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

Only one built, and it’s still on the shore of the Caspian sea:

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
    • Zron@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      8 months ago

      At 300 miles per hour top speed, I think you’ll just hear the jet engines and then either see a gray blur or die.

      Unless you happen to be behind a decent sized hill, then you’ll just go deaf and wonder what the fuck that noise was. A 5 meter service ceiling is impressively low for a craft that is 19 meters tall.

  • dalekcaan@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    8 months ago

    There’s something to be said for the aesthetic of old Soviet technology. It feels almost surreal, like an engineer’s fever dream.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    8 months ago

    wow, could only fly a few meters above sea level, so anytime the water was choppy, this thing just… wouldn’t be able to fly. Such an odd design

    • owen@lemmy.caEnglish
      9·
      8 months ago

      It was probably developed to push the limits of ground effect, since it can provide such a great advantage to travel efficiency. Think min-maxing to find the meta in a new competitive game.

    • infeeeee@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      6·
      8 months ago

      This and other older ekranoplanes were only used on the Caspian, Black and Baltic sea, where huge waves are rare.

  • Diplomjodler@feddit.deEnglish
    4·
    8 months ago

    Would be interesting to see how that thing would fare in a modern war. On the one hand, it can deliver a shit ton of missiles very quickly. On the other hand it has a radar echo like, well, nothing like it I guess, and it certainly flies slower than any missile.

    • teejay@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      8 months ago

      I would guess that it would survive about as long as it would take a $200 fpv drone to collide with one of the engine arrays. Then nautical drones would do their thing to turn it into an artificial reef.

        • teejay@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Sure, in a dead heat and as long as there aren’t any big waves. Also, you do realize that it’s possible to attack this thing from other directions than directly behind it while it’s at full speed, right?

          • Diplomjodler@feddit.deEnglish
            2·
            8 months ago

            If you attack it head on you have a very short window of opportunity before it’s past you and if you try from the side you’ll have to be really really good at geometry. And that thing won’t go in a straight line while it’s in enemy range.

            • teejay@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              8 months ago

              If you attack it head on you have a very short window of opportunity before it’s past you

              So, you have to be accurate. Like we’ve been doing for hundreds of years with projectiles, even non-guided ones. Check.

              if you try from the side you’ll have to be really really good at geometry

              So… good like as in a computer doing the math? Check.

              And that thing won’t go in a straight line while it’s in enemy range.

              Bad news friend, they can’t turn for shit due to ground effect, and they can’t ascend or descend either. There’s a reason these things were immediately abandoned as a viable concept after only 3 years in operation and without seeing any combat.