The Giant of the Caspian Sea

[pakdefender]

The Ekranoplan was desinged to be a troop carries for the Soviet Union. The Ekranoplan was desinged as a GEV ( Ground Effect Vehicle ) and was one huge beast

This is one HUGE plane , visible on Google earth sitting on a port in in the Caspian sea as it last resting place.

 

[TaimiKhan]

 

[Kompromat]

where is emo? we may need her

 

[pak-yes]

What is this thing?

 

[Evil Flare]

I am really Stunned ....

I never see this type of thing before


Russia The Impressive

 

[IBRIS]

 

[apophenia]

Amazingly, the biggest problem with the KM Ekranoplan was that it was too small. It may have been a monster, but actually wasn't big enough for the ground effect to really work nor downright humongous. The only missile launcher ekranoplane was Lun-class ekranoplan MD-160 which was inducted in the soviet navy around 1987. Lun was of similar design to the KM but smaller and faster. Lun was to be used for high speeds attacks on American carrier battle groups but the concept fall out favor after the fall of soviet union.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

wow never saw such a thing . Must have been a top secret project ..

 

[PAFAce]

wow never saw such a thing . Must have been a top secret project ..

Not top secret. Ground-effect-vehicles, as they are called, are quite well known in the world. I first came across them in high-school, when I saw a picture of a small Iranian GEVs; it's speculated that Iran plans on using them for kamakaze-style attacks on a naval fleet. Their biggest advantage is that they're fast, but the biggest let-down is that they can't function more than a few feet above ground. They're also very expensive compared to large ships, hence the idea of a large GEV for transport never really caught on.