The history of Russian naval aviation goes back more than a century. During this time, technological progress and science have pushed the capabilities of domestic technology to the skies. It all started with primitive flying boats from the times of the Russian Empire. During the new era - in the USSR, the world's most ambitious projects of seaplanes and even flying ships were created. The development of advanced technology continues to this day.

One of the novelties of the new era has become ekranoplanes. According to the accepted classification, they are considered ships capable of flying. True, during flight the car is separated from the water by only a few meters. Although these machines look like flying boats in appearance, they are often not capable of normal flight at high altitudes. The main mode is precisely movement on the air screen created under the wings and fuselage. Why are such difficulties necessary? Using the screen effect allows you to increase the flight range by 1.5 times with the same amount of fuel.

Project machine VVA-14 was an ekranolet - it could fly both on the “air cushion” of the screen and at high altitude. She had 14 engines: two main engines and 12 take-off engines. The device was armed with two torpedoes and reached a maximum speed of 760 km/h.

The Orlyonok amphibious ground effect vehicle was developed as a means of delivering 200 marines or two armored personnel carriers. Like hovercraft, ekranoplanes can go onto a flat coast and onto Arctic ice.

The appearance of a new device KM, nicknamed "Caspian Monster", shocked the Americans. The spy satellite transmitted images of a giant 92-meter long, weighing 540 tons, flying at a speed of 500 km/h over the Caspian Sea. The first flight of this aircraft in 1966 made the USSR a naval superpower.

Based on the KM project, it was built impact ekranoplan "Lun". It was a machine whose mission was to destroy US aircraft carriers. Thanks to its high speed and flight above the water itself, it was invisible to ship and aircraft radars and could get very close to the target. On its roof stood six launch containers for Mosquito cruise missiles. Their salvo was guaranteed to destroy an enemy aircraft carrier.

Currently, the combat capabilities of ekranoplanes have decreased somewhat due to the development of radar technology. Even if he approaches enemy ships unnoticed, he will be noticed at the moment of missile launch and will quickly die due to his low maneuverability.

“Eaglet” and “Lun” are developments of the mighty USSR, remaining in modern Russia. What is the fate of others?

After the collapse of the USSR, many interesting and innovative projects turned out to be unfinished or closed. One of them is an attack ekranoplan-missile carrier, one missile of which was enough to send any type of vessel under water.

In 1987, the first 350-ton attack ekranoplan-missile carrier was built, called “Lun” or “Project 903”. This 74-meter ship was powered by eight turbojet engines and could reach a speed of 500 km/h. It was armed with six Mosquito cruise missiles, a hit from one of which was enough to sink a ship of any type and size. In total, it was planned to build eight similar ekranoplanes, but due to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR, the project was closed. 350 tons of power
During the flight, this type of ship used the so-called screen effect - an additional lifting force that arose during the flight at low altitude (about 3 meters) above water or a solid surface. During the tests, it turned out that the ekranoplan can carry out stable takeoff and landing at 5-meter waves.
Equipped with 8 turbojet engines
Initially, such “flying ships” were developed in the Soviet Union as high-speed military transport and were used mainly in the Caspian and Black Seas. Unfortunately, very few ekranoplanes have survived to this day.
Armed with six cruise missiles
Soon after the successful testing of ekranoplane-rocket-carrying aircraft, the designers came up with an interesting project - a giant aircraft-carrying ekranoplane. Today, some of the sketches and sketches of this project have been preserved, thanks to which you can see its approximate appearance.
Aircraft-carrying ekranoplan
As can be clearly seen from the runways on the deck, such an ekranoplan was supposed to act as an aircraft for small aircraft. Soviet engineers started from the idea that modern aircraft carriers were too slow. In contrast, aircraft-carrying ekranoplanes could quickly deliver air groups to any place throughout the world's oceans.
Ekranoplan with fighters on board
Now no one can say why such an idea was not developed. Perhaps the designers felt that ekranoplanes with fighters on board would be too dangerous to operate. But the more likely reason seems to be the excessive cost of the project. In any case, if such a device were created, it would become a real technological breakthrough.
Let down by the excessive cost of the project

Recently, there has again been an increased interest in the unfairly forgotten ekranoplanes - high-speed half-planes, half-ships that move over water and land using an aerodynamic screen. At one time, a Soviet ekranoplan, gliding through the air at an altitude of several meters due to aerodynamic lift, fairly frightened American intelligence.

The RG correspondent managed to talk with one of the creators of ekranoplanes, who participated in their tests. Ali Aliyev at that time held the position of design engineer for ship automation at the Alekseev Central Design Bureau.

To put it simply, an ekranoplan is a ship with powerful aircraft engines that moves at a low altitude without touching the surface of the water or the ground, explains Ali Aliyev.

Ekranoplans were superior to aviation and naval vessels in many respects, including combat ones. These vehicles were distinguished by their large (much greater than that of an airplane) carrying capacity, high reliability, survivability and speed. They did not require airfields or road infrastructure - only a relatively flat surface under the wing was enough, be it water, ice or land. Another undeniable advantage, especially in times of crisis, is the cost-effectiveness of ekranoplanes. An important factor is also the low flight altitude. This allows you not only to make a forced landing or splashdown in relative safety, but also to approach the target unnoticed by enemy radars, and with virtually no risk of being blown up by minefields.

At the same time, the main disadvantage of ekranoplanes is the limited use of them. On uneven terrain, the “screen effect” will no longer work, as well as with a strong wave over the water surface. Another problem is the peculiarity of the ekranoplan's movement. Yes, he can move fast, but only in one direction - in a straight line. Turns and other maneuvers are possible, but require extreme caution. For example, one of the Soviet ekranoplanes crashed when trying to change the altitude of movement, which was already measured in a few meters.

Nevertheless, in the Soviet years this direction was considered promising. Back in the 1960s, designers designed and tested in the Caspian Sea the largest transport that took to the air at that time - the KM ekranoplan. He was delivered to the testing site in the strictest secrecy; transportation was carried out only at night.

The device, 100 meters long and with a wingspan of 40 meters, lifted 550 tons above the ground. True, it was a prototype without weapons, and the abbreviation “KM” stood for “Mock-up Ship”. However, American intelligence experts were so impressed and alarmed by the new Soviet development that they called “KM” nothing less than the “Caspian Monster.”
In subsequent years, the improvement of the new type of transport continued. One of the latest achievements of Soviet “ground-effect gliding” was the attack ground-propelled ekranoplane-missile carrier “Lun”, tested in the 80s.

“I still remember with delight the tests of the 903 Lun ekranoplan,” Ali Aliyev shares his impressions. “It’s not for nothing that we called him the “aircraft carrier killer.” The ekranoplan was armed with six Moskit anti-ship supersonic low-altitude homing missiles, each of which could sink an aircraft carrier. The Lun traveled 2,000 kilometers with standard fuel tanks and twice as much distance with additional fuel taken into the hold. The ekranoplan could take off and land on water in a force five storm with a wave height of two and a half meters. The tests were so important that their progress was monitored even from space using special satellites. By the way, during the first shot of a blank rocket from the Lun ekranoplane, I was on the deck. After that I had impressions for the rest of my life!

The authorities favored the development of ekranogliding and great prospects opened up for the developers.

In the development of ekranoplanes, we were ahead of the rest. In the USSR it was planned to create an entire squadron of combat ekranoplanes. And this is just for the beginning,” Ali Aliyev recalls those years with regret.

In the future, the USSR Ministry of Defense expected to adopt more than a hundred combat ekranoplanes. Perhaps the implementation of this decision would significantly transform the armed forces, the strategy and tactics of their use in maritime and coastal operations.

And, by the way, from a military point of view, ekranoplanes would be much more useful for our country than the notorious Mistrals. And it would have been cheaper: instead of one Mistral, for the same money it would have been possible to create at least six “aircraft carrier killers,” says Ali Aliyev.
In his opinion, the need to use amphibious Mistrals for the Russian army, which, in general, does not intend to seize foreign shores, is in question. But protecting your maritime space from the same aircraft carriers is a more urgent task.

But, alas, in the 1980s, Defense Minister Ustinov, who strongly supported the development of ekranoplanes, died, and this direction was forgotten for a long time. But, as you know, everything new is well forgotten old. In modern Russia, interest in ekranoplanes is being revived. They are planned to be used in the field of civil freight and passenger transportation. There are already proposals to use ekranoplanes at the Kerch crossing. It is possible that the Ministry of Defense is also calculating the possibilities of military use of the new “aircraft carrier killers”, we just don’t know about it yet.

The pride of the Soviet naval forces was a special type of aircraft - ekranoplanes. Launched in the 1980s, the world's first ekranoplane-missile carrier "Lun", which was nicknamed the "aircraft carrier killer", was far ahead of its time - and that is why in the end it was not in demand.

History of ekranoplanes in Russia

Ekranoplans are able to stay in the air thanks to the so-called screen effect. When moving over the underlying surface, a dynamic air cushion arises, which increases the lift force acting on the wing. For the first time, pilots encountered the phenomenon of “earth influence” in the twenties, and then it often became the cause of plane crashes during takeoff and landing.

Aircraft taking advantage of the screen effect were created at the intersection of aircraft and shipbuilding. G. F. Petrov in the book “Seaplanes and WIG-Group Planes of Russia” writes that theoretical and practical developments in this direction in the USSR have been carried out since the thirties, but operating ekranoplanes were built only 30 years later. The author of the first models, designer Rostislav Alekseev, started from his earlier projects of hydrofoils.

The admirals of the Soviet fleet became interested in the new product. One of the advantages of ekranoplanes, which allows them to be used for military purposes, is their low visibility on radars. It is due to the fact that the devices rise to a height of only a few meters. At the same time, unlike ships, ekranoplans can bypass clusters of floating mines without damage. They easily move over water and ice, and, if necessary, can fly over land.

Heir to the "Caspian Monster"

The heavy impact ekranoplane "Lun", developed at the Nizhny Novgorod Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils, made its first flight in 1987. It took 3 years to build. V. A. Apalkov in the reference book “Small Rocket Ships and Boats” says that the immediate predecessor of the “Lunya” was the “Caspian Monster” (as the CIA deciphered the abbreviation KM-6) - a ship weighing 544 tons, tests of which were carried out in waters Caspian Sea. The Lun ekranoplane was distinguished by its lower mass - 380 tons with a wingspan of 44 m. The Smena-3 autopilot was developed for it, stabilizing the position of the device in the air. But the main feature of the Lun was the ability to carry up to 8 Moskit anti-ship missiles. At the same time, it reached speeds of up to 463 km/h - 10 times more than standard ships. This made it possible to quickly deliver missiles to a distance sufficient to effectively defeat the enemy. The main target of the combat ekranoplan was aircraft carriers.

Fate "Lunya"

The Lun ekranoplan was built in a single copy, although it was originally intended that it would be the first in a series of eight aircraft. The second vessel of Project 903 began to be built, but after the collapse of the USSR it turned out to be unnecessary. It was supposed to repurpose it into a rescue hospital ship capable of taking up to 500 people on board. However, in the end, the “back-up” ekranoplane was never completed, although the work was 75% completed.

The tests of the first “Lun”, which were carried out in Kaspiysk, ended in 1990, and trial operation continued for another year. For several years, the missile carrier, operated by a crew of 10 people, was part of the 236th division of ekranoplane ships of the Caspian flotilla. In addition to it, the division had 3 transport-landing ekranoplanes "Eaglet". However, at the beginning of the 2000s, “Lun” was written off, having removed all the secret electronics from it. The body of the ekranoplan was buried in a dock at the Dagdizel plant.

As a result of many years of research, chief designer R.L. Bartini developed the “Theory of Intercontinental Land Transport” with an assessment of the transport performance of ships, airplanes and helicopters. Bartini determined that the optimal vehicle was an amphibious vehicle capable of taking off like a helicopter (or using an air cushion), having the payload capacity of large ships, and the speed and equipment of airplanes, and developed the VTOL-2500 project with a take-off weight of 2500 tons in the form flying wing with a square center section and consoles and a power plant of lifting and sustainer engines.
On this topic, since 1963, TsAGI has been conducting a series of experimental works to study catamaran-type ekranoplanes with hydrofoils. For the two-boat scheme, several hydrofoil options were chosen according to the so-called four-point scheme.
Since it was impossible to completely simulate the required modes in the TsAGI hydraulic channel, the tests were divided into 3 stages:

1. Towing tests in the TsAGI experimental pool at speeds up to 12 m/sec. The goal is to select a hydrofoil design.
2. Testing a large-scale towed model in open water at a speed of 20 m/sec.
3. Production of a self-propelled scale model of an ekranoplane aircraft carrier and a study of the adopted hydrofoil design, as well as controllability and seaworthiness.

TsAGI built 2 models - one on a scale of 1:7 (Model 6313) and the second on a scale of 1:4 (Model 6320). The very first test of the Bartini model in the TsAGI hydraulic channel showed that the idea of ​​an ekranoplan vessel was quite viable. The layout of Model 6320 served as the basis for the creation of the manned model GL-1 (Be-1), the construction of which was entrusted to the G.M. Beriev Design Bureau. From June to October 1965, the Be-1 Hydroplane was tested in the waters of the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov.
The implementation of the ideas of R.L. Bartini was the project of the anti-submarine VTOL-amphibian VVA-14, the development of which began by government decree in November 1965 at the Ukhtomsk Helicopter Plant (UVZ), and then continued at the G.M. Beriev Design Bureau in Taganrog.
The VVA-14 amphibious aircraft was designed according to a high-wing design with a highly developed low-aspect load-bearing center section, a straight trapezoidal wing, and spaced horizontal and vertical tails.
When testing the VVA-14 (14M1P) amphibian, it was found that the effect of a dynamic air cushion manifested itself at altitudes higher than predicted by theory. With an average aerodynamic chord of 10.75 m, this effect was felt from a height of 10-12 m, and at a leveling height of 8 m, the air cushion was already so dense and stable that pilot Yu. Kupriyanov repeatedly asked management to allow him to drop the control stick so that the machine would land on its own .
This feature of the aerodynamic design made work on Bartini’s further project, the ekranolet “2500,” promising. The project provided for an average wing chord of 250 m, which increased the height of ground-effect flight to 150-200 m and made the flight itself safer than on lighter and lower-flying (up to 5 m) ekranoplanes.
In 1970, Bartini proposed a project for the strategic ekranoplane aircraft carrier A-2000, for which a super-heavy ekranoplane was chosen as the basis. The dimensions of the A-2000 were more than impressive. In one of the variants, the ekranoplane aircraft carrier had a take-off weight of 2500 tons and overall dimensions of 183x129x48 m. Such an ekranoplane would carry on board an air group of 15–25 combat aircraft of various types. The ship's crew consisted of 430 people (250 of them were the air group). Its power plant consisted of 10 turbofan engines with a takeoff thrust of 30–33 tons each.
Four of these engines were intended to create thrust when moving in ground mode and were located in the rear of the hull at the base of the keels. These engines were equipped with reversible devices for braking the ekranoplan during splashdown. Six other engines were intended to create an air cushion under the body of the ekranoplan. They were supposed to work only at the start in the modes of exiting the water and accelerating to the minimum ground speed and when stopping the ekranoplan and switching it to swimming mode. These boost engines were located in front of the center section on horizontal pylons.
The main feature of the A-2000 project was its ability to move in screen mode, if necessary, at any speed (up to a maximum of 550–600 km/h), including at a speed of 200–350 km/h, that is, in the takeoff range. landing speeds of modern combat aircraft. This is precisely what, as conceived by the authors of the project, should have allowed aircraft to take off and land using a technique fundamentally different from that used on classic aircraft carriers.
If on a conventional aircraft carrier the aircraft accelerates to takeoff speed relative to the deck of the ship with the help of its own engines and a catapult, and braking when landing on the deck is carried out by aerofinisher cables, then on an ekranoplane aircraft carrier, the takeoff speed for the aircraft at takeoff and the equalization of the relative speeds of the aircraft and ekranoplane during landing were ensured the progress of the ekranoplan itself.
The large dimensions of the A-2000 ekranoplane aircraft carrier would allow it to move in screen mode at an altitude of 10–15 m from the water surface. Such a flight altitude would provide it with good seaworthiness, allowing it to move without pitching, without hitting the crests of waves, without flooding and splashing in any sea state up to a force nine storm.
The ability of an ekranoplane aircraft carrier to move at a maximum speed of 550–600 km/h and quickly arrive at the designated area (within a few hours it could cover a distance of several thousand kilometers, and in a day – up to 10–12 thousand km), according to the developers , increased its tactical capabilities and made it possible to quickly respond to any changes in the military-political situation.
According to Bartini, the tasks performed by the A-2000 would not be limited only to the role of a light “super-fast” aircraft carrier. He also saw it in the role of a high-speed landing transport, capable of delivering troops to almost any point on the globe, an anti-submarine ekranoplan, and even a minelayer, capable of covertly and suddenly deploying its deadly “cargo” in the most remote corner of the theater of operations. However, even in peacetime, the A-2000 would be enough to work as a highly efficient high-speed cargo-passenger vehicle.
The relevant ministries (aircraft and shipbuilding) had a more than cool attitude towards the A-2000 project. Each of them considered the creation of an ekranoplane aircraft carrier to be someone else's work and not characteristic of it. In the aviation industry, the ekranoplan was viewed as a flying ship, and in the Ministry of Shipbuilding - as a floating aircraft. Accordingly, each department tried to shift this work from itself to its counterpart.
However, the command of the Navy and Naval Aviation showed interest in the ekranoplane-aircraft carrier project at the initial stages of work. For the military, on the one hand, it was highly desirable to get their hands on a combat weapon with such attractive characteristics, while at the same time giving, so to speak, an asymmetric response to the enemy’s aircraft carrier fleet. On the other hand, it was during this very period that the United States was actively engaged in projects of aircraft carriers based on hovercraft.
The designers of the Ukhtomsk branch of TMZ, as part of the research work opened on the A-2000 topic, managed to conduct a number of experimental studies in wind tunnels and in hydraulic channels, carry out pre-design studies of several versions of the ekranoplane aircraft carrier, conduct a preliminary comparative analysis of its technical characteristics, and evaluate the performance its economy and combat effectiveness.
However, the same work showed that the implementation of the A-2000 project, in addition to advantages, would bring a lot of different problems that needed to be resolved, and the military also did not want to quarrel with the leadership of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry, and as a result, they gradually cooled down on the topic of creating an ekranoplane aircraft carrier, it began to lose relevance, and after the death of R.L. Bartini in December 1974, this topic was completely closed. Information sources:

1. European vertical take-off aircraft / E.I. Ruzhitsky, Moscow, 2000 /
2. Experimental vertical take-off amphibious aircraft VVA-14 / MONINO Air Force Museum /
3. Naval aviation in the service of Russia / edited by G.S. Panatov, - M.: Restart+, 2000 /
4. Airplanes of TANTK named after G.M. Beriev / A.N. Zablotsky, A.I. Salnikov, - M.: Restart+, 2001 /
5. WIG aircraft carrier from Robert Bartini / A.N. Zablotsky, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 06.15.2018 /