The Great Caspian Sea Monster

One awesome example of the Soviet Union's improving military technology is this gigantic vehicle. Now being tested over the Caspian Sea, the aircraft is the largest in the world, weighing an estimated 500 tons.

The Soviet design employs a revolutionary principle: the jet blast from the eight engines mounted on the stubby forward wing is aimed to hit the water and bounce back up under the main wing to create a lifting bubble of air similar to that on which Hovercraft ride. When fully developed in the late '70s, the creation is expected to thunder along at speeds up to 350 m.p.h. while flying only 25 to 50 feet above the water--low enough to make radar detection difficult. What is more, the huge aircraft could make two-to three-day voyages extending as far as 7,000 miles.

Loaded with gear and used for antisubmarine warfare, the monster would not make the American seaborne nuclear deterrent vulnerable overnight. But the strange aircraft would give the Russians a new and ominous means of hunting the U.S. Polaris/Poseidon and Trident submarines as they cruise in the silent depths of the seven seas.

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