Justdroppedin
04-28-2024, 11:23 AM
Two years ago, Russian authorities pulled a "sea monster" from a remote military pier on the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water. But the 302-foot Lun-class ekranoplan was no legendary Nessie swimming the depths of Loch Ness. It was a hybrid boat-aircraft built during the Cold War, weighing 380 tons, with a 148-foot wingspan and 340-mph top speed.
The military aircraft, designed to attack NATO nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, first entered service in 1987. It was decommissioned when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. The Lun-class craft spent three decades hidden away at a naval base on the Caspian Sea before being transported to a beach for eventual placement in a local maritime museum.
https://i.redd.it/h2bxqwglt5xc1.jpg
https://i.redd.it/xw17yiplt5xc1.jpg
The military aircraft, designed to attack NATO nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, first entered service in 1987. It was decommissioned when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. The Lun-class craft spent three decades hidden away at a naval base on the Caspian Sea before being transported to a beach for eventual placement in a local maritime museum.
https://i.redd.it/h2bxqwglt5xc1.jpg
https://i.redd.it/xw17yiplt5xc1.jpg