Free Republic

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....