Watched a documentary about the Soviet “Lun” ekranoplan. Ekranoplans are a hybrid between an airplane and a ship, utilizing what’s known as ground effect. The Lun was radar-invisible, traveled over water at airplane speeds, carried guided missiles, and was impervious to mines—all of which was simply fantastical for that time (the ’80s). Like many things from the USSR, the Lun was abandoned and forgotten, and nothing new of the same scale has appeared not only in the USSR/Russia but also globally in thirty years. Went on to Google what interesting things are currently being produced. I found “Flying Ship” ekranoplans in the 2021 news—they are not only ekranoplans but also (semi) autonomous, essentially full-size drones. As a result, they use half as much fuel compared to airplanes while being 10 times faster than boats. Considering that there’s almost nothing substantial regarding ekranoplans, this startup looks very intriguing.
Peeked at the contact us—they have an office in my “village”! 15 E. Market Street, Suite 615, Leesburg, Virginia 20178. Literally five minutes from home. Very unexpected to come across such a thing.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 