Yep,

What once was old is new again! This tech has been around for decades.

Here is a Lun-class Ekranoplan on the Caspian Sea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_symWK4T7n0

I can only guess those are nuke rated missiles it is firing.

8 nacels, the things HP must have been huge.

Reagan began his speech by eloquently deploring the violent acts of bullies who threaten freedoms of individuals and ends it by making threats of his own, thereby becoming bully himself. --No doubt the cold war (nuclear?) threats were meant intimidate the neighbours of a country occupied (at least in part) by the American military (ie West Germany).

The similarity to the situation in Iran is that it too is bordered by countries presently occupied by U.S. troops, has been subject to intimidating rhetoric from the U.S., and is nearby to Russia (sharing a trade border via the Caspian Sea). Many of the conflicts the U.S. has been involved with since the conclusion of WWII have had the partial aim of creating either a firm foothold or civil unrest about the doorstep of the Soviet Union--to "prevent the spread of socialism."

Reagan's comments in 1981 did little to defuse the cold war. If nothing else, his threats likely heightened existing tensions, and the cold war itself. Hannity seems to want to step back into the Fear-driven state that the Cold War was, when the tyranny of Fear was used to whither personal liberties in exchange for state-provided personal "safety" set in motion by McCarthyism.

The difference now is that most people are weary of occupying foreign lands, and tired of footing the bill for such imperialistic conquests to the sole benefit of war profiteers. The comments made by Obama and his administration reflect those wishes not to create even more conflicts than they are engaged in already. Earlier this year in his statements to Iran, Obama made effort to extend an olive branch to take the chill off that diplomatic climate. Rescinding that gesture will do nothing to aid the Administration's goal of creating a sense of stability in their policy, foreign and domestic.

Besides that, America can not afford another war-not even a cold one-and most of the world knows it.
Hannity stands alone in his ignorance.

iran would be well on it's way to become a democracy by now were there no interventions by the US and Israel, which won't give up it's strategic control of mid-East. like 1980-88 iran-iraq war, sponsored and instigated by the US. thus the clerics are still in power. there's a lot of well educated young people in Iran that want to establish normal relations with the west. my ex-girlfriend was in Iran in 1989, had trouble with the "ethics police" in Teheran, a bunch of armed youth and old war veterans that patroled the streets. apparently her feet were to "exposed" (she wore sandals and huge sunglasses) also her long blond hair peeked a bit from under all that disguise, so she was an easy target. she was with another guy and they had to pretend they're married to get a hotel room. they were pushing it a bit when they went skinny dipping in the Caspian sea (they entered from north, through Turkey) but they both came home with good impressions. they met a dozen educated mid-class iranians who were very eager to welcome them in their homes and talk to them about politics, life in Europe and the stuff that was bothering them like strict religious laws and the double lives they lived - out on the street or at work they always have to be careful about what they say, how they behave or what they wear. when at home they're much more relaxed and openly talk about life in Iran.
we shouldn't bomb them, we should help them make a better country for themselves or at least just leave them the fuck alone so they can get their shit together on their own. the US policy for the last few decades certainly didn't do any good to the evolutionary process in that part of the world.

I'm sure most Americans would have a different opinion on the matter if you'd experience the madness of war first-hand. But then, US has never been in that situtation; your houses were never burnt down, your women never raped by foreign invaders, your friends and relatives never layed dead in the streets. On the other hand US military has been involved in every major conflict around the globe since WW1 under the guise of "exporting democracy" or some other bullshit catch phrase like "nation building". You just outsource wars like everything else and the only numbers that matter to you are the financial cost of war and american military casualties (4000+ now in Iraq). Rarely have I seen mentioned on any american mainstream TV network the real number of casualties among Iraqi civilian population (or they've been played down by a factor of 10 or more). So, please, do us all a favor and stop pretending you're the good guys here, the 50s are long gone and so is the cold war (you've ran out of excuses to invade other coutries cause no one buys this "war on terror" crap anymore). It's time to wake the fuck up and do something about it; like NOT voting McCain who's likely to start nuking Iran first month in office to get his big oil buddies what they want - access to the last fucking drops of cheap oil on this planet, that are buried under the Caspian sea basin. If he's elected president, of course. Alas the dems are just the flip-side of the same old broken record and Ron Paul chickened out of running as an independent so I guess we're all screwed either way...

>> ^kulpims:
Few years ago nobody in EU dared to stir this mess but seems US interest prevailed after all. Albanians in Kosovo wanted autonomy for a long time but I don't believe they would have gone for it without substancial US backing. Bare in mind that in Kosovo, after the 1999 bombing of Serbia, US has built the biggest “from scratch” foreign US military base since the Vietnam war. There are two main reasons for building Camp Bondsteel:
1. Kosovo is rich in minerals such as copper, zinc and lead and even uranium
2. it is situated near AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil) pipeline project. This pipeline would supply oil (monthly deliveries valued at $600 million) from the Caspian Sea basin to Albanian shore and eventualy to the American market. The size restriction for tankers traveling through Bosporus is 150.000 tons while the Otrant straight from Adriatic to Mediterranean can accomodate 300.000 ton tankers. This will also ensure that in the future the US will be less dependant on oil from the Persian gulf. The main investor in this project is Halliburton.
Basicaly, if you look at this map, you can see that all diplomatic and military effort the US put in the countries around the Caspian sea basin, the so called central Asian countries, Pakistan, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and current threats to Iran are all aimed at cutting off Russia and China from access to those rich reserves (many estimate them to be equal to those currently in the Gulf).
Great plan. And quite perverse. I can't blame the Russians for being so pissed off.


BTW, thanks for the background, that makes perfect sense. As usual, truth is found. On the sift.

Few years ago nobody in EU dared to stir this mess but seems US interest prevailed after all. Albanians in Kosovo wanted autonomy for a long time but I don't believe they would have gone for it without substancial US backing. Bare in mind that in Kosovo, after the 1999 bombing of Serbia, US has built the biggest “from scratch” foreign US military base since the Vietnam war. There are two main reasons for building Camp Bondsteel:

1. Kosovo is rich in minerals such as copper, zinc and lead and even uranium

2. it is situated near AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil) pipeline project. This pipeline would supply oil (monthly deliveries valued at $600 million) from the Caspian Sea basin to Albanian shore and eventualy to the American market. The size restriction for tankers traveling through Bosporus is 150.000 tons while the Otrant straight from Adriatic to Mediterranean can accomodate 300.000 ton tankers. This will also ensure that in the future the US will be less dependant on oil from the Persian gulf. The main investor in this project is Halliburton.

Basicaly, if you look at this map, you can see that all diplomatic and military effort the US put in the countries around the Caspian sea basin, the so called central Asian countries, Pakistan, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and current threats to Iran are all aimed at cutting off Russia and China from access to those rich reserves (many estimate them to be equal to those currently in the Gulf).

Great plan. And quite perverse. I can't blame the Russians for being so pissed off.

In the front were 8 engines, each capable of 10 ton lifting capability, most of the power was mostly needed for the initial take off. 2 similar engines in the back were located in the keel, enough to keep the tail up.

The Caspian Sea Monster trails started in 1966, at Caspian Sea. The first flight lasted 55 minutes, with a height of 4 meters off the water and a speed of 400-450 km/h. While the flight looks smooth, there were problems, the body of the plane was built for flying and started to weaving like a snake under pressure. The solution was simplicity itself, to strengthen the body of the plane with metal sheets 20mm thick. But the Caspian Sea Monster did its assigned part convincing officials and earning Alexis a contract to develop more Ekranoplans called the A-90 Orlyonok.

The Orlyonok, launched in 1977, combined everything that has been learnt from the Caspian Sea Monster trails. The Orlyonok showed good results, with liftoff off the water at low speed, high lifting capability, and high speed in flight made this apparatus unique in its use and application.

"This is a marine transport Ekranoplan, capable of transferring 140 marines, or 2 APCs with troops. For load up, these locks are unlocked and the entire front side opens like a large gate."

Orlyonok could take up to a maximum up to 200 troops or 2 water based tanks, it could take off from 2 meter wave seas, and in several hours carry the troops a distance over 1500 KM. The speed of the Ekranoplan was 450 Km/H, no mines or bombs would pose it threat, it offered excellent maneuverability and control. Its low flying height of 2 m and high speed meant it was invisible to radar.

*The following part talks about how difficult it was to control for new pilots, once crashing it and tearing off the entire wings off. Once the engines failed catastrophically, but the pilots managed to make it glide to a stop into the coast*

5 Orlyonoks were built, one for static display, and 4 for flights. 2 were lost, in one of them a pilot died, leading the project to stop for a while.

One last derivative of the Caspian Sea Monster (KM ) was the armed Lun, work started on it in early 70s. The Lun-class was 8 M longer and 3 M higher then the KM. It was armed with 6 3M80 Mosquit rockets, capable of destroying any modern battleship. In 1971, the Lun passed firing exercises for it's weapons with flying colors.

"The Ekranoplan Lun-class was the killer of the seas, for this it has 6 rockets, in its time it performed marvelously. But it was not really accepted and 14 years later still awaits its fate in this dry dock"

The Lun was the best (most practical) of the Ekranoplan that Alexis had completed before his death; it could fly in Level 6 to 7 storms the original Caspian Sea Monster could only fly in Level 3 storms. The speed and armaments of the Lun transport, made it 3 times cheaper then the conventional battleship. However it was not built for the replacement of the battleship, but for support of sea based forces in enclosed seas such as the Baltic, Black or the Mediterranean seas.

"In 1993 they showed the flight of this plane, the one right behind me, to American delegates and after that the flights were basically stopped."

It was a strange occurrence, the Americans always wanted to see the Ekranoplan. They saw it, were marveled and left. And the Ekranoplan faded into obscurity. The USSR collapsed, and not one new version of the plane has been developed. The hard character of its developer, the difficulties in its constructions and the catastrophes of the trails while no military technology came without its difficulties, the Ekranoplan has had far worse fate. What is the fate of this Russian wonder? Seeing as NATO is experimenting with similar technologies, maybe it's not long before in Russia they will remember the work of Rastislav Evegniy Alexisy.

Okay I wrote a translation. Not that much new information here for me, but still for all the rest of you! I wonder if I can add this in Google Video for CC.

=================================================================================================================================

It was truly a thing of wonder, still unsurpassed, surely no one in the observable future will able to construct something like the Caspian Sea Monster (KM) - The Ekranoplan, the work of the great Russian innovator Rastislav Evegniy Alexisy. Once the Caspian Sea Monster (KM) was filled with a record load of 544 tons, a record for not only for the Ekranoplan, but all flying based vehicles existing on the planet, even the famous Mira could not take such a load, yet the Caspian Sea monster did it in stormy weather!

They died together, in one year, Alexis in February 1980. The Ekranoplan a little later in latter testing stages, it sank in 20m waters. It's gigantic tail sticking from the water like a tombstone for a long time.

The Ekranoplan is basically an plane, but its massive lifting power comes from 2 technologies, the first being plane lift technology, and Ekranoplan effect (BTW in The US/UK this is called Ground Effect).

"It's incredible that this huge plane flies just a few meters off the water, using just one engine, this was done possible due to Ekrano effect where a pocket of air is created between the plane wing and the water, providing lift"

This lift support, makes the Ekranoplan a more economic plane, i.e. the weight lift capability created meant that the plane flying over water, could be up to 40% larger.

"This gave an increase speed and sea mobility regardless of wave fluctuations for the most part. This is why the air pocket planes... so called Ekranoplans were developed, however the first developments of the ekrano effect were found in early airplanes."

The Ekrano effect was noticed in the infancy of aviation, pilots first felt it when they would try to land, the effect would reduce plane control, and the higher the aerodynamic quality of the plane the less the Ekrano effect would take place. However from the point of view of the pilot and the air builder this was a negative effect, but it gained the attention of various inventors, especially those of speedboats, leading to famous developments of speedboats with under board wings which were also the design of Alexisy Evegniy.

However when these boats reached speeds of 100 to 150 KM/H, they would reach a limit of the Ekrano effect, and Rastislav decided that it was time to stop fighting against the wing and re-design it altogether and enhance the effect of Ekrano effect, to gain the most speed it would need to glide above water. And Alexis started with the largest, a real Caspian monster, the KM was 92 meters long, with a height of 22 M and a wingspan 37 M. The underside was built like a boat, though the most of the exterior looked like that of a plane.

yeah, the Caspian Sea Monster was it's name, and was capable of 200km/h and up with a few hundred troops onboard.