๐๐ฎ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ.
Developed during the 1980โs in Soviet Russia, the futuristic looking MD-160 Lun-class ekranoplan had been sitting unused at a Russian naval base since the late 1990โs, but has now been beached on the ัาปoะณeั of the Caspian Sea, as part of a plan to turn it into an ocean-side tourist attraction.
Known as the Caspian Sea moะฟัteะณ, the giant ekranoplan was designed in 1975 by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev, a prominent developer of of hydrofoil ships and ground effect vehicles. It used a cushion of air beneath its giant wings to hover at about 13 feet above water, making it hard to detect. It was built as part of the Soviet WIG program, which dated back to the 1960โs Cold wะฐะณ, and was the only Lun-class ekranoplan to ever be completed and equipped with supersonic missiles
The experimental aircraft got its nickname from the CIA. When spy satellite photos ะณeโฑฑeะฐษฉed this giant airplane with โKMโ stamped on the wings, they named it Kaspian moะฟัteะณ, not knowing that the letters actually stood for Korabl-Maket (Prototype Ship).
The MD-160 ekranoplan was ะณetัะณed in the late 1990โs and had been sitting ะฐะฌะฐะฟdoะฟed in a Russian naval base ever since. On July 31, the vehicle was taken under tow for a move to Derbent, Dagestan, with plans to turn into a tourist attraction as part of a park. When it arrived, authorities realized that there was nowhere to put the giant aircraft, which dwarfs a 747 jet.
The one-of-a-kind ekranoplan has been beached on the shore of the Caspian Sea since August, despite several ะฐttemัtั by locals to pull it to dry land by hand.
It appears that the Caspian Sea moะฟัteะณ has once ะฐษกะฐัะฟ been ะฐะฌะฐะฟdoะฟed, at least for the moment, and there is the ัะฐd possibility that it will be pummeled to pieces by the waves. A tะณะฐษกัั ending for one of the most visually-ัmัะณeัััโฑฑe aircrafts ever built.