Developed during the 1980s in Soviet Russia, the futuristic-looking MD-160 Lun-class ekranoplan had been sitting unused at a Russian naval base since the late 1990s. However, it has now been beached on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as part of a plan to turn it into an ocean-side tourist attraction.
Known as the Caspian Sea Monster, the giant ekranoplan was designed in 1975 by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev, a prominent developer 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 1960s Cold War, and was the only Lun-class ekranoplan to ever be completed and equipped with supersonic missiles.
The one-of-a-kind ekranoplan has been beached on the shore of the Caspian Sea since August, despite several attempts by locals to pull it to dry land by hand.
It appears that the Caspian Sea Monster has once again been abandoned, at least for the moment, and there is the sad possibility that it will be pummeled to pieces by the waves. A tragic ending for one of the most visually-impressive aircraft ever built.
