Lun-class ekranoplan

The "Lun"-class ekranoplan (also called Project 903) is a ground effect vehicle (GEV) designed by Rostislav Alexeyev in 1975 and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 until sometime in the late 1990s.
It flew using the lift generated by the ground effect of its large wings when within about above the surface of the water. Although they might look similar to regular aircraft, and have related technical characteristics, ekranoplans like the "Lun" are not aircraft, seaplanes, hovercraft, nor hydrofoils. Rather, crafts relying on the ground effect form a distinct technological group. The International Maritime Organization classifies these vehicles as maritime ships.
The name "Lun" comes from the Russian word for harrier.
Design and development.
The "Lun"-class ekranoplan was developed on the basis of the experimental KM ekranoplan, which was nicknamed the "Caspian Sea Monster".
The "Lun" was powered with eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans, mounted on forward canards, each producing of thrust. It had a flying boat hull with a large deflecting plate at the bottom to provide a "step" for takeoff. It had a maximum cruising speed of .
Equipped for anti-surface warfare, it carried the P-270 "Moskit" (Mosquito) guided missile. Six missile launchers were mounted in pairs on the dorsal surface of its fuselage with advanced tracking systems mounted in its nose and tail.
The only model of this class ever built, the MD-160, entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1987. It was retired in the late 1990s and sat unused at a naval station in Kaspiysk until 2020.
The second "Lun"-class ekranoplan was partially built in the late 1980s. While its construction was underway, it was redesigned as a mobile field hospital for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location. It was named the "Spasatel" ("Rescuer"). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and cancellation of military funding, construction of the second craft was halted. As of 2020, the uncompleted "Spasatel" is stored in an old industrial complex in Nizhny Novgorod.
On 31 July 2020, the only completed MD-160 "Lun"-class ekranoplan was towed from Kaspiysk naval base to Derbent, Dagestan. It will be put on display at the planned Patriot Park. The journey was approximately across the Caspian Sea; moving the ekranoplan required the use of rubber pontoons, three tugboats and two escort vessels. However, while towing the vessel to its destination, the vehicle got stuck in the sandy beach on the shore of the Caspian Sea just south of the town of Derbent. The vehicle was too heavy to be pulled off the sand and the managing team was not properly equipped, so the ekranoplan was secured and stayed on the beach for next 5 months, becoming a local attraction. Ground works and a new attempt in December 2020, finally resulted in the plane being moved some 20-30m from the sea.