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'Abandoned Ekranoplan'

Interesting - she shows up on Google Earth too.

If those missiles were intended to knock out NATO ships, I wonder what she was doing in the Caspian Sea ?
 
That particular 'beastie' was also known as "The Caspian Sea Monster". Numerous reports had them in various locations, in and around the Caspian Sea. It carried the "Sunburn" missle in those tubes and in the case of "knocking out NATO ships" it was definately overkill. Scarey part about it all, that thing could fly!!! (Several feet off the water surface at an impressive rate of speed, given it's sheer size and bulk).

BB686:USA-flag:
 
I think sometime in the future somebody will rediscover this concept and use it for expedite transoceanic shipping. Too bad the Russians did not take it any further.
 
The "Lun", as it was so called was a modification of a search and rescue "ekranoplan". Basically a much sleeker version, without the missle tubes and the gun placements. I believe that it may have been a question of funding that parked the Lun. In whatever case, it's probably a good thing that we don't have to deal with such issues on the high seas. The Lun was a very capable vessel.

I was facinated with this craft when I first read about it. So much so that I "drive"/ "fly" a model of the Lun in FS9. Can't comment on the accuracy of the flight dynamics, but if the developers did their research, that tub can really cook along.... :isadizzy:

BB686:USA-flag:
 
It's a concept that surely must at some point achieve commercial success, one of the few crossover vehicles that gets the best of both worlds, rather than the worst (like the plane-car).
Ekranoplan is so much nicer than WIG (What were they thinking... WiGe maybe, but WIG?? will never fly).

Ten years ago, Boeing took a look with its 1500-ton Pelican:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Pelican

Beriev has a fascinating concept
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriev_Be-2500
This 2500 ton monster would start in ground effect, and as it burned off fuel, fly to 30,000ft for the fast middle sector.
The last bit would be back in ground effect, and would dock as a ship.
 
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