The MD-160 Lun-class ekranoplan, a futuristic aircraft developed in Soviet Russia during the 1980s, has been out of use since the late 1990s and has been sitting idle at a Russian naval base.
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However, there are plans to transform this impressive machine into a tourist attraction by beaching it on the Caspian Sea’s shoreline.
Known as the Caspian Sea Monster, the giant ekranoplan was designed in 1975 by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev, a prominent developer of of hydrofoil ships and ground effect vehicles. It used a cushion of air beneath its giant wings to hover at about 13 feet above water, making it hard to detect. It was built as part of the Soviet WIG program, which dated back to the 1960’s Cold War, and was the only Lun-class ekranoplan to ever be completed and equipped with supersonic missiles.
