When the vessel was later photographed sitting in water the questions started to fly " what is it ?
Ekranoplan is a Russian word it means 'screen craft' or 'skimmer'. It is not a plane nor is it a ship, moreover its a mixture of both.
The craft moves along on a dynamic cushion of air that is generated by its forward movement.
It has similar characteristics of the common hovercraft in that it flies just above the surface of the water as it moves.
However, it will not hover whilst stationary but just sit and float in the water like a boat.
These craft are big and fast and were kept secret from the west until the fall of communism in the early 1.990's, when information about them was slowly revealed.
By the time that country realized what was going on, it would have been too late.
The front of the fuselage would have opened to allow soldiers, tanks, trucks, jeeps, and armored cars to deploy and invade.
You have to imagine several hundred of these craft, all flying at over 290 knots, all under radar in a mass invasion.
We could then fully realise the element of surprise that they would have had.
This relatively simple craft that just uses a bit of leverage from the air around its short wings is something that the western powers had not fully researched, if at all.
You have to admit its one hell of ship, fast, manoeuvrable, and heavily armed but maybe not so well protected.
Unlike a warship that has armor plating, the Ekranoplan would be susceptible to enemy firepower, a couple of rocket or bazooka hits could seriously damage or render an Ekranoplan inoperable.
The KM or ' Caspian Sea Monster' a 540 ton machine was built and it was many years in advance of western technology.
The reason why such a big craft was built was to test the fundamentals of this type of design, the tests worked and in 1.967 a speed of 297 knots and a height of 20 meters was achieved, even though the maximum allowance was initially only 3 meters.
Eight of these KMs were built with different specifications.
As the Ekranoplan picks up speed, the air is compressed under its short stabilizing wings until enough pressure produces lift and this supports the craft.
You have to envisage the size of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet when regarding these Ekranoplan's, but they are bigger, have more power and travel just a few feet over the waters surface. Infinitely faster than any sea going vessel ever devised the Ekranoplan would be a marvel to behold.
The front view of the Ekranoplan is quite impressive, it looks sleek, aerodynamic and quite formidable as it quietly rests in the sea.
It looks like the crew are having a party on the wings !
This also helps to give some representation of its size and also how wide the wings are.
The turbo jet engines can be better appreciated for their size when a person is standing in close proximity to them.
The terrific speed that these craft can reach is partially due to the fact that there is no friction between the hull of the craft and the water.
This of course is a factor that keeps normal ships at such a comparatively slow speed, as they must push themselves through the water and not over it.
All Ekranoplan's are amphibious and will easily fly over land just as well as the sea, and at high speed, just as long as the surface is relatively flat.
Ekranoplan's usually begin and end their journeys in the sea for the greatest convenience, but it doesn't really matter.
Below an Ekranoplan starts to warm up ready for manoeuvres.
Yeah, its like I said...they are amphibious as well !
A Wing-In-Ground effect program was started in earnest in 1.960 at the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau in Russia, under maximum secrecy.
The first WIG was a three ton ship called the SM-1, it was hard to manoeuvre, unstable and needed an extremely high take off speed.
The monster below can reach speeds in excess of 290 knots, stating that speed was not really an issue.
Rostislav Alexiev was the chief designer of these vehicles at the CHDB and he realized that a large rear t-wing was the answer to the vessels stability problems.
Once a T-wing was installed on a Ekranoplan in 1.962 the stability problem had been resolved and the ships could reach very high speeds.
The last Ekranoplan from the former Soviet Union was the 400 ton LUN. It was built in 1.987 with 100% military application in mind as a missile launcher and troop carrying ship. It was equipped with six large missiles on top of the fuselage, and could carry tanks and trucks in its large cargo hold.
Also it must be reiterated here that it would not have been detected by radar as it would have travelled under the radars waves.
As I understand, modern radar now has the ability to scan vessels on the surface of the sea.
It could reach speeds of up to 300 knots which is unprecedented for what is basically a water based vessel.
No enemy ships would have had the slightest chance of intercepting this vehicle by any means due to this high speed of travel.
Eight NK87 turbofan engines give ample power as the Ekranoplan seen below accelerates across the ocean at terrific speed, notice also that it is bristling with long range ballistic missiles.
At the time when the Soviet Union fell apart there was a second LUN under construction, it was about 90 percent finished when the military funding stopped.
This was because of Russia's poor financial situation and also the end of the cold war. Later the eventual collapse of communism was enough to create further financial upheavals in much of Russia's economy.
The versatile Ekranoplan can achieve a good clearance above the waves.
It can fly the same height over ground too, as long as its not too hilly.
Most countries have now built prototypes of the Ekranoplan design as it has very useful application both in the military and commercial fields.
As yet no commercial flights have been instigated but there are reports that a lot of private ventures are being developed, mostly in the USA.
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