Russia Continues With "UFO Program" Over Lenin's Birthplace

WAPA - Russia has launched a program to build a powerful, multi-purpose airship that will certainly cause many UFO reports. This time, though, the words "Flying saucer" are not inappropriate at all.

The first such aerostate is officially named "Aerostatic thermoballasted vehicle": simply "Locomoskyner", after its manufacturer LocomoSky. A prototype flying saucer (presented at "MAKS 2009 air show") was seven meters (23 feet) in diameter and was able to transport 20 kg (44.4 lbs) of cargo. The company, however, plans to produce aircraft with a cargo-carrying a passenger capacity of up to 11,000 people and up to 600 tons of cargo. It will be able to hover, perform a vertical landing, move in a straight line with speeds close to 100 kmph, turn around and will need no special ground-based facilities to land.

The flying saucer will have low fuel consumption as compared to ordinary aircraft due to its aerodynamic form and will be able to transport outsized cargoes to remote and inaccessible areas. The "Locomoskayner" airship takes to the air with nothing more than helium, but will also have special outfitted hot air cells to regulate its buoyancy.

Propulsion of the craft is provided by several electric motors, and small wings on the periphery of its disc-shaped hull give the vehicle extra lift in flight. Locomoskyner unusual shape, which strikingly resembles an unidentified flying object (UFO) also gives it extra stability, and ability to resist wind currents to hover for extended periods above targets on the ground.

According to the regional government's estimates, the project will attract over $90 billion in investments. It will also create about 800 jobs and bring some $4 million to the budget in tax payments.

The five-year project is based in the city of Ulyanovsk (originally named Simbirsk, Lenin's birthplace), 893 km east of Moscow.