The EKR was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 intermediate range cruise missile

Cruise missile

A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...

 designed by the Korolev design bureau based on B. Chertok's elaboration of the German R-13 cruise missile design.

By 1951 - 1953 the Korolev bureau had prepared an experimental design, incorporating a prototype astronavigation system. In 1953 an expert commission examined the design and felt that there were still many technical problems needing to be solved, which would be better handled by an aircraft designer rather than Korolev. Additionally, Korolev's chief priority was the development of the R-7 ICBM. In 1954 a government decree authorised the Lavochkin

Lavochkin

NPO Lavochkin is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being the developer and manufacturer of the Fregat upper stage, as well as interplanetary probes such as Phobos Grunt...

 and Myasishchev

Myasishchev

V. M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau or OKB-23, founded in 1951 by Vladimir Myasishchev) was one of the chief Soviet aerospace design bureaus until its dissolution in 1960. Vladimir Myasishchev went on to head TsAGI...

 aircraft design bureaus to proceed in parallel with full-scale development of trisonic intercontinental cruise missiles.

The EKR as designed by Korolev would have been a Mach 3 ramjet

Ramjet

A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...

, accelerated to supersonic cruise speed by an R-11 rocket booster. Smaller than the missile proposed by the Germans, it would have had a range of 730 km with a flight time of 927 seconds, a lift to drag ratio of 2.51, and a wing area of 3.31 m².

General characteristics

• Function: Nuclear cruise missile
• Launch mass: 7,874 kg (17,359 lb)
• Total length: 21.00 m (68.00 ft)
• Launch platform: Launch pad
• Status: Canceled

Launch booster (stage 1)

• Function: Launch booster
• Engine: S2.253 rocket engine
• Length: 8.29 m (27.19 ft)
• Diameter: 0.88 m (2.88 ft)
• Thrust: 107.333 kN (24,129 lbf)
• Oxidizer: LOx
• Combustible: Kerosene
  Kerosene
  Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
  
  

Cruise missile (stage 2)

• Engine: 1× EKR ramjet
• Speed : Mach 3
• Range: 730 km
• Flight altitude:
• Warhead: 200 kg (440 lb)
• Length: 9.43 m (30.95 ft)
• Diameter: 0.65 m (2.13 ft)
• Wing span: 2.02 m (6.62 ft)
• Wing area: 3.31 m²