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the description. In the 1960s the leader of the Soviet Union bragged about having
ships that could jump over bridges. His cryptic words confused Western leaders.
What he was talking about was a machine unlike anything the world had ever seen.
A ship that could move as fast as an aircraft by lifting right out of the
water. And for decades the Soviets developed a unique technology under a
shroud of secrecy. But these giant, otherworldly machines all but
disappeared along with the Soviet Union.
In the 1950s, the fastest boats in the world were hydrofoils. A type of boat
with wings attached to its hull. And they were an ingenious innovation. Because at
speed, the wings would lift the boat out of the water to reduce drag. Allowing for
much higher speeds. But even the fastest hydrofoils could reach no more than
110 km/h. Held back by a phenomenon known as cavitation,
which disturbed the lift generated by a hydrofoil's wings. It was a problem that
engineers would never solve. But a pioneering Soviet hydrofoil designer by
the name of Rostislav Alexeyev had a radical idea. What if he moved the wings
out of the water entirely? Doing so would mean a shift from hydrodynamics to
aerodynamics. But it would allow for previously unimaginable speeds. Once
Alexeyev's ships were moving fast enough, they would lift right out of the water.
But they wouldn't fly like aircraft. Instead, they'd ride on a cushion of air
just above the surface. Pilots had long noticed when landing or flying very
close to the ground, their planes would seem to gain extra lift. Almost as if
they didn't want to land. This phenomenon was the ground effect. And Alexeyev would
use it to revolutionize ships. To prove his idea
Alexeyev built scale models and small prototypes. But he'd need access to a lot
more resources to fully develop the concept. And the only way that was going
to happen in 1960s Soviet Union, was if he could demonstrate the military
potential of his idea.
Alexeyev ships were called Ekranoplan. And they could fly at aircraft-like
speeds, low to the surface where they'd be virtually invisible to radar.
Being completely out of the water, they'd also be invisible to sonar. And pass
right over sea mines. With her small draft, Ekranoplans could access
shallow coastlines and beaches inaccessible to conventional ships. And
they promised to be relatively cheap and simple to build. Mixing aircraft and
shipbuilding construction. Alexeyev got the attention of top military brass
and even Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Easily swayed by big, bold
projects, Khrushchev immediately saw potential in
a technology that the Americans didn't have. So the floodgates of military
funding blew open. And Alexeyev and his team went to work scaling up the idea.
Over a period of just five years, they went from small prototypes weighing no
more than a few tons, to this. A 265 ton monster they called the KM.
It was a machine that looked straight out of another dimension. The KM could
travel at over 500 kilometers an hour and lift 600 tonnes. When it was
completed in 1966, it was by far the largest flying machine, and had an
impressive lift-to-drag ratio unmatched by any aircraft. To get this enormous
machine into ground effect, eight forward mounted jet engines directed thrust
underneath the wings, creating a temporary hovercraft .Once in ground
effect, the forward jet engines were shut off, and only two engines were enough to
keep 600 tons of machine moving at aircraft-like speeds. A giant tail, five
stories high, was used to counter the inherent instability of flying within
the ground effect and to provide control at higher speeds.
First tested in 1966, the KM proved that Ekranoplans
could be scaled way up. But it also revealed some serious flaws.
Far from robust, the KM demanded careful maintenance. It's ten jet engines were at
constant risk of damage from saltwater and foreign objects.
It was also notoriously difficult to operate. Flying safely within the ground
effect was an exhausting experience for pilots. And the KM needed enormous
distances to turn. Which meant that spotters up ahead had to give advanced
warning about other ships and obstacles. Another challenge was the weather.
Supposedly that KM could operate in waves of up to a meter and a half. Not
bad. But you'll never find a photo or video of it in anything but calm water.
And getting this enormous machine moving in high seas? Next to impossible.
So the KM could only operate when conditions were calm and on smaller
inland seas like the Caspian. Travelling on the open ocean was out of the question.
These were the kind of challenges facing
an engineering team developing an entirely new kind of vehicle, from the
ground up. With further development maybe Alexeyev and his engineers could
have resolved many, if not all of the KM's issues. But it was already too late.
By the time the KM made its first flight, the Soviet Union had a new leader. And
the entire mood had shifted. Brezhnev was neither patient nor a risk-taker. He saw
Ekranoplan development as an unnecessary gamble. Instead preferring
more conventional military projects. And it was bad news for Alexeyev. In 1968, he
was demoted from director of the Hydrofoil Bureau, to merely head of a
dwindling Ekranoplan program. With many technical hurdles and fewer resources,
Alexeyev and his engineers shifted their focus from the KM to developing a
smaller, more practical Ekranoplan. One that could transport about 150
troops, roll onto beaches, and even fly out of the ground effect. But these
added capabilities came with compromises. Like reduced lifting capacity largely in
line with a similarly sized seaplane. But with many in Soviet leadership skeptical
about Ekranoplans, only three entered service with the Soviet
Navy. Alexeyevs Ekranoplans were fast, but they couldn't outrun the Soviet
Union's economic failures. With dwindling resources
Alexeyev butted heads with Soviet leadership. And in 1975, his impatience
with Soviet bureaucracy finally caught up to him, He was demoted again. This time
down to the position of an ordinary employee. It was the beginning of the end,
but not before a final a Ekranoplan was developed for the 1980s. Not quite as
large as the KM, it carried six anti-ship cruise missiles and could strike targets
over 100 kilometers away. But only a single example was ever built. And Alexeyev
would never see it fly. In 1980, he passed away at the age of just 63, having never
fully realized his vision. Funding for Ekranoplan development wound down by
the mid-1980s. And after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the few Ekranoplans
built were quickly pulled from service, putting an end to nearly 40 years of
development. But a belief in the potential of Ekranoplans lives on
within the former Soviet Union and elsewhere in the world, with continued
development focused on smaller ground effect vehicles. And that leaves an
intriguing question still unanswered. With the KM, Alexeyev and his team
demonstrated that the more massive an Ekranoplan got, the better it flew.
Becoming more stable, flying higher, and operating with greater efficiency. Could
a machine much larger than even the KM be the key to unlocking the technology's
potential? A machine that would fly 10 or 20 meters above waves could transverse
oceans. And potentially carry passengers and cargo far more efficiently than any
aircraft. But thus far, efforts to build such a machine have failed to attract
the immense resources needed for development. And that means at least for
the time being, giant Ekranoplan will remain a relic of the Cold War.
I have a fascination with all things Soviet.
Not so much this.
But this.
Which is why I just finished watching The Spying Game. A fantastic three-part
series that chronicles the extraordinary lengths that the Soviet Union and the
West went to learn each other's Cold War secrets. And it's just one of thousands
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