Caspian Sea Monster

[Wheezer]

http://www.vincelewis.net/ekranoplan.html

Russian Website:

http://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html

 

[AndroidVageta]

Thats pretty fucking sick!

What Russia lacks in money it makes up for in innovation! Thats for damn sure!

 

[foghorn67]

I see posts crop about this monster from every once in a while. And every time I google/youtube/wiki it...it still floors me with awe.

 

[waggy]

seen something ont his on the military channel once. i was kinda amazed.

 

[pcgeek11]

They ain't sneaking up on anyone with that hog.

Ugly and Fast, but it's a huge target with the skin of an onion.
You could take it out with an M80.

 

[Colt45]

They ain't sneaking up on anyone with that hog.

Ugly and Fast, but it's a huge target with the skin of an onion.
You could take it out with an M80.

I think you're missing the purpose. Transport planes are pretty vulnerable too.


The one in the OP is lun, not caspian monster.
The lumps on it's back are 3 x 2 anti-ship missiles.

 

[sandorski]

Damn. Biggest problem I could see would be transporting them to a reasonable proximity of a Target. Would be useful for making a run around Enemy lines in a European Invasion, also I suppose to invade Alaska.

 

[Gibsons]

I always wonder how they deal with rough seas. Whenever I've seen film of them 'flying' it's over calm water.

 

[Greenman]

They keep talking about a 500 knot top speed, in the videos it looks like one tenth of that. Can you imagine that thing doing almost 600 miles per hour and hitting a large wave?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Given Russia's engineering the project leaders probably tried to make it fly, couldn't and then devised the skimming concept to save their hides.

 

[xSauronx]

I always wonder how they deal with rough seas. Whenever I've seen film of them 'flying' it's over calm water.

they flight high enough for some mild choppyness, i think they top out at a few meters so if the water is more than slightly rough theyre not gonna be worth a damn.

but then in the water is that rough you probably wouldnt plan on any marine landing craft doing much that day *shrug*

 

[irishScott]

Damn. Biggest problem I could see would be transporting them to a reasonable proximity of a Target. Would be useful for making a run around Enemy lines in a European Invasion, also I suppose to invade Alaska.

Lol you just mentioned their exact use in World in Conflict: Soviet Assault.

Also, they were designed for amphibious assault. Those angled tubes on top of the fuselage hold missile/rockets IIRC.

 

[borisvodofsky]

I am assuming those missles cannot be fired while Moving??

 

[SphinxnihpS]

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world.

 

[pcgeek11]

I'd love to see one of those jet engines taking a big old gulp of sea water.

Ha!

 

[StageLeft]

Every year or two I re-read about this thing!

 

[Analog]

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I wonder what the efficiency of these are compared to conventional airplanes. If it's more efficient it could be a cheaper alternative to air freight.

 

[Greenman]

I wonder what the efficiency of these are compared to conventional airplanes. If it's more efficient it could be a cheaper alternative to air freight.

My guess is it drinks the same amount of fuel as a jet, and doesn't go anywhere near as fast. I flat out don't believe the 500 knot top speed, I'd be surprised if it could do 100.

 

[destrekor]

My guess is it drinks the same amount of fuel as a jet, and doesn't go anywhere near as fast. I flat out don't believe the 500 knot top speed, I'd be surprised if it could do 100.

I completely accept the claimed top speed. I see no reason to doubt it, considering that essentially it is identical to a jet, just designed in a different way.

It produces lift, but makes use of the lift somewhat differently by forcing that pocket of air between it and the surface below.

In that same regard, I'd actually expect it to be more fuel efficient since that same principal of lift in regular flight also likely produces some drag, whereas this method uses the lift as a bubble. I'm not well-studied in avionics, so that much might not be as true, but I can't imagine the fuel efficiency would be anything other than just about the same, at worst.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Ground effect aircraft can fly at half of their wingspan, so it can get a good 20m above the water.

Here's one that someone built off of a hovercraft that is totally awesome:
http://jalopnik.com/5515256/part-hovercraft-part-ekranoplan-and-part-subaru

And the one pictured is one of the Caspian Sea Monsters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

Note that is 242 feet long when you look at the speed in those videos, it has 8 engines that develop 28,000LBs of thrust.

 

[meltdown75]

that thing is crazy town

 

[JeepinEd]

I completely accept the claimed top speed. I see no reason to doubt it, considering that essentially it is identical to a jet, just designed in a different way.

It produces lift, but makes use of the lift somewhat differently by forcing that pocket of air between it and the surface below.

In that same regard, I'd actually expect it to be more fuel efficient since that same principal of lift in regular flight also likely produces some drag, whereas this method uses the lift as a bubble. I'm not well-studied in avionics, so that much might not be as true, but I can't imagine the fuel efficiency would be anything other than just about the same, at worst.

I'm guessing they are way less fuel efficient than a plane. Air density at sea level is much higher than at 20,000', which means much more drag to overcome.

Pretty cool piece of equipment, though.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

kinda the answer to a question nobody asked.

 

[ElFenix]

I'm guessing they are way less fuel efficient than a plane. Air density at sea level is much higher than at 20,000', which means much more drag to overcome.

Pretty cool piece of equipment, though.

way more lift though due to the ground effects.




flying boats are pretty awesome too. of course none of them had fleet defense missiles mounted on them. just some machine guns or maybe a torpedo.