Ekranoplan: A flying missile corvette or a floating attack plane?

**tmasi** · 28 Sep 11,, 02:30

Or just another form of hovercraft?

Saw this article with some cool photos at DefenseTech.org
http://defensetech.org/2011/09/27/we...he-ekranoplan/

Article mentions that the Russians may be reactivating this beast. I can remember reading an article in Time Magazine back in '77 reporting on rumours of its existance.

How was it meant to be used? In an anti-shipping role? Was it ever really a threat?

More interesting pics here
igor113 -

**Dreadnought** · 28 Sep 11,, 02:38

I'd sooner call it a bird catching "target" with an RCS the size of a mountain.

Like their other planes that carried missles like this it would have to go into a "hover" mode and stabilize before launch making it very vulnerable.

**USSWisconsin** · 28 Sep 11,, 03:18

Imagine the wake!

A-stealty.

It must have been a blast to drive, but not into a battle.

**Pedicabby** · 28 Sep 11,, 04:24

I find it hard to believe that that thing would be able to fly.

**tmasi** · 28 Sep 11,, 04:28

Ha! Yes, a pretty fat target! I couldn't help notice the how structures aft of each missile canister are contoured to deflect the launch blast, so I wanted find a photo of the thing actually firing off one of it's moskits (which is the same thing as a sunburn?)

Name: Lun Missile Launch.jpg
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Name: Lun Missile Launch.jpg
Views: 3149
Size: 23.3 KB

It looks like the aircraft would be in danger of self-incineration with each round it let off. One website I came across said that it was supposed to attack U.S. carriers with those sunburns. I'm not sure how far away it would stand-off before launch, but it seems like carrier aircraft have made short work of such an easily found and relatively slow moving threat. Esp. if it had to hover before firing!

**omon** · 28 Sep 11,, 04:47

it can't hover, it shoots on the go, it can get up to 550kmh.

it has heat resistant tiles, as shuttle\buran does, so it wont burn itself duing missile launch.

there was a thread about it somewhere, look for threads with word "lun" in them

**tmasi** · 28 Sep 11,, 04:58

Thanks, omon! I will. I'd really like to know if the USN saw it as a serious threat or if they thought it would be lucky to get a shot off. It looks like it came right out of a Marvel comic book, but as everyone knows appearances don't always correlate to effectiveness.

**Dreadnought** · 28 Sep 11,, 05:23

Here it is The Soviet Superplane Program That Rattled Area 51 | Raw File*| Wired.com

I doubt you will ever see one fly again that is unless they have ubber money to throw away. And contrary to the article a radar will pick it up but perhaps that meant that the area in which it would operate with a range of 1200 miles that no country would have them in place.

Still, I sure as hell wouldnt trust 900 soldier payload into that thing. Unless your looking to scale down your military in a hurry.

**Dreadnought** · 28 Sep 11,, 05:41

Originally Posted by tmasi

Thanks, omon! I will. I'd really like to know if the USN saw it as a serious threat or if they thought it would be lucky to get a shot off. It looks like it came right out of a Marvel comic book, but as everyone knows appearances don't always correlate to effectiveness.

Well they built a drone aircraft to monitor its progress. It didnt get very far, a few tests. Never combat. An RPG dont need radar either and neither did the Stingers during that era.

Take a look at this monstrosity:http://news.gadmodo.com/?p=2394

**Chogy** · 28 Sep 11,, 14:45

These devices died a well-deserved death when look-down pulse-doppler radars became operational, sometime in the 1970's.

Prior to that, they had some potential. Now, they are a fat, expensive, and vulnerable target with little real utility. Let the Russians waste money on it if they want.

**omon** · 28 Sep 11,, 14:58

i agree, they are past their time,
idk how they planned to put 900 soldiers in there take them x amount of miles, and expect them to be combat capable, those things had noise\vibration levels so high one needed to recover few days after a short ride, as one engineer said in interview.

**tmasi** · 29 Sep 11,, 03:33

Interesting stuff... thanks for the replies.

**BD1** · 29 Sep 11,, 08:28

it´s a bit of a stretch, but would Spruce Goose be classified as Ekranoplan too

**Doktor** · 29 Sep 11,, 08:37

What if a dolphin or a whale splashes the windshield? Will it survive?

On a serious side, how this 900 soldiers figure popped here?

Besides if you ask me, it's crazy to build 400t ship/plane that can't fly nor sail properly in order to deliver 8 missiles

**BD1** · 29 Sep 11,, 11:02

Originally Posted by Doktor

What if a dolphin or a whale splashes the windshield? Will it survive?
no. nor will the ekranoplan.

On a serious side, how this 900 soldiers figure popped here?

i´ve read somewhere that they were meant like superfast landing ships, like taking the Danish straits from East.Germany or Poland, and wasn´t they meant for 400 men. OTOH i´ve done 40km. trip in backroads in Zil-131, crammed in it with 32 other guys. russian designing could see everything from clown car perspective, AFAIR they showed like 800 men for AN-22 load capacity. maybe it was meant in case like evacuating from tsunami wave or volcano eruption?
Besides if you ask me, it's crazy to build 400t ship/plane that can't fly nor sail properly in order to deliver 8 missiles

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