The ''Lun''-class ekranoplan (also called Project 903) is the only
ground effect vehicle
A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG), ground-effect craft, wingship, flarecraft or ekranoplan (russian: экранопла́н – "screenglider"), is a vehicle that is able to move over the surface by gainin ...
(GEV) to ever be
operationally deployed as a
warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...
. designed by
Rostislav Alexeyev
Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev (russian: Ростисла́в Евге́ньевич Алексе́ев; December 18, 1916 – February 9, 1980) was a Russian Soviet Director & Chief of Design known for his pioneering work on hydrofoil ships and ...
in 1975 and used by the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
navies from 1987 until sometime in the late 1990s.
It flew using lift generated by the
ground effect acting on its large wings when within about above the surface of the water. Although they might look similar to traditional
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
,
ekranoplans
A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG), ground-effect craft, wingship, flarecraft or ekranoplan (russian: экранопла́н – "screenglider"), is a vehicle that is able to move over the surface by gainin ...
like the ''Lun'' are not classified as aircraft,
seaplanes
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
,
hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...
, or
hydrofoils
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...
. Rather, crafts like the ''Lun''-class ekranoplan are classified as maritime
ships
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
by the
International Maritime Organization
The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...
due to their use of the ground effect, in which the craft glides just above the surface of the water.
The
ground effect occurs when flying at an altitude of only a few meters above the ocean or ground; drag is greatly reduced by the proximity of the ground preventing the formation of wingtip vortices, thus increasing the efficiency of the wing. This effect does not occur at high altitude.
The name ''Lun'' comes from the
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
word for the
harrier.
Design and development
The ''Lun''-class ekranoplan was developed on the basis of the experimental KM ekranoplan, which was nicknamed the "
Caspian Sea Monster
The KM (Korabl Maket) (Russian: Корабль-Макет, literally "Ship-maquette" or "Model-Ship"), known colloquially as the Caspian Sea Monster, was an experimental ground effect vehicle developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s by the C ...
".
The ''Lun'' was powered with eight
Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...
s, mounted on forward
canards, each producing of thrust. It had a
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
hull with a large deflecting plate at the bottom to provide a "step" for takeoff.
It had a maximum cruising speed of .
Equipped for
anti-surface warfare
Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's su ...
, it carried the
P-270 ''Moskit'' (Mosquito)
guided missile
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...
. Six
missile launcher
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
s were mounted in pairs on the dorsal surface of its
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
with advanced tracking systems mounted in its nose and tail.
The only model of this class ever built to completion, the MD-160, entered service with the Soviet Navy
Caspian Flotilla
Kaspiyskaya flotiliya
, image = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla
, dates = No ...
in 1987. It was retired in the late 1990s and sat unused at a
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
naval base in
Kaspiysk
Kaspiysk (russian: Каспи́йск; lbe, Ккасппи; av, Каспиялъухъ) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea, southeast of Makhachkala. The 2010 Russian census recorded the city as being the f ...
until 2020.
[
The second ''Lun''-class ekranoplan was partially built in the late 1980s. While its construction was underway, it was redesigned as a mobile ]field hospital
A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...
for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location. It was named the ''Spasatel
Spasatel (russian: Спасатель "Rescuer", "Lifesaver", Project 9038) is a ground-effect vehicle, originally planned by the Soviet Ministry of Defense. The vehicle was intended to serve as the missile carrier of the project ''Lun''-class e ...
'' ("Rescuer"). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and cancellation of military funding, construction of the second craft was halted. As of 2021, the uncompleted ''Spasatel'' is stored adjacent to the Volga river
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...
in an old industrial complex within the central Russia
Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia.
Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...
n city of
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
.
The ''Lun'' design had several drawbacks. One was that although the ground effect enabled it to fly at low altitude, in order to utilize the effect it had to fly as low as off the water due to its short wingspan, so it could not fly when seas were even mildly rough. Another was that the craft was only designed to use the ground effect principle, so it could not ascend to higher cruising altitudes. The requirement for calm seas to operate and inability to fly above them if they weren't greatly limited where it was able to deploy.
2020 towing operation
On 31 July 2020, the completed MD-160 ''Lun''-class ekranoplan was towed out of the naval base in Kaspiysk, with the intention of being eventually put on public display in Derbent, Dagestan, at the planned Patriot Park
Patriot Park (russian: Парк «Патриот») is a theme park in Kubinka, Russia that is themed around equipment of the Russian military. The park, which officially opened in 2016, is designed around a military theme, and includes interacti ...
, a combination museum and theme park that will display Soviet and Russian military equipment. The towing operation involved the use of rubber pontoons, three tugboats and two escort vessels, and would have covered approximately had it been completed. However, during the tow the ekranoplan became stuck just offshore of a sandy beach, short of the intended destination.
The team managing the towing operation was unable to free the massive vehicle, so the ekranoplan was secured and remained beached in the surf zone
As ocean surface waves approach shore, they get taller and break, forming the foamy, bubbly surface called ''surf''. The region of breaking waves defines the surf zone, or breaker zone. After breaking in the surf zone, the waves (now reduced i ...
while plans were drawn up on how to continue the move to Patriot Park. In the meantime, the unusual craft began attracting attention from the media, onlookers, and trespassing "urban explorers", even before the park was built. One report published in August 2020 stated that the hull, exposed to the waves in the surf zone, was taking on water. Moving the craft to dry land beyond the surf zone would eliminate the possibility that increased wave action
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...
during storms could damage the hull further.
In December 2020 a successful recovery operation resulted in the ekranoplan being hauled out of the water, nose-first, with the tail ending up about from the sea, as seen from satellite imagery. The ekranoplan was towed ashore on 30 December 2021.
Former operators
;
* Soviet Navy
Specifications
Related development
* Caspian Sea Monster
The KM (Korabl Maket) (Russian: Корабль-Макет, literally "Ship-maquette" or "Model-Ship"), known colloquially as the Caspian Sea Monster, was an experimental ground effect vehicle developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s by the C ...
(KM)
* Spasatel
Spasatel (russian: Спасатель "Rescuer", "Lifesaver", Project 9038) is a ground-effect vehicle, originally planned by the Soviet Ministry of Defense. The vehicle was intended to serve as the missile carrier of the project ''Lun''-class e ...
* A-050
* А-300-538
А-300-538 is a project by Russian aviation company, JSC Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, for a double decker ekranoplan
A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG), ground-effect craft, wingship, flare ...
References
External links
* (1m0s)
* {{nbsp (2m5s, silent)
Satellite view after ''Lun'' was successfully pulled ashore
via Yandex Maps
Yandex Maps ( rus, Яндекс Карты, r=Yandeks Karty) is a Russian web mapping service developed by Yandex. The service provides detailed maps of the whole world, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, ...
''Wired'' article with image gallery
(suitable for slow or metered connections)
with Russian text, o
mirrored imagery
with translated captions
Cutaway provisional drawing of the ''Lun''-class ekranoplan
via hisutton.co
Ekranoplans
Ground effect vehicles
Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau