Posted on 08/28/2015 6:23:09 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The Soviet Union’s once-secretive “Caspian Sea Monster” has resurfaced at the MAKS air show, minus the stacks of short-range nuclear missiles meant to obliterate Western defences in a sea-skimming sneak attack.
The Lun-class Ekranoplan – designed to travel at high speeds just 150m above the ocean on a cushion of air – was created in the mid-1960s and is arguably one of the oddest weapons to emerge during the Cold War.
But as Russian seeks to revive and modernise its one mighty aerospace industry, one design bureau see great potential reproducing the Soviet ekranoplan for passenger and cargo transport purposes.
Sergey Korolev of the Alexeyev Central Hydrofloil Design Bureau hopes the model at MAKS will renew interest in this type of ground effect vehicle, and he sees the cashed-up tourism markets of China and the Middle East as the best source of investment.
Two concepts were displayed in an animation at MAKS: One is passenger transport vehicle and the other is a high-speed patrol craft with forward-firing guns and a deployable speed boat for coastal policing or anti-piracy missions.
However, Korolev thinks it would be most sensible to pursue a 100 to 120-seat passenger ekranoplan powered by rows of turbojet or turboprop engines for speeds of 250km/h.
BillyPix
The display model would accommodate 50 passengers, but the unique ground effect that lifts the airframe at a certain speed favours larger aerofoils.
“It’s only a concept,” says Korolev, the design bureau’s product deputy general of civil works and director of marketing. “We have some vision for the civil sector, not for the army.”
He recognises that the high-technology venture won’t be an easy sell, and he gave no time frame for how long it would take to reproduce the machine – which is neither aircraft nor boat.
Plus, the bulk of the investment would need to come from industry, not the government, he says.
“Now, it’s very difficult because in Soviet times many universities and institutes worked for this project,” he explains. “With communism, everything is free and people just work. Now, it’s not possible. This is only a model, because maybe some people or visitors have some vision for this project, maybe new life.”
Wiki Commons
Russia has long been the leader in ground effect vehicles, although Boeing Phantom Works at one point had its own cargo-carrying conceptual design known as the Pelican.
Russia’s Lun-class vehicle, which retired from service in the 1990s, received the “Sea Monster” nomenclature from NATO, which spotted the gigantic project on satellite imagery.
By flying in just above the water, the Soviets believed the “MD-160” would be invisible to Western radars and could launch a barrage of missiles before being spotted.
+1000 cool points if a person could fly in this thing!
Dwarfing all previous flying giants, the Pelican, a high-capacity cargo plane concept currently being studied by Boeing Phantom Works, would stretch more than the length of a U.S. football field and have a wingspan of 500 feet and a wing area of more than an acre. It would have almost twice the external dimensions of the world’s current largest aircraft, the Russian An225, and could transport five times its payload, up to 1,400 tons of cargo.
Designed primarily for long-range, transoceanic transport, the Pelican would fly as low as 20 feet above the sea, taking advantage of an aerodynamic phenomenon that reduces drag and fuel burn.
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/i_pw.html
It was designed to fly in surface effect. 150 meters is far too high to be in surface effect. I will need to operate and about 10 meters off the water at most.
As a high speed coastal defense missile boat, it was an interesting concept. However, as a passenger carrier, it has some issues. First, 8 jet turbines for 50 passengers is a bit inefficient. Second, corrosion is going to be a beast. Third, ground effect is operations are going to be a rough ride during daylight hours.
It was designed to fly in surface effect. 150 meters is far too high to be in surface effect. I will need to operate and about 10 meters off the water at most.
As a high speed coastal defense missile boat, it was an interesting concept. However, as a passenger carrier, it has some issues. First, 8 jet turbines for 50 passengers is a bit inefficient. Second, corrosion is going to be a beast. Third, ground effect is operations are going to be a rough ride during daylight hours.
This thing surely sucks up a lot of low flying sea birds that glide around using the same lift principles.
That’s a mighty thin 150 meter altitude. There’s no ground effect at 150 m. Probably a typo missing a decimal point.
Requires flat seas.
The noise will be deafening...no high bypass turbofan engines?
Excellent replacement for the idiotic California HS choo-choo.
Annoying Language Nit: Author meant to write “moniker,” not “nomenclature.”
Rogue waves would really suck.
Given the advances in technology since the 60s, I would suspect the high fuel consumption could be overcome through computer modeling and more efficient turbines. Something like this would be a great ferry craft for longer distances, enabling high-speed commuting all along a coastal region. I'm thinking places like Chesapeake bay, along the Florida coast, across the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and so on.
And just a correction, these aircraft "fly" less than 150 *feet* above the water (more like 40-50 at most), not the 150 *meters* the article mentions.
Yeah, I can just imagine that thing running down somebody's sailboat..."
And that's the problem with communism: Things just didn't “work” - People were slaves to the handouts. And the handouts were controlled by the bureaucrats - who didn't care about the actual results - only the “rules”. And maintaining their power and their salaries from the ever-higher bureaucrats.
And today's democrats and their slavish professors see no problems with that.
But, for ground effects, the power/fuel/weight does work out much better than helicopters, better than hydrofoils for ocean surfaces under modest waves, and adequate - though not stellar - when compared to regular airplanes carrying far less cargo.
Also, notice the placement of the jet engines. The wing is a 'blown' surface (I see you smirking, Bevis) and as such increases the wing lift which will also increase the ground effect working height.
However, like someone already said, a rogue wave would not make for a good day.
"Heh heh, he said 'blown!'"
That explains mounting the engines so far in front of the wings.
Ping to the resurrection of the Caspian Sea Monster.
Iirc there was a company in the Norfolk VA area years back that was playing around with 1-4 person recreational versions of these things.
Apparently there were issues involving classifying it as a boat (USCG jurisdiction) or airplane (FAA jurisdiction) :-D
Good heavens, I haven’t heard about that in years!
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