceed 4000 km. And if this was enough for the United States, which surrounded the USSR with military bases, then to reach American territory from Soviet airfields a range of at least 16 thousand km was required. Calculations showed that even with two refuelings, the range of the M-50 with a “special cargo” weighing 5 tons did not exceed 14 thousand km. Moreover, such a flight required a whole lake of fuel (500 tons) for the bomber and tankers. To hit distant targets on US territory and freely select a flight route to bypass air defense areas, a range of 25 thousand km was required. Only aircraft with nuclear power plants could provide it during supersonic flight.

Such a project only now seems wild. In the early 1950s, it seemed no more extravagant than placing reactors on submarines: both gave an almost unlimited range of action. A quite ordinary resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1955 ordered the Tupolev Design Bureau to create a flying nuclear laboratory on the basis of the Tu-95 bomber, and the Myasishchev Design Bureau to carry out the project of a supersonic bomber “with special engines of chief designer Arkhip Lyulka.”

Special engines

A turbojet engine with a nuclear reactor (TRDA) is very similar in design to a conventional turbojet engine (TRE). Only if in a turbojet engine the thrust is created by hot gases expanding during the combustion of kerosene, then in a turbojet engine the air is heated as it passes through the reactor.

The core of an aviation nuclear reactor using thermal neutrons was composed of ceramic fuel elements, which had longitudinal hexagonal channels for the passage of heated air. The design thrust of the engine being developed was supposed to be 22.5 tons. Two options for the turbojet engine layout were considered - a “rocker arm”, in which the compressor shaft was located outside the reactor, and a “coaxial” one, where the shaft ran along the axis of the reactor. In the first version, the shaft worked in a gentle mode, in the second, special high-strength materials were required. But the coaxial version provided smaller engine sizes. Therefore, options with both propulsion systems were simultaneously studied.

The first nuclear-powered aircraft in the USSR was to be the M-60 bomber, developed on the basis of the existing M-50. Subject to the creation of an engine with a compact ceramic reactor, the aircraft being developed should have a flight range of at least 25 thousand km with a cruising speed of 3000-3200 km/h and a flight altitude of about 18-20 km. The take-off weight of the superbomber was to exceed 250 tons.

Flying Chernobyl

When looking at the sketches and models of all Myasishchev’s nuclear aircraft, one immediately notices the absence of a traditional flight deck: it is unable to protect pilots from radiation. Therefore, the crew of a nuclear aircraft had to be located in a sealed multilayer capsule (mainly lead), the mass of which, together with the life support system, amounted to 25% of the aircraft’s mass - more than 60 tons! The radioactivity of the external air (after all, it passed through the reactor) excluded the possibility of using it for breathing, so an oxygen-nitrogen mixture in a 1:1 ratio, obtained in special gasifiers by evaporating liquid gases, was used to pressurize the cabin. Similar to the anti-radiation systems used on tanks, excess pressure was maintained in the cabin, preventing atmospheric air from entering inside.

The lack of visual visibility had to be compensated for by an optical periscope, television and radar screens.

The ejection installation consisted of a seat and a protective container that protected the crew not only from the supersonic air flow, but also from the powerful radiation of the engine. The back wall had a 5cm lead coating.

It is clear that it was almost impossible to lift into the air, let alone land a 250-ton vehicle, clinging to the periscope eyepiece, so the bomber was equipped with a fully automatic aircraft navigation system, which provided autonomous take-off, climb, approach and aiming at the target, return and landing . (All this in the 50s - 30 years before the autonomous flight of Buran!)

After it became clear that the aircraft would be able to solve almost all problems on its own, the logical idea arose to make an unmanned version - lighter by just those same 60 tons. The absence of a bulky cabin also reduced the diameter of the aircraft by 3 m and the length by 4 m, which made it possible to create an aerodynamically more advanced glider of the “flying wing” type. However, the project did not find support in the Air Force: it was believed that the unmanned aircraft was not able to provide the maneuver necessary in the specific situation that had arisen, which led to the unmanned vehicle being more susceptible to damage.

Beach Bomber

The ground maintenance complex for nuclear aircraft was no less complex a structure than the aircraft themselves. Due to the strong radiation background, almost all work was automated: refueling, weapon suspension, crew delivery. Nuclear engines were stored in a special storage facility and mounted on the aircraft immediately before departure. Moreover, irradiation of materials in flight by a stream of neutrons led to activation of the aircraft structure. The residual radiation was so strong that it made it impossible to freely approach the vehicle without special measures for 23 months after the engines were removed. To park such aircraft, special areas were allocated at the airfield complex, and the design of the machines themselves provided for the quick installation of the main blocks using manipulators. The gigantic mass of atomic bombers required special runways with a coating thickness of about 0.5 m. It was clear that such a complex was extremely vulnerable in the event of the outbreak of war.

That is why, under the designation M-60M, a supersonic seaplane with a nuclear engine was being developed in parallel. Each basing area for such aircraft, designed to serve 10-15 seaplanes, occupied a stretch of coastline of 50-100 km, which ensured a sufficient degree of dispersion. The bases could be located not only in the south of the country. In the USSR, the experience of Sweden in maintaining water areas in a non-freezing state all year round in 1959 was carefully studied. Using simple equipment for supplying air through pipes, the Swedes were able to circulate warm layers of water from the bottom of reservoirs. The bases themselves were supposed to be built in powerful coastal rock formations.

The nuclear seaplane had a rather unusual layout. The air intakes were 1.4 m away from the water surface, which prevented water from entering them during waves up to force 4. The jet nozzles of the lower engines, located at a height of 0.4 m, were, if necessary, half blocked by special flaps. However, the feasibility of the flaps was questioned: the seaplane was supposed to be on the water only with the engines turned on. With the reactors removed, the aircraft was based in a special self-propelled dock.

To take off from the water surface, a unique combination of retractable hydrofoils, bow and underwing hydroskis was used. This design reduced the cross-sectional area of ​​the aircraft by 15% and reduced its weight. The M-60M seaplane, like its land relative M-60, could remain with a combat load of 18 tons at an altitude of 15 km for more than a day, which made it possible to solve the main tasks. However, severe suspected radiation contamination of the base sites led to the project being closed in March 1957.

In the wake of submarines

The closure of the M-60 project did not at all mean the cessation of work on atomic topics. An end was given only to nuclear power plants with an “open” scheme - when atmospheric air passed directly through the reactor, subject to severe radiation contamination. It should be noted that the M-60 project began to be developed when there was not even any experience in creating nuclear submarines. The first nuclear submarine K-3 "Leninsky Komsomol" was launched in 1957 - exactly the year work on the M-60 ceased. The K-3 reactor operated according to a “closed” scheme. The coolant was heated in the reactor, which then turned water into steam. Due to the fact that the coolant was constantly in a closed, isolated circuit, radiation contamination of the environment did not occur. The success of such a scheme in the navy intensified work in this area in aviation. By government decree of 1959, the Myasishchev Design Bureau was entrusted with the development of a new high-altitude aircraft, the M-30, with a “closed” nuclear power plant. The aircraft was intended to carry out strikes with bombs and guided missiles against particularly important small-sized targets in the United States and aircraft carrier strike formations in the ocean.

The development of the engine for the new aircraft was entrusted to the Kuznetsov Design Bureau. When designing, the designers were faced with an unpleasant paradox - a drop in the thrust of a nuclear engine with decreasing altitude. (For conventional aircraft, everything was exactly the opposite - the thrust dropped with altitude.) The search began for the optimal aerodynamic design. In the end, we settled on a canard design with a variable-sweep wing and a stacked engine arrangement. A single reactor through powerful closed pipelines was supposed to deliver liquid coolant (lithium and sodium) to 6 NK-5 air-breathing engines. Additional use of hydrocarbon fuel was provided for during takeoff, reaching cruising speed and performing maneuvers in the target area. By the middle of 1960, the preliminary draft of the M30 was ready. Due to the much lower radioactive background from the new propulsion system, the protection of the crew was significantly facilitated, and the cabin received glazing made of lead glass and plexiglass with a total thickness of 11 cm. Two K-22 guided missiles were provided as the main armament. According to plans, the M-30 was supposed to take off no later than 1966.

Button War

However, in 1960, a historic meeting took place on the prospects for the development of strategic weapons systems. As a result, Khrushchev made decisions for which he is still called the gravedigger of aviation. To be honest, Nikita Sergeevich has nothing to do with it. At the meeting, the rocket scientists, led by Korolev, spoke much more convincingly than the disunited aircraft manufacturers. When asked how long it takes to prepare the departure of a strategic bomber with nuclear weapons on board, the pilots answered - a day. It took the rocket men minutes: “We just need to spin up the gyroscopes.” In addition, they did not require many kilometers of expensive runways. The ability of bombers to overcome air defense systems also raised serious doubts, while they have not yet learned how to effectively intercept ballistic missiles. The military and Khrushchev were completely overwhelmed by the prospect of a “push-button war” of the future, colorfully described by the rocket scientists. The result of the meeting was that aircraft manufacturers were asked to take on some of the orders on missile issues. All aircraft projects were suspended. The M-30 was Myasishchev's last aviation project. In October, the Myasishchev Design Bureau was finally transferred to the rocket and space theme, and Myasishchev himself was removed from the post of director.

If aircraft designers had been more convincing in 1960, who knows what kind of planes would be flying in the skies today. And so, we can only admire the bold dreams on the cover of Popular Mechanics and admire the crazy ideas of the 60s.

Since 1951, in the United States, as part of a program to evaluate the possibility of building a bomber with an unlimited range and flight duration, a practical stage began to test a nuclear reactor for the nuclear power plant of a strategic bomber. And already on September 17, 1955, the experimental aircraft NB-36H with a nuclear reactor on board made its first flight. This program was closed after a series of flight tests in 1957.

This information became known to the leadership of the USSR and in 1955, within the framework of the notorious “catch up and overtake America”, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of Ministers, work began on an aircraft engine, an aircraft nuclear reactor, and from 1956 on the aircraft itself with a nuclear power plant. The purpose of this work, as in the USA, is to assess the possibility of creating an aircraft that carries nuclear weapons with an unlimited range and long flight duration.

NB-36H - American aircraft for testing an aviation nuclear reactor

It must be able to rise from its airfield during a threatened period and remain on duty in the air in the holding area. Thus, in the event of the outbreak of a nuclear war, its invulnerability from the first strike of the enemy was ensured. After the outbreak of a nuclear war, the plane was supposed to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike on enemy territory. A nuclear-powered bomber was best suited for this role.

To test the possibility of placing and operating on an aircraft the main element of a nuclear power plant - a nuclear reactor (primarily from the point of view of the impact on the crew and equipment), a decision was made to convert the largest aircraft at that time in the USSR - the Tu-95 strategic bomber into flying laboratory - Tu-95LAL.

Work on the creation of an aviation nuclear reactor was carried out at the Institute of I.V. Kurchatov under the leadership of A.P. Aleksandrov. For placement on the flying laboratory, an experimental water-water reactor created earlier at the Kurchatov Institute was chosen (water acts both as a neutron moderator and as a coolant) with a 2-circuit cooling system (first circuit: reactor core - intermediate heat exchanger, second circuit : intermediate heat exchanger – external heat exchanger). In order to shorten the flight phase of testing and gain experience with the reactor, in 1958, a ground test stand, a copy of an aircraft compartment with a nuclear reactor, was created at one of the airfields near Semipalatinsk (Kazakh SSR). The nuclear reactor was installed on a special platform with a lift and, if necessary, it could be lowered. From June 1959 to 1961 An aviation nuclear reactor was tested at this stand. During its tests, it was possible to reach a given power level, test the reactor control and radiation monitoring devices, check the protection system, and develop recommendations for the crew of the flying laboratory.

The Tu-95M serial strategic bomber with four NK-12M turboprop engines with a power of 15,000 hp was converted into the Tu-95LAL flying laboratory. All weapons were removed from the aircraft. The crew were in the front pressurized cabin, which also housed a radiation sensor. A protective screen made of a 5-cm lead plate and combined materials (polyethylene and ceresin) with a total thickness of about 20 cm was installed behind the cabin. A second radiation sensor was installed in the bomb bay. Closer to the tail of the plane there was a nuclear reactor. The third radiation sensor was located at the rear of the aircraft in the rear gunner's cockpit. Two more sensors were mounted under the wing consoles in non-removable metal fairings. All radiation monitoring sensors were rotatable around a vertical axis for orientation in the desired direction.

The reactor itself was surrounded by a powerful biological protective shield, consisting of lead and combined materials, and had no connection with the aircraft engines. The primary circuit water, heated in the reactor core, gave up heat in the intermediate heat exchanger to the secondary circuit water, which in turn was cooled in the external heat exchanger. The external heat exchanger was a conventional radiator, which was cooled in flight by air flow through a large air intake under the fuselage. The reactor extended slightly beyond the contours of the aircraft fuselage and was covered with metal fairings on the top, bottom and sides. Since the biological protection of a nuclear reactor was considered quite effective, it included windows that could be opened remotely in flight for conducting experiments on reflected radiation. The windows made it possible to create radiation beams in different directions.

The Tu-95LAL was operated as follows. A nuclear reactor with a biological protection system was installed on a platform, which, similar to a bomb suspension system, was lifted into the bomb bay of an aircraft, and there the aircraft systems were docked with the reactor. The launch of a nuclear reactor due to the conditions for ensuring guaranteed heat removal from the core (in the presence of sufficient air flow through the external heat exchanger) was carried out in flight. The reactor was also shut down in the air in advance of the plane landing (a certain time is required to cool down an already shut down reactor).

From May to August 1961, 34 flights were carried out with a “cold” and operating nuclear reactor. The results obtained provided a wealth of statistical material on the placement and operation of a nuclear reactor on an aircraft (primarily on radiation and the biological protection system) and confirmed the fundamental possibility of creating a nuclear power plant for a strategic bomber. The main problem that may arise during the operation of this type of aircraft was also identified - the danger of radioactive contamination of a vast area in the event of an aircraft accident.

Based on ground bench and flight tests at the Tu-95LAL flying laboratory, in 1965 work began on a prototype of the future strategic bomber - an experimental aircraft with a nuclear power plant Tu-119, and in 1966 on the An-22PLO anti-submarine aircraft.

In the late 60s - early 70s of the XX century, with the advent of new means of delivering nuclear weapons (primarily nuclear submarines equipped with intercontinental-range ballistic missiles and capable of delivering retaliatory strikes from the coastal regions of their country), the need for a strategic bomber with unlimited range and long flight duration were no longer needed. Work on the Tu-119 never progressed beyond the drawing board, but the program to create the An-22PLO anti-submarine aircraft was continued.

Estimated performance characteristics of the An-22PLO with a nuclear power plant:

— flight range — 27500 km
— flight duration — 50 hours

On the An-22 “Antey” allocated for testing within the framework of the “Aist” program in the Semipalatinsk region, a series of flight experiments were carried out on the operation of a new type of aviation nuclear reactor - the basis of the future nuclear power plant. A total of 23 flights were carried out during 1972. A new series of flight experiments with an operating nuclear reactor on board was successfully completed, and the necessary data were obtained for the design of a sufficiently efficient and safe aviation nuclear power plant. The Soviet Union nevertheless overtook the United States, coming close to creating a real nuclear aircraft. This car was radically different from the concepts of the 1950s. with open cycle reactors, the operation of which would be associated with enormous difficulties and cause enormous harm to the environment. Thanks to the new protection and closed cycle, radiation contamination of the aircraft structure and air was minimized, and in environmental terms, such a machine even had certain advantages over chemical-fueled aircraft. In any case, if everything works properly, then the exhaust stream of a nuclear engine contains nothing but clean heated air. In the event of a flight accident, environmental safety problems in the An-22PLO project were not sufficiently resolved. The reactor's emergency protection rods stopped the chain reaction, but again, if the reactor was not damaged. What happens if this happens as a result of hitting the ground and the rods do not take the desired position? It seems that it was precisely the danger of such a development of events that did not allow this project to be realized in metal.

However, Soviet designers and scientists continued to search for a solution to the problem. Moreover, in addition to the anti-submarine function, a new use has been found for the nuclear aircraft. It arose as a logical development of the trend towards increasing the invulnerability of strategic nuclear weapons carriers. To increase the invulnerability of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the USSR, they were installed on mobile carriers - automobile chassis and railway platforms. The next logical step would be to place them on a plane that would patrol over its territory or over the ocean. Due to its mobility, this strategic aviation complex would be invulnerable to enemy weapons, and taken into the air during a threatened period would ensure the inevitability of a retaliatory strike in the event of the outbreak of a nuclear war. The main quality of such an aircraft was to spend as long as possible in flight, which means that the nuclear power plant suited it perfectly.

Finally, a solution was found that guarantees nuclear safety even in the event of a flight accident. The reactor, together with the first heat exchange circuit, was designed as an autonomous unit, equipped with a parachute system and capable of separating from the aircraft at a critical moment and performing a soft landing. Thus, even if the plane crashed, the danger of radiation contamination of the area would be negligible.

But the implementation of this project was prevented by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. A motif that occurs quite often in Russian history was repeated: as soon as everything was ready to solve the problem, the problem itself disappeared.

Let's hope that humanity will someday again need an aircraft with unlimited range and flight duration. And let him not be a military man but a civilian. And then future designers will be able to rely on the results of the work of our contemporaries.

Literature:

1. V.S. Yeger. Unknown Tupolev. - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2009.
2. N.V. Yakubovich. Unknown Antonov. - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2009.
3. Website "Masterok. LJ. RF". Article “Nuclear aircraft”.
4. "We are monitoring the information" website. Article "

In the post-war period, the world of the victors was intoxicated by the nuclear possibilities that had opened up. Moreover, we are talking not only about weapons potential, but also about the completely peaceful use of the atom. In the USA, for example, in addition to nuclear tanks, they started talking about creating even such household little things as vacuum cleaners powered by a nuclear chain reaction.

In 1955, the head of Lewyt promised to release a nuclear vacuum cleaner within the next 10 years

In early 1946, the United States, then still the only country with a nuclear arsenal, decided to create a nuclear-powered aircraft. But due to unexpected difficulties, the work progressed extremely slowly. Only nine years later was it possible to fly a plane with a nuclear reactor on board. According to Soviet intelligence, it was too early to talk about a full-fledged glider with a nuclear engine: the secret facility was indeed equipped with a nuclear installation, but it was not connected to the engines and served only for testing.

Nevertheless, there was nowhere to go - since the Americans had come so far, it means that the USSR should carry out work in the same direction. On August 12 of the same 1955, Resolution No. 1561-868 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued, ordering aviation enterprises to begin designing a Soviet nuclear aircraft.

Flying "duck" M-60/M-30

A difficult task was assigned to several design bureaus at once. In particular, the bureau of A. N. Tupolev and V. M. Myasishchev had to develop aircraft capable of operating on nuclear power plants. And the bureau of N.D. Kuznetsov and A.M. Lyulka was commissioned to build those same power plants. These, like all other atomic projects of the USSR, were supervised by the “father” of the Soviet atomic bomb, Igor Kurchatov.

Why were the same tasks assigned to several design bureaus? Thus, the government wanted to support the competitive nature of the work of engineers. The gap from the United States was considerable, so it was necessary to catch up with the Americans by any means necessary.

All workers were warned that this was a project of national importance, on which the security of the homeland depends. According to the engineers, overtime work was not encouraged - it was considered the norm. Theoretically, the employee could go home at 18:00, but his colleagues looked at him as an accomplice of the enemy of the people. There was no need to return the next day.

At first, Myasishchev Design Bureau took the initiative. The engineers there proposed a project for the M-60 supersonic bomber. In fact, the talk was about equipping the already existing M-50 with a nuclear reactor. The problem of the first supersonic strategic carrier in the USSR, the M-50, was precisely its catastrophic fuel “appetites.” Even with two mid-air refuelings with 500 tons of kerosene, the bomber could hardly fly to Washington and return.

It seemed that all issues should have been solved by a nuclear engine, which guaranteed an almost unlimited range and duration of flight. A few grams of uranium would be enough for tens of hours of flight. It was believed that in emergency cases the crew could patrol the air non-stop for two weeks.

The M-60 aircraft was planned to be equipped with an open-type nuclear power plant, designed in the bureau of Arkhip Lyulka. Such engines were noticeably simpler and cheaper, but, as it later turned out, they had no place in aviation.

Combined turbojet-nuclear engine. 1 - electric starter; 2 - dampers; 3 - direct-flow air duct; 4 - compressor; 5 - combustion chamber; 6 - nuclear reactor body; 7 - fuel assembly

So, for safety reasons, the nuclear installation had to be located as far as possible from the crew. The rear fuselage was the best fit. It was planned to place four nuclear turbojet engines there. Next was the bomb bay and, finally, the cockpit. They wanted to place the pilots in a solid lead capsule weighing 60 tons. It was planned to compensate for the lack of visual visibility using radar and television screens, as well as periscopes. Many crew functions were assigned to automation, and subsequently it was proposed to completely transfer the device to fully autonomous unmanned control.

Crew cabin. 1 - dashboard; 2 - ejection capsules; 3 - emergency hatch; 4 - position of the hatch cover when entering and exiting the cabin and ejecting; 5 - lead; 6 - lithium hydride; 7 - hatch drive

Due to the “dirty” type of engines used, maintenance of the M-60 supersonic strategic bomber had to be carried out with minimal human intervention. Thus, the power plants had to be “attached” to the aircraft right before the flight in automatic mode. Refueling, delivery of pilots, preparation of weapons - all this also had to be done by “robots”. Of course, to service such aircraft, a complete restructuring of the existing airfield infrastructure was required, including the construction of new runways at least half a meter thick.

Due to all these difficulties, the project to create the M-60 had to be closed at the drawing stage. Instead, it was planned to build another nuclear aircraft - the M-30 with a closed-type nuclear installation. The design of the reactor was much more complex, but the issue of radiation protection was not so pressing. The plane was to be equipped with six turbojet engines powered by one nuclear reactor. If necessary, the power plant could also run on kerosene. The weight of the crew protection and engines was almost half that of the M-60, thanks to which the aircraft could carry a payload of 25 tons.

The first flight of the M-30 with a wingspan of about 30 meters was planned for 1966. However, this machine was not destined to leave the drawings and at least partially become reality. By 1960, in the confrontation between aviation and rocket scientists, there was a sign of victory for the latter. Khrushchev was convinced that airplanes are not as important today as they used to be, and the key role in the fight against an external enemy has passed to missiles. The result is the curtailment of almost all promising nuclear aircraft programs and the restructuring of the corresponding design bureaus. Myasishchev Design Bureau did not escape this fate either, which lost its status as an independent unit and was reoriented to the rocket and space industry. But aircraft manufacturers still had one last hope.

Subsonic "carcass"

The design bureau of A. N. Tupolev was more fortunate. Here, engineers, in parallel with the Myasishchevites, worked on their own nuclear aircraft project. But unlike the M-60 or M-30, it was a model much closer to reality. Firstly, it was about creating a subsonic bomber on a nuclear power plant, which was much easier compared to developing a supersonic aircraft. Secondly, the machine did not need to be reinvented at all - the already existing Tu-95 bomber was suitable for the intended purposes. In fact, it was only necessary to equip it with a nuclear reactor.

In March 1956, the Council of Ministers of the USSR instructed Tupolev to begin designing a flying nuclear laboratory based on the serial Tu-95. First of all, it was necessary to do something about the dimensions of existing nuclear reactors. It’s one thing to equip a huge icebreaker with a nuclear installation, for which there were virtually no weight and size restrictions. It is quite another to place the reactor in the rather limited space of the fuselage.

Nuclear scientists argued that in any case we must count on an installation the size of a small house. And yet, the engineers of the Tupolev Design Bureau were given the task of reducing the size of the reactor at any cost. Every extra kilogram of weight of the power plant pulls along with it, in the form of protection, another three extra kilograms of load on the aircraft. Therefore, the struggle was literally for every gram. There were no restrictions - as much money was allocated as needed. The designer who found a way to reduce the weight of the installation was paid a substantial bonus.

In the end, Andrei Tupolev showed a reactor the size of a huge one, but still a cabinet, and one that fully complies with all protection requirements. According to legend, the aircraft designer, not without pride, declared that “they don’t carry houses on airplanes,” and the chief Soviet nuclear scientist Igor Kurchatov was at first sure that in front of him was only a mock-up of the reactor, and not a working model.

As a result, the installation was accepted and approved. However, first it was necessary to conduct a series of ground tests. Based on the middle part of the bomber fuselage, a stand with a nuclear installation was built at one of the airfields near Semipalatinsk. During testing, the reactor reached the specified power level. As it turned out, the biggest problem concerned not so much the reactor as biosecurity and the operation of electronics - living organisms received too high a dose of radiation, and devices could behave unpredictably. It was decided that from now on the main attention should be paid not to the reactor, which in principle was ready for use in aircraft, but to reliable protection against radiation.

The first defense options were too grandiose. Participants in the events recall a filter the height of a 14-story building, 12 “floors” of which went underground, and two rose above the surface. The thickness of the protective layer reached half a meter. Of course, it was impossible to find practical application for such technologies in an aircraft.

Maybe it was worth using the work of Myasishchev Design Bureau engineers and hiding the crew in a lead capsule without windows or doors. This option was not suitable due to its size and weight. Therefore, they came up with a completely new type of protection. It consisted of a coating of lead plates 5 centimeters thick and a 20-centimeter layer of polyethylene and ceresin - a product obtained from petroleum raw materials and vaguely reminiscent of laundry soap.

Surprisingly, the Tupolev bureau managed to survive the difficult year for aircraft designers in 1960. Not least due to the fact that the nuclear-powered aircraft based on the Tu-95 was already a very real machine, capable of taking off into the air on nuclear power in the coming years. All that remains is to conduct air tests.

In May 1961, the Tu-95M bomber No. 7800408, packed with sensors, took to the skies with a nuclear reactor on board and four turboprop engines with a capacity of 15,000 horsepower each. The nuclear power plant was not connected to the engines - the plane was flying on jet fuel, and the operating reactor was still needed in order to assess the behavior of the equipment and the level of radiation exposure of the pilots. In total, from May to August the bomber made 34 test flights.

It turned out that during the two-day flight the pilots received 5 rem of radiation. For comparison, today it is considered normal for nuclear power plant workers to be exposed to radiation of up to 2 rem, but not for two days, but for a year. It was assumed that the crew of the nuclear aircraft would include men over 40 years of age who already have children.

The radiation was also absorbed by the body of the bomber, which after the flight had to be isolated for “cleaning” for several days. In general, radiation protection was considered effective, but not fully developed. In addition, for a long time no one knew what to do with possible accidents of nuclear aircraft and the subsequent contamination of large spaces with nuclear components. Subsequently, it was proposed to equip the reactor with a parachute system, capable of, in an emergency, separating the nuclear installation from the aircraft body and landing it softly.

But it was too late - suddenly no one needed nuclear bombers. It turned out to be much more convenient and cheaper to pelt enemies with something more deadly with the help of intercontinental ballistic missiles or stealthy nuclear submarines. Andrei Tupolev, however, did not lose hope of building an aircraft. He hoped that in the 1970s the development of supersonic nuclear-powered Tu-120 aircraft would begin, but these hopes were not destined to come true. Following the United States in the mid-1960s, the USSR stopped all research related to nuclear aircraft. The nuclear reactor was also planned to be used in aircraft aimed at hunting submarines. They even carried out several tests of the An-22 with a nuclear installation on board, but one could only dream of the previous scope. Despite the fact that the USSR came very close to creating a nuclear aircraft (in fact, all that remained was to connect the nuclear installation to the engines), they never reached the dream.

The Tu-95, converted and undergone dozens of tests, which could have become the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft, stood at the airfield near Semipalatinsk for a long time. After the reactor was removed, the plane was transferred to the Irkutsk Military Aviation Technical School, and during perestroika it was scrapped.

For the last hundred years, aviation has played such a large role in the history of mankind that one or another project could easily revolutionize the development of civilization. Who knows, perhaps if history had taken a slightly different path, and today nuclear-powered passenger planes would be plying the skies, grandma’s carpets would be cleaned with nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners, smartphones would only need to be charged once every five years, and to Mars and back five times every spaceships would cruise around every day. It seemed that half a century ago a most difficult task had been solved. But no one took advantage of the results of the decision.