Aviapedia

Ekranoplans: Caspian Sea Monster video from Smotr

By Pavel | July 11, 2006 on 1:42 pm | In Aviation Video, Smotr, Transports |

Right-click to download Ekranoplans: Caspian Sea Monster.
32,5 Mb, 10:59, 480 x 360, wmv
Hardware between sky and sea - ekranoplan. Excellent material from Smotr program.
Russian language.

21 Comments »

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That’s pretty damn sweet, though I couldn’t understand a thing.

-I’m guessing this was like 40 years ago?
-Why are these not in use today? (not that I know of)
-Do we (America) have any of those?

Comment by Steve — July 11, 2006 #
Nope, unfortunatelly none of this are in use today. The reason is simple - as far as you know, Mikoyan design bureau became profitable this year only, after Perestroyka.
Alexeev, this monster designer has died, and now his followers are trying to launch this project again, but its quite hard.
I didn’t hear about any ekranoplans in US, still there is very fast boat but with clever bulge shape, when wave this bulge gereating is getting boat upper. Plus air is beeing used as lubricant. And of course, there are air-cushion vehicle. But they don’t use ground effect, or use it in a complete different way

Comment by Pavel — July 11, 2006 #
Hm, cool info, thanks.
I wonder why we didn’t develop anything like this?
What’s it’s purpose anyway? I take it it’s a mobile strike platform judging from that rocket-firing footage?

Comment by Steve — July 12, 2006 #
I also wonder how fast that thing goes? - Anyone speak Russian?

I actually watched this video with sound turned off 4 or 5 times, it looks like an amazing machine. =)

Comment by Steve — July 14, 2006 #
Russia can’t afford builging such machines as it’s so poor. But in its characteristics it’s an outstanding machine. It can carry the cargo as some huge ship can
with the speed of plane.
Just recently, americans paid 200,000 dollars just for possibility to watch and make photoes of ekranoplane “Orlyonok” - the smallest is the family.

Comment by V_S — July 16, 2006 #
So you’re saying that we can’t make any of these things? Did the USA even try?

Comment by Steve — July 19, 2006 #
It’s very clever but it seems to be a dead-end from a technology standpoint. The craft can achieve perhaps two hundred knots’ speed in ground effect, which is quite impressive for a boat, but not so much for an aircraft. Flying out of ground effect (some of them are capable of this) it can go faster but only at a very substantial fuel consumption penalty.

It can only fly in ground effect if the waves are less than 1.5 meters, which is often, but there are lots of days when it would be unflyable. It is very vulnerable to fighters because of its low speed and limited flight profile.

Remember that when development of this aircraft began helicopters were very small and had only a very short range and hovercraft didn’t exist. The bottom line is that it can do something other vehicles can’t but it can only do that one thing. For the money, you’re better off building larger, longer-ranging helicopters. You’ll have occasion to use them more often.

The US cancelled its last flying-boat program in the Fifties and never considered the WIG concept. Score one for Russian imagination (and persistance) but no one really leapt at the technology when it became available. There is a small sport vehicle available in the West that uses the same concept (basically pirated) but no plans for a military version.

Incidentally, in the early Nineties the Beriev bureau was marketing a jet-powered flying-boat that was said to be inspired by the WIG program. Basically, the Russian Navy reached the conclusion that a more conventional flying-boat/amphibian was more versatile and cheaper, to boot.

Comment by James — August 7, 2006 #
Check out Caspian Sea Monster on Google Maps

Comment by Pavel — August 21, 2006 #
Hello,

I would like to comment about some posts and remarks which are totally wrong.

First of all, as a free-lance aviation photographer and writer, I went to the ekranoplan factory & design bureau at Nizhny-Novgorod in 1996. I had numerous interviews with the director and some engineers which were directly involved in the development of these machines. Therefore, I could bring back some material to publish in various aviation, boat and scientific publications ( incl. Jane’s High Speed Maritime Transport book ).

Max speed of KM and Lun’ was 300 kts, Orlyonok could reach 240 kts. Not impressive compared to a jet. But you can’t compare to a jet as there is a big gap between fast boats and airplanes. Ekranoplan fills this gap quite well.
Telling that she can fly in ground effect only if the waves are less than 1.5 m is totally wrong. In cruise flight, wave height has no effect. Big machines like Orlyonok can alight in 1.5 - 2 m waves, Lun’ can alight in 3.5 m waves, which is quite considerable and far beyond seaplanes capacities.
Regarding fuel consumption, remember that these crafts were designed and build in the 60s ( KM ), early 70s ( Orlyonok ) and mid-80’s ( Lun’ ) for military purposes only. Fuel consumption was a non-issue. And all the russian ekranoplans are of the first generation.
With today’s engine technology and refined aerodynamics, it is possible to save fuel. Mr Jörg, another famous German WIG designer, told me that, compared to a boat of same size / payload, his Flareboats can travel 5 times faster with only 20 % of the fuel needed.
Doing comparisons with helicopters is plain silly. Even today, try to find an helicopter able to carry a load of 25 tons, at 300 kts, with a 1500 NM range…
Ekranoplans are not designed to replace aircrafts or helicopters. There were designed to overcome the limitations of high-speed maritime crafts ( hydrofoils, hovercrafts, catamarans, etc… ).
The US never stopped to show interest in this technology. Secretary of defense went to the Caspian Sea in 93 for demonstrations. Recently, Boeing unveiled a 5000 tons WIG project. Americans are still interested but don’t have the Russians experience in this field.
The Russian navy never stopped the program in favour or seaplanes - as they are not the same category of crafts. It was planned to build between 100 and 120 Orlyonok landing ekranoplans. Following the arrival of a new Ministry of Defense in the 80’s, the program was postponed / cancelled because the navy was in need of more money for the nuclear submarines program.
Of course, ekranioplans have drawbacks but existing machines are 1st generation, heavy and fuel-sucking engines but a lot of testing was performed. The concept is still valid but needs to incorporate the latest advances in aerodynamics and jet engines technology.

Gilles.

Comment by Gilles — September 11, 2006 #
Gilles is right.
You can not compare easily ekranoplans and vessels or aircraft. Main advantage - extreme cargo load. Caspian monster was loaded up to 540 ton of weight dutring testing. So this is a combination of vessels heavy loads and aircraft high speed.
Average speed of these birds is about 450-500 km/h.
Fuel consumption - I don’t think that this is an issue. Maximum fuel consumption is reached in take-off mode only (Caspian monster had 10 engines: 8 in front for take-off, 2 - in the back for cruising), during the flight just a little power used.
The latest version Lun’ was capable to operate in storm conditions up to 7 numbers. Equiped with 6 ‘Mosquito’ rockets, so Lun’ was called as “Aircarrier Killer”.
Alex.

Comment by Alex — October 24, 2006 #
“Recently, Boeing unveiled a 5000 tons WIG project.” This is the Boeing Pelican project, right?

Comment by Ryan Thompson — January 7, 2007 #
they were a pretty good concepte combining the size of a boat with the speed of a plane but they had one fatal flaw: they C’ANT TURN they olny hover 1-4 meters above water so they cannot use the efficient yaw produced from roll (beacause it can olny roll a max of i’d say 5 degrees) making it really on soly ruder to turn making turns slow and large witch made them pretty bad at operating in tigth courther (lake, river, gulf) or in a specefic combat or patrol area making this one not the most usefull aircraft. a problem that haunted this project till it’s cancelasion.

Comment by arc — February 14, 2007 #
Thats got to belong to some James Bond Villain.

Comment by Lingon — February 19, 2007 #
Somewhere in Russian press I read that Russian frontier guard is going to buy (in years 2006-7) 20 small WIGs.

Comment by Stanislav — March 22, 2007 #
This peace of monster was built in COULD WAR .
The main use transport large weight and troops with
HIGH SPEED. Russians still use them for transportations
Somewhere in Sibir.
Chomy from Serbia

Comment by Cveticanin Mica — March 23, 2007 #
Here’s a link with a business plan looking at the viability of WIG transport verses an equivalent airplane. It appears that at this stage the real benefits are transport to City Bays where airports are located too distant to make short plane trips viable. I have reviewed the fast ferry proposals from Sydney to Newcastle and Gosford (New South Wales, Australia). Speed and the ability to get to Sydney Harbour and then navigate rivers is of the essence for this proposal as is all weather operation. Maybe in a case like this WIG transport is a valid option.

Link.. http://www.hypercraft-associates.com/wiseorotherwise1.pdf

Comment by Joshua Parsons — July 23, 2007 #
Ekranoplanes never ceased to amaze me.

When I first heard about them in the early 1980s during my days with the Swiss military I could not believe their existence.

The concept is intriguing and proven. They might well form a perfect answer to high speed sea rescue.

It’s a pity that they are all docked up and rusting into oblivion. From what I have heard it’s due to lack of funds.

Comment by James Elsener — August 11, 2007 #
What is not mentioned is that Ekranoplans have been used on Russian rivers for transportation for about 40 years. They can reach a speed of 500 km/h. Cruise speed being around 300km/h. Military versions of Ekranoplans are armed with hundreds of missiles which can be swiftly deployed. But the atraction of Ekranoplans is their safety record,no need for an airport, and ability to make multiple stops along a route, without much delay.

Comment by Alex — November 11, 2007 #
I know a lot af comments are made about the military uses of Ekranoplans, or WIG craft, but what about freight movement? Say around the Med, which doesn’t have many days of high seas.

I watched ancient rusty hydrofoils in service around Greece and Albania, what a modernised Orlyonok could do there!

Comment by Mike A — November 14, 2007 #
“Just recently, americans paid 200,000 dollars just for possibility to watch and make photoes of ekranoplane “Orlyonok” - the smallest is the family.”

Umm yeah. The Orlyonok has been around for 35+ years now. We already had a TON of photos of this. So I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

Comment by Ryan Thompson — November 27, 2007 #
I’m looking for additional footage of the larger Ekranoplans (Lun & KM)… I only have the Russian documentary (which is quite cool). Does anyone have more footage available from some source? Maybe some high-res pictures? I think YouTube has not a lot more to offer at the moment.

Comment by Wouter — December 7, 2007 #