Posted on 08/03/2018 6:01:09 AM PDT by C19fan
Russia is reportedly developing a new generation of wing-in-ground-effect vehicles inspired by monster craft developed during the Cold War. The new Orlan craft will be a descendant of the so-called 'Caspian Sea Monster,' a now defunct vehicle that flew across wavetops at speeds of up to 400 mph.
Russian State Media reports that the Orlan, currently under development, will be ready by 2027. “The state armament program for 2018-2027 includes the Orlan research and development work, which stipulates the construction of the wing-in-ground-effect craft. The prototype will be created as part of this armament program and it will carry missile armament,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the TASS news agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
In a Rutan forum @ Oshkosh, ( it may have been 2 yrs ago discussing his LSA Amphib he is still tinkering w/ for his personal use ) that back in the day, certain Gov’t agencies contacted him to look @ pictures of what we now refer to as “The Caspian Sea Monster(s)”, to get his take on what the heck is this etc! I am thinking that is pre Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall... Great Story. Yes these things have a niche, I could see them replacing ships do to their speed, especially in next Gen batteries get us to 10x and they go electric for shorter hops vs Turbo-Prop or Turbofan.
This is what happens when there is too much centralization at the top. This is a cool technology that gets all the big wigs excited, but what possible use can it be? The article says to “protect the Northern Sea Route where infrastructure is weakly protected.”. Huh? Protect it against what? Aircraft Carriers? Submarines? How’s it going to do that? It’s a sitting duck.
It is great Tech. Very efficient.
But it is also a fare weather craft They can not operate in rough weather.
Heavy seas will either drown the engines or wreck the propellers. Since the craft depends on ground effect for lift they can’t climb above the weather.
Yes, but this hardly qualifies as a useful weapons platform. It’s not maneuverable at all. I think it’s just another episode of Putin’s bread and circuses.
That’s what I was thinking. This lumbering hulk might be impressive over a plate-flat inland lake, but put it in a choppy sea and watch it drown like a drunk goose.
Invade the Baltic states from the North Sea using Ekranoplans, when two states border Russia & one borders Belarus?
How would the Russians get an invasion fleet into position? Poland has a long coastline on the North Sea and those Ekranoplans would make for some fun shooting.
The Ekranoplan was Nikita Khrushchev’s wacky idea for a torpedo proof invasion vehicle to attack America from the sea. When he was overthrown, the Ekranoplan was shelved & his successors went back to traditional ICBMs, nuclear submarines, and a huge land army with which to menace the world.
A new Caspian Sea-monster? Pffft! The original was a sitting duck to virtually any kind of attack, and they’re only good for transporting troops and supplies. Which at high speeds is a good idea, if it were not so vulnerable. More Russian posturing. Kind of surprising the Iranians haven’t built one....
IIRC, the Russians had problems with this design due to pilot fatigue - the combination of speed and surface-skimming altitude makes it tough to remain vigilant and spot threats - rogue waves, off-course fishing trawlers - things like that. Can’t climb over them, gotta swerve left or right - and that beast wasn’t terribly agile.
With Russia now having learned from those failures and with way more modern engine technology and access to supercomputers, this new ekranoplan could actually be quite viable, especially in a place like Indonesia with its huge island archipelago chain.
Fast invasion craft.
I can’t imagine anyone thinking of putting something like this in service on the North Sea which is infamous for it’s heavy gales.
Sixteen feet is well within a winter gale’s swell.
Sixteen feet also seems kind of high for a ground effect craft. The lower the better for efficiency of the ground effect. But taking these craft to sea you have to make choices.
Probably the best place to use ground effect craft is in the ferry service. Perhaps competing with Jet Express service (jet propelled hydroplanes)
That is pretty ridiculous. Russia has zero reason or interest to invade Prebaltika (unless they start shelling Russians like in Georgia).
“This is a cool technology that gets all the big wigs excited, but what possible use can it be?”
Like Nuclear powered aircraft. They developed all the technology needed to make them but there was no useful niche that matched their cost per flight hour. It turns out that no one needs a plane that can fly around the world 3 or 4 times without refueling (at the expense of payload).
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