Aerospace

MAKS: Can Russia’s ‘Caspian Sea Monster’ rise again?

The Soviet Union’s once-secretive “Caspian Sea Monster” has resurfaced at the MAKS air show, minus the stacks of short-range nuclear missiles meant to obliterate Western defences in a sea-skimming sneak attack.

The original "KM" ekranoplan – designed to travel at high speeds just 150m above the ocean on a cushion of air – was created in the mid-1960s and is arguably one of the oddest weapons to emerge during the Cold War. The "Lun-class" follow-on was outfitted with six missile tubes and entered service with the Soviet navy in the late 1980s.