The reasons for the failure of the ekranoplan, the Soviet vehicle that flew over the waves

During the 20th century, several powers experimented with novel weapons systems that aspired to revolutionize warfare.

Exploring the Caspian Sea Monster: the abandoned Lun ekranoplane in Dagestan
The old amphibian port of the Spanish Navy in El Carmolí, base of the VCA-36 hovercraft

One of these innovative weapons systems was the ekranoplan, a maritime vehicle invented by Soviet engineer Rostislav Alexeiev. It looked like a small-winged airplane, but it was actually designed to sail at sea, flying at a short distance from the surface, on a cushion of air, just like hovercraft. The USSR made several different types of ekranoplans. Yesterday, Fly By Wire Aviation published an interesting video talking about the A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplan, a troop and armored vehicle transport (the video is in Spanish; you can enable automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

The USSR made plans to build 120 A-90 Orlyonoks, but only three were ultimately built. Another ekranoplan model was the Project 903 "Lun" I wrote about here in 2022, which was powered by eight Kuznetsov NK-87 jet engines and could launch six P-270 Moskit anti-ship missiles, a weapon that would have been devastating to America's large aircraft carriers.

There were also plans for nuclear-armed ekranoplanes, but they ultimately failed. The ekranoplanes built by the USSR were eventually withdrawn from service in the final years of the Soviet dictatorship and in the early years of its successor, the Russian Federation. Why did the ekranoplane fail? There was no single reason, but undoubtedly one of the reasons why it was ultimately unsuccessful was its inability to navigate in very rough seas, which greatly limited its chances of success in a war scenario.

Another reason for its failure was its instability, especially in certain wind conditions and at certain speeds. This was the cause that led to the disaster of Project 903 "Lun." Furthermore, the economic difficulties the USSR experienced in its final years hampered these projects, as well as other important defense plans developed by the Soviet regime in its final years.

It should be noted that the USSR was not alone in such failures. The US Navy's Sea Shadow (IX-529) stealth boat is another example: it was completed in 1984, decommissioned in 2006, and scrapped in 2012. Another example is the VCA-36 hovercraft built by CACHONSA for the Spanish Navy (above) in the 1970s and 1990s, a project that was eventually scrapped in 1994 due to various problems after the construction of the El Carmolí amphiport, now abandoned and intended to serve as a base for these ships.

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Main photo: Alexey Komarov.