https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan
Only one built, and it’s still on the shore of the Caspian sea:
- OpenStreetMap: https://www.osm.org/?mlat=41.94067&mlon=48.37885&zoom=18&layers=M
- Gmaps satellite: https://www.google.com/maps?ll=41.94067,48.37885&q=41.94067,48.37885&hl=en&t=h&z=18
General characteristics
- Crew: 15 (6 officers, 9 enlisted)
- Capacity: 137 t (302,000 lb)
- Length: 73.8 m (242 ft 2 in)
- Wingspan: 44 m (144 ft 4 in)
- Height: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in)
- Wing area: 550 m2 (5,900 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 286,000 kg (630,522 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 380,000 kg (837,757 lb)
- Powerplant: 8 × Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans, 127.4 kN (28,600 lbf) thrust each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 550 km/h (340 mph, 300 kn)
- Cruise speed: 450 km/h (280 mph, 240 kn) at 2.5 m (8 ft)
- Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 5 m (16 ft) in ground effect
Armament
- Guns: two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin tail turret and two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin turret under forward missile tubes
- Missiles: six launchers for P-270 Moskit Sunburn antiship missiles
Would be interesting to see how that thing would fare in a modern war. On the one hand, it can deliver a shit ton of missiles very quickly. On the other hand it has a radar echo like, well, nothing like it I guess, and it certainly flies slower than any missile.
I would guess that it would survive about as long as it would take a $200 fpv drone to collide with one of the engine arrays. Then nautical drones would do their thing to turn it into an artificial reef.
In flight it’s way faster than any FPV or naval drone.
Sure, in a dead heat and as long as there aren’t any big waves. Also, you do realize that it’s possible to attack this thing from other directions than directly behind it while it’s at full speed, right?
If you attack it head on you have a very short window of opportunity before it’s past you and if you try from the side you’ll have to be really really good at geometry. And that thing won’t go in a straight line while it’s in enemy range.