To help get around these issues, DARPA’s Liberty Lifter program has called for something of a hybrid design that is still capable of operating like a traditional flying boat, if required, at “altitudes up to 10,000 feet mean sea level with a compromise on range.”
O.K., throw in a requirement for a build with non-strategic materials and stick some modern turboprops on the Hughes H-4 Hercules (“Spruce Goose”) or cover the upper surfaces with photovoltaic film and go hybrid…
Cheers,
M
One of the original LUN class Ekranoplans is stored in Kaspisk harbor, Kazakstan. Maybe it could be sold, Saving the US Billions Dollars of development, I only wonder how much tariffs the Kazak government will charge?
I have flown in Soviet era fixed and rotary wing aircraft. I believe they would have to pay us to take it from them.
Originally, it was meant to carry C-17 loads so a C-130 load is drastically different because no AFV can really fit as a C-130 load. I wonder if any technical issues or costs play a factor in shrinking the cargo size…or rather the DoD doesn’t want to risk too much precious cargo in a Wing-in-Ground Effect aircraft?
True, but nothing really armored on the modern (today) US military side except maybe the JLTV and RCV/UGV, if you consider them AFVs.
Anybody remember this:
Obviously not an Ekranoplan and no wing-over-ground effect - or not that I’m aware of, but my understanding of aerodynamics has always been sparse.
'Just thought I’d mention it, as at the time it looked the biz - well - to me anyway.
I was lucky enough to see one flying, almost on a daily basis, back in, what must have been, say, 76/77.
Two still exist. One is at the Pima Air and Space Museum, which I plan to visit at some point.
Engines high up to help protect them from dust and debris on
bad runways.
When the whole aircraft is high up it is not a WIG-plane
The ground effect sometimes make it difficult for planes to get down on the the ground when landing …
No. They are that high to facilitate upper surface blowing (USB) to create airflow over the flaps. This is a STOL aircraft.