Last week, another project of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was launched on the interests of combining a seaplane, and, in fact, an ekranoplan – the Liberty Lifter.
This project is also to some extent to reduce the more than 60-year lag behind Russia, the birthplace of ekranoplanes created by the outstanding Soviet designer Rostislav Alekseev. The idea of a flying coVEwork It was piloted by R. Alekseev himself.
The pinnacle of the design creativity of Soviet engineers was the giant ekranoplane KM, which later received the unofficial name Caspian Monster (in fact, the abbreviation KM sent a “dummy ship” – ed. Tekhkult). Its performance characteristics are still amazing: weight 554 tons, maximum speed 500 km / h, wingspan 37 m, flight range 1500 km, payload 304 tons. One version of the KM was armed with six anti-ship missiles “Mosquito”. Unfortunately, after the disaster and the onset of “KM” in 1980, the project was closed.
“Liberty Lifter”, as conceived by its creators, should reproduce the main advantages of the ekranoplan – high, as in aviation, speed and colossal carrying capacity, inaccessible to transport aircraft. It is equally important that it does not require airfields – the ekranoplan starts and lands on the water.
It is worth noting that the current attempt to develop an ekranoplan in the United States is not the first. 20 years ago, Boeing engineers discovered the final km concept. However, it ended in complete failure.
If the Liberty Lifter project is successful, the US Navy will receive a powerful landing craft capable of delivering armored vehicles, a huge amount of cargo, missile and other uses to the landing area.
Source: Tech Cult
