The Only Missile-Toting Ekranoplan Russia Ever Built Just Took Its Last Trip On The Caspian

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...on-the-caspian

Russia's only Project 903 Lun class ekranoplan, a type of wing-in-ground-effect
craft, recently floated out onto the Caspian Sea for the first time in decades
and probably for the last time ever. Designed by the Soviet Union during the
latter stages of the Cold War as a high-speed anti-ship missile craft, it only
saw very limited service and is now going on display at Patriot Park in the city
of Derbent in Russia's semi-autonomous republic of Dagestan.

On July 31, 2020, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the ekranoplan,
also known as MD-160, had arrived in Derbent after a 14-hour journey south from
the Russian Navy's base in Kaspiysk, which is also in Dagestan, where it has
been languishing in disrepair since it was withdrawn from service sometime in
the late 1990s. It took a day to prepare the craft, which is non-operational at
present, for the trip and a tug towed it to its new home. The plan to send
MD-160 to Derbent had first emerged publicly in January.

The primary construction of MD-160, which had a maximum takeoff weight of
837,757 pounds, began at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant along the Volga River in the
city of Nizhny Novgorod, more than 940 miles north of Kaspiysk, in 1986. It was
powered by eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofan engines, each with a maximum thrust
rating of 28,600 pounds, mounted in two banks of four engines on each side of
the forward fuselage.

Wing-in-ground-effect designs are effectively very large aircraft that would
primarily fly very close to the surface. They are generally flying boats,
though, which allows for very efficient sustained high-speed flight, because it
is easier and safer to operate them over water. However, any large flat space,
including ice, will technically provide a suitable operating environment.

Work on MD-160 was finished in 1991, just in time for the collapse of the Soviet
Union, afterwords it was transferred to the Capsian Sea Flotilla, which had
become part of the new Russian Navy. The Capsian Sea Flotilla had already been
tasked with testing and evaluating ekranoplans under the Soviet Union,
particularly the massive Korabl Maket, or "Ship Prototype," better known as the
Caspian Sea Monster, which arrived in 1966 and operated in the region until it
was destroyed in an accident in 1980.

The Caspian Sea Monster had a maximum takeoff weight of 1,199,315 pounds and was
powered by 10 Dobrynin VD-7 turbojets, each rated at 28,670 pounds of thrust. It
held the title of the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world until the
Soviet Union's Antonov An-225 Mriya flew for the first time in 1988.

While the Capsian Sea Monster had been largely a research and development
platform, the Lun class, which was originally expected to comprise eight
examples in total, was to be a combat craft. The design featured six P-270
Moskit anti-ship missiles, also known to NATO as the SS-N-22 Sunburn, mounted in
pairs on top of the central fuselage. A large surface search radar was installed
in the tail. These ekranoplans were intended to launch high-speed attacks on
hostile surface warships, while using their low-level flight profile and speed
to enhance their survivability.

However, Russia's wing-in-ground-effect force never came to be. The economic
turmoil in Russia that followed the fall of the Soviet Union led to the
cancellation of numerous military projects.

Even before the Soviet Union fell, there were questions about the future of the
Lun class. A second example was under construction, but the Soviets had already
decided to build it as an unarmed missile resupply variant to support MD-160.
After the Soviet nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets sank in 1989, a proposal
emerged to change its configuration again to one of search and rescue and mobile
hospital platform, dubbed Spasatel, or "Rescuer." You can read more about the
K-278 accident, which has left the submarine leaking radiation on the bottom of
the Barents Sea to this day, in this past War Zone piece.

Russia revived the idea of finishing Spasatel in 2017 with a focus on operations
in the increasingly strategic Arctic region, but no work to this end appears to
have happened so far. This craft was reportedly nearly complete when the project
came to an indefinite halt in the 1990s, but it has sitting in Nizhny Novgorod
ever since and looks to be in questionable condition today. In 2018, there were
also reports that the Russian military might be interested again in fielding
missile-armed ekranoplans, but there have been no clear developments in this
regard since then.

Whatever Russia's future ekranoplan plans might hold, the only completed example
of the Lun class appears to have taken its last trip, but will now hopefully be
better preserved as the interesting piece of history that it is.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

The Lun-class ekranoplan is a ground effect vehicle (GEV) designed by Rostislav
Evgenievich Alexeyev in 1975 and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987
until sometime in the late 1990s.

It flew using the lift generated by the ground effect of its large wings when
within about four metres (13 ft) above the surface of the water. Although they
might look similar to regular aircraft, and have related technical
characteristics, ekranoplans like the Lun are not aircraft, seaplanes,
hovercraft, nor hydrofoils. Rather, "ground effect" is a distinct technology.
The International Maritime Organization classifies these vehicles as maritime
ships.

The name Lun comes from the Russian word for harrier.


Specifications?

General characteristics
Crew: 15 (6 officers, 9 enlisted)
Capacity: 137 t (302,000 lb)
Length: 73.8 m (242 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 44 m (144 ft 4 in)
Height: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 550 m2 (5,900 sq ft)
Empty weight: 286,000 kg (630,522 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 380,000 kg (837,757 lb)
Powerplant: 8 × Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans, 127.4 kN (28,600 lbf) thrust each

Performance
Maximum speed: 550 km/h (340 mph, 300 kn)
Cruise speed: 450 km/h (280 mph, 240 kn) at 2.5 m (8 ft)
Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5 m (16 ft) in ground effect

Armament

Guns: two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin tail turret and two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a
twin turret under forward missile tubes
Missiles: six launchers for P-270 Moskit Sunburn antiship missiles




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