On the grounds of the russian naval base in Kaspiysk, which was hit today by Ukrainian drones, there once stood the abandoned Soviet Lun-class ekranoplan (Soviet classification: Project 903) until 2020, a relic of the Soviet Union’s monstrous defense projects.
In this case, it is not only about a unique piece of naval military technology worth discussing separately, but also about yet another instance of russian propaganda lies, even if this time it concerns relatively minor details.
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Let’s start from the beginning. Simply put, the ekranoplan is essentially a hybrid of an aircraft and a ship, which can move thanks to the ground effect, a phenomenon that occurs due to the lift generated by wings when flying at very low altitudes, such as just a few meters above the ground.
The ground effect itself was discovered back in the 1920s, but the number of aircraft projects based on using this effect throughout aviation history is, to put it mildly, extremely limited.
The aforementioned project 903, produced as a single unit, falls precisely into this category. During the Soviet era, this ekranoplan was designed as a missile vehicle, intended to carry six supersonic anti-ship missiles, the 3M80 Moskit (with a launch range of up to 250 kilometers). For self-defense, it was equipped with two quad-barrel 23mm UKU-9K-502-II gun mounts.
The Lun has a hull length of 73 meters, a wingspan of 44 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 380 tons, and a crew of 10. Its seaworthiness is rated up to 5–6 scale, and it is powered with eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans. Its maximum speed reaches 500 kilometers per hour, with a practical range of 2000 kilometers.
The original Soviet concept planned for the construction of at least eight Lun ekranoplans to join the Caspian Flotilla. However, before the USSR collapsed, only one was completed, launched in 1986, and put into trial operation by 1990. By 2001, it was officially decommissioned.
The russian federation's military leadership showed no interest in the ekranoplan as a naval weapon class, and russia lacked the resources to support such projects. Thus, the Lun's fate was somewhat inevitable—it was decommissioned and abandoned for a long period.
However, in 2020, this Soviet-era piece was relocated, supposedly to the new Patriot museum near Derbent, which has since remained an incomplete project. Essentially, the russians merely changed the location for the final resting place of this Lun.
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