Soviet jet-powered hydrofoil

Gday. I'm looking for information relating to an old Cold War project by the U.S.S.R., which involved designing and developing an enourmous plane shaped hydrofoil (I presume) that skims the water at sub-sonic speeds with the aid of amout ?6? Turmansky jet engines, afterburner or not I could not tell, but I would no be surprised. I saw about 2 minutes of footage on the history channel, but I could not find the program transcript anywhere on the net, or any other info about it. All I need is a project name, or even the nam of a man that worked on the project. Thanks.

Two more things. Does anybody know anyone that worked on or for the US Navy's SOSUS (Sound surveillance system) during the earlish years of the Cold War?

And does anybody have information on the local release authority on Cuba by the Soviet commanders stationed on the island during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962? Wether or not those commanders were allowed to launch the MRBM and FROG missiles without authorization from Moscow.
Ta.

Try googling for the following terms

Caspian Sea Monster
Ekranoplan

Wing in ground effect craft (W.I.G.)

this plane looks crazy.

www.gizmohighway.com...







jpcolliat.free.fr...

[edit on 22-7-2005 by chinawhite]

Not exactly a plane, not exactly a boat....Both, sorta. If I remember correctly, if floats about 6 feet above the water on a cushion of air produced by the engines and some lift from the winglets. It was designed to replace some sea transports, and has an inherent defense from sub forces.

Interesting idea, but I bet it drank fuel like a college freshman drinks beer.

but i think this aircushin air craft is now junk sitting in dry post som where in russia it can carry 1000 troops fully loaded is not amazing .

but sadly now lie dead junk. very sad indeed

Oh yes, i saw that on the history channel, where they do a doc. on secret soviet projects. This is one, it suppose to be a gaint plane and a boat, it flots on the water really fast, and inside it can transport tanks and soldiers and since it's fast it can get to the shore really fast and unload the troops. it's for coastal invadsion.

Look a the size of that thing how could a anti ship missile miss? I give them props for ingenuity but for particle use this this was going nowhere.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Look a the size of that thing how could a anti ship missile miss? I give them props for ingenuity but for particle use this this was going nowhere.

I don't think an 'Anti-Ship' Missile would be adequate, considering Missiles such as the Exocet target slow moving Warships such as a Destroyer, Cruiser etc. I'd imagine this Flying Aircraft/Boat hybrid would be too fast for an Anti-Ship Missile to destroy it. Perhaps an Anti-Aircraft/Air-To-Ground Missile would be required. Besides if a Guided Missile was fired at such a craft, there's no reason why it wouldn't have onboard Counter-Measures such as Flares, Chaff etc.

I'd imagine due to the size of the thing (considering it can carry 1000 Troops and Armoured Vehicles) it would give off a big Radar cross section. Meaning it could be detected easily, then again it could travel 'below the Radar' perhaps why it was designed in the first place? Although i'd agree with the Poster who stated it may be a big 'Fuel Guzzler'.

Perhaps if the design was expanded upon, it could prove to be of practical use in Warfare.

Facinating technology ... with definite commercial applications ... but there are limitations, especially when considered for military appications.l

After scanning the aerodynamic theory behind this "ground effect" phenomena ( per www.se-technology.com... )

It seems that for maximum effeciency these hybrid craft have to be really big ... and even then, they will have problems with deep sea swells beyond a certain height which is based in part on the rule below

" ...From this theory it follows that induced drag reduces to approximately 50% at a ground clearance of 10% of the wingspan (or equivalent lift surface)."

So, the single biggest limitation would be wave height clearance in deep sea or rough weather .

It seems that for lakes and coastal applications such a craft could find an operational niche ... or perhaps a very controlled scenario for millitary exploitation.

LCKob

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Look a the size of that thing how could a anti ship missile miss? I give them props for ingenuity but for particle use this this was going nowhere.

i think it is a bit too fast to hit it with anti ship missile. but it has to stay still somehow, they should make a stealth one hehehe, it's too big, so easy to spot.

[edit on 28/7/2005 by watch_the_rocks]

... hmmm its a nice plane/boat i wonder if there is a new type ov something like that... we wouldnt really know cuz Russia is good at keeping secrets... we know nothing about their secret stuff yet there are pictures from inside area 51

The Ekranoplane was in fact a very strange experiment and a very strange looking aircraft. I believe it was classified as an aircraft, a transport.

This design however did not die with the Russian aircraft and all it's design flaws and crashes, the design of Ekranoplane was included in one of the designs submitted into the new "WALRUS" competition.

The basic aim of this competition was to see which aircraft could lift the most load from point A to point B safely and economically effectively. There was one design of the two that was in fact an Ekranoplane. It had a wingspan of an Acre, that's 1000 feet. Can anyone imagine an aircraft like that flying at 20 feet above sea level?

I'll do some research and come up with some links later.

Shattered OUT...