Development of Concepts for the Design of Heavy Ekranoplanes in Russia and USA

The article analyzes and compares three concepts for construction of large-sized vehicles using the ground effect. These three original large-sized marine vehicles are the Russian ekranoplane Orlan, the American aircraft Pelican-ULTRA and another American aircraft Liberty Lifter. Their advantages, disadvantages and implementation difficulties are analyzed using the criteria of fuel efficiency, speed, flight regularity, seaworthiness performance and infrastructure requirements. The requirements for automatic flight control systems of the ekranoplanes under consideration are also analyzed.