The bureau has signed the ambitious contract with the Vietnamese Academy of Natural Sciences and Technologies. It envisages conceptual and detail design, production and service forms and records, instruction manuals, and spare part supplies by companies on the Speed Fleet industrial-and-finance group. It comprises Nizhni Novgorod-based Alexeyev Bureau industrial affiliates and the Volga Shipyard.
The Alexeyev Bureau has been appointed head designer, also to supervise machine building by Vietnamese shipyards. The work is to start before the year's end, to be preceded by signing an initial stage contract.
Ground-effect vehicles are low-flying craft whose movement bases on the ground effect to enhance aerodynamic lift and reduce air resistance. All that offers spectacular aerodynamic properties. The unique craft combine aircraft speed with naval vessels' independent navigation, whether in a still or
rough sea. The machines are very seaworthy at takeoff and landing, comparable to naval vessels of a similar displacement. They do not tough the water surface, so their sea-going ability is as good as limitless at cruising mode.
Established in the 1960s, the bureau owes its name to Rostislav Alekseeva, its founding father and hydrofoil pioneer. It has long engaged in ground-effect machine theory and experiments. Prototypes have been tested with a takeoff mass varying from 1.5 tonnes to 500 tonnes and even more.
