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Crazy Russian Plane-Boat Amalgam with Cruise Missiles
- Thread starter squorch2
- Start date
That is awesome, looks like something from one of those vertically scrolling fighter games. My question is..... did it ever fly?
This was found (accidentally, we were told) by overhead photos just as it was being completed. It was dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster, like Pags said, and it was thought to be less of an armed threat that a large ground-effect assault craft, flying a large number of troops across the water for a quick assault. I don't know if it ever flew, but it hadn't by the time I left EUCOM in '74.
That thing was news 2 decades ago.
I wonder how big of a "what the shit?" went through the intel weenie's gourd when he came across the sat photos of that thing. I guess with enough thrust, you can make anything kind of fly.
Actually when you really think about it, it's a pretty freakin inventive way to solve a big problem. Fortunately/unfortunately a change in power/leadership in the Soviet Union at the time killed the project.
Instead of flying in tons of transports, which would most likely have been shot down, or sending in a fleet of slow moving ships to assault ground defenses you take care of both at the same time. You move in a bunch of large ground effect transports that fly below the radar, hop over bridges, carry the troops and the cruise missiles all in one go. Maybe not cost effective as it was never used, and has no other real practical use, but still pretty smart.
Instead of flying in tons of transports, which would most likely have been shot down, or sending in a fleet of slow moving ships to assault ground defenses you take care of both at the same time. You move in a bunch of large ground effect transports that fly below the radar, hop over bridges, carry the troops and the cruise missiles all in one go. Maybe not cost effective as it was never used, and has no other real practical use, but still pretty smart.
Great video!
Apparently, this thing worked on the same principle that our modern LCACs do. Except that these guys used speed to create the cushion and we use, well, air to create the cushion!
ryan1234
Well-Known Member
Could you imagine that Kazakhstani sheep herder seein' that thing wiz by at 500kts
Guess Boeing is looking at taking a stab at it:
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/i_pw.html
The Chinese I guess have been working on one also.. the "Hubei type 1"?
Guess Boeing is looking at taking a stab at it:
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/i_pw.html
The Chinese I guess have been working on one also.. the "Hubei type 1"?
Actually. . .it's the Lun 903, which was smaller than the famed Caspian Sea Monster.
Here's a picture of the ekranoplan families, for relative size references reference. Apparently, it is too large to insert here.
500kts? I would think something going that fast over the surface would be pretty tough to engage, even tougher if they stick some self defense systems on it.