Inside the Giant Ekranoplan

Описание: Step inside the story of the Soviet ekranoplans — the KM, the Lun-class, and the Orlyonok — giant ground-effect machines that skimmed just meters above the sea and terrified Cold War analysts.
They looked unstoppable. They looked like the future.
Then they vanished.

This Inside The Military documentary follows their entire rise and fall: how ground-effect flight really worked, why the Soviet Union backed these “sea monsters”, the crash that shook the program, and why one rusting hull still sits by the water today.
Were they a brilliant mistake… or a glimpse of technology the world wasn’t ready to support yet?

What You’ll Learn

• How ekranoplans used ground effect to glide just above the waves
• Why the Soviet Union wanted giant sea-skimming machines during the Cold War
• The KM’s fatal accident and the political shock that followed
• How the Lun-class missile carrier and the Orlyonok transport tried to save the idea
• Why giant ekranoplans disappeared — and whether drones could bring them back

Credits & Sources

Archival footage used under fair use for historical analysis and educational commentary.
Additional reconstructions, graphics, and visual materials created for this documentary.

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