Not a plane or a hovercraft . A ground-effect vehicle – like the Russian Ekranoplan . An absolute beast. This is a concept submitted to DARPA who were considering whether a billion-dollar program was justifiable . It could carry a tremendous amount of people and tech – or 'assets' as military types like to say . I believe they were limited to fairly calm sea conditions (bit of a bummer) but they reckoned it could zip along at 460 mph in cruise . DARPA said 'no' – too much of a risk .
by SevenSharp
2 Comments
The main problem with these types of craft is the existence of waterfowl. Every area these would operate has tons of birds sharing it.
Younger Me didn’t care, cuz wing-in-ground effect craft are supercool. Older Me cares about birds.
Not sure how the 1990s qualifies as *retro*futuristic.