ST Engineering AirX (AirX), ST Engineering’s joint venture with Peluca (formerly known as Wigetworks), is to collaborate with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in the trials of AirX’s AirFish wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) craft, ST Engineering announced on 9 April 2024.
AirX intends to trial both single- and dual-engine AirFish 8 WIG prototypes, which can seat up to eight passengers.
Platforms such as WIG craft, which ‘fly’ just above the sea surface by gaining support from the cushioning effect of the air under them against the water’s surface, are governed by guidelines from the International Maritime Organization. WIG craft thus utilise the same collision avoidance rules as conventional ships.
The collaboration is a step towards realising the potential of such technology, initially in areas such as maritime transportation and logistics services.
AirX will work with the MPA to identify an area off Changi, Singapore, for the conduct of the trials. The MPA will also ensure that measures are in place so that port operations will not be affected during the trials, including sending out advance notification to vessels and the public to keep clear of the area. The trials, which will contribute to the establishment of an Engineering and Certification Centre of Excellence for WIG in Singapore to further attract professionals into the maritime domain, are expected to commence from the third quarter of 2024 at a frequency of twice monthly.
AirX will also work with a classification society on the process and compliance requirements for an Approval in Principle (AiP): a validated third-party technical assessment and certification milestone for the vehicle’s classification as a marine vessel before it can commence any commercial operations. The AiP will be awarded by a classification society upon assessment of the WIG craft’s compliance with safety, quality and environmental standards.
The fact that WIG craft are much faster and fuel efficient compared to conventional ships, since they avoid drag from the water, saw the technology pursued from the 1960s by countries that included the Soviet Union, which called the craft ekranoplans. A few examples of the 125-tonne A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplan saw service with the Soviet Navy from 1979 until 1992 as high-speed military transports, while a single 380-tonne Lun-class ekranoplan was deployed as an anti-ship missile platform from 1987 until the late 1990s.
However, the fact that WIG craft spend the entirety of their operations in close proximity to the water’s surface can invite certain dangers. A Soviet-built ekranoplan called the Korabl Maket (KM), which had a maximum take-off weight of 544 tonnes and was thus dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster by Western intelligence, first flew on 16 October 1966, but was destroyed by a crash caused by pilot error in 1980.
Since the 1980s WIG craft developed by various countries have generally been smaller civilian platforms, although in 2022 the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched the Liberty Lifter programme to develop a seaplane around the size of a C-17 airlifter that could extend its range by also operating as a WIG craft.
