When you hear of anything that has been beached, you would naturally assume it was a whale, dolphin or another marine mammal… but in this case, you’d be wrong.
On the coast of Derbent, a city in southern Russia, lies a dormant 283 tonne, 63ft plane – nicknamed the Caspian sea monster, and is way bigger than a Boeing 747.
Designed in 1975 and used 12 years later towards the end of the Cold War by soviet and Russian navies, the Lun-class ekranoplan is equipped with six fixed-elevation anti-ship missile launchers, and two twin turrets – it struck fear in the enemies eyes.
It was part of the Soviet’s wing-in-ground-effect programme (WIG), and while it looks as if it was lifted from a scene in Star Wars and dropped on the coast of the landlocked Caspian Sea – often described as the largest lake in the world – it wasn’t and took years to build.
The 283 tonne maritime ship looks like it has been lifted from Star Wars. (Getty/Anadolu)
Fortunately for the residents 21 miles away in the small village of Samurçay, by the Russian border in Azerbaijan, the once heavily armed craft has been converted into a museum.
While we’ve been describing the ginormous vessel as a plane, in actual fact it falls under the ‘ground effect’ category, which would classify it as a ship – no, not a spaceship, but a boat.
Despite looking strikingly similar to traditional aircrafts, ekranoplans like the Lun are not, nor are they hovercrafts.
The awe-inspiring ship, which was retired in the late 90s just years after the conclusion of the Cold War, miraculously floated above the water with the help of its eight jet engines.
It flew using a cushion of air beneath its wings generated by the ground effect acting on its large wings when within about 13 feet above the surface of the water.
According to the International Maritime Organization, the MD-160 is in fact classified as a maritime ship – a large vessel that travels the world’s oceans.
With it gliding just 13 feet above the water, it essentially made it near impossible to detect on radars – or at least extremely tricky.
The lun-class ekranoplan has been turned into a museum. (Getty/Anadolu)
Speaking of the programme and referring to the ship as ‘Utka’ which means duck in Russian, CIA officials added: “The Utka class WIG is a tactical strike and coastal defence vehicle for the Soviet Navy. It carries six supersonic SS-N-22 anti-ship cruise missiles.
“The Utka, can engage enemy ships out to its radar horizon (about 35 kilometers/22 miles) but can fire the SS-N-22 out to the missile’s 100-kilometer (62-mile) range with over-the-horizon targeting data.
“The Utka is larger than a US Boeing 747 jet airplane and flies at about 250 knots [287 mph]. One Utka has been built.”
They added: “We believe that an Utka strike force or coastal defense force would give the Soviets a quick-reaction capability against surface combatants.
“However, unless the Utka can pop up out of ground effect to extend its radar horizon, it will require external sources of targeting information.”