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The USSR Ekranoplan, or better known as the Caspin Sea Monster, was a giant ground effect aircraft that could hover above the seas.

It was as big, used freighting new physics seemingly beyond thencurrent technology, And terrified the west.

The United States, in a cold war fury, didn’t want to be left behind, and came up with their own version of the Ekranoplan!

It was called the PARWIG, seating up to 20 crew members, and had a range of over 2000 nautical miles.

But its secret was that it wouldn’t fire antiship rockets but rather, nuclear trident missiles as part of a strategic deterrent.

This is the story of the Americanmade ekranoplan!

The United States never willingly lagged behind the USSR with any technology; WIG aircraft were no different.

The David W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center in Bethesda, Maryland, produced a PARWIG prototype design in 1977.

The aircraft was designed for sea control missions, as well as potentially transoceanic passenger and cargo transport.

The ultimate goal of the American PARWIG plane, however, was as a strategic deterrent, since it was designed to carry four GM96A Trident I (C4) sealaunched ballistic missiles as its payload.

Importantly, these missiles would have to be fired while the aircraft was resting on the ocean surface, not while still in flight.


The American PARWIG design included a chubby and stubby reversed clippeddelta main wing with flexible downward endplates.

These were designed to trap a steady, constant air cushion for the aircraft.

The engine had thrust diverters for takeoff which would direct jet exhaust towards the underside of the wing leading edge. This would help build up the air cushion under the wings needed for liftoff.

Four of the aircraft’s engines would shut down during cruise flying, leaving two jet engines to drive all four fans for maximum fuel economy.

The upsides of the American PARWIG was that it could fly out 2000 nautical and settle anywhere on the sea, with intermittent sorties out at sea before returning to base.

In theory, the PARWIG would be too fast to be stalked by ships or submarines

and too far out at sea to be attacked by conventional military aircraft.

Furthermore, it was thought the aircraft could be fitted with a high number of smaller and more nimble cruise missiles,

although this would mean it having to get close to enemy territory, so its potential as a cruise missile carrier was scrapped.

Here are some interesting stats regarding the U.S.’s PARWIG plane:
Number of crew: 20
A span of approximately 146 feet or 44.5 metres
Total area of 10,225 square feet or 3116.5 metres
Gross weight of 2,090,000 pounds or 948,008 kilograms
Empty weight when unequipped of 627,000 pounds or 284,402 kilograms
Cruise speed of 180 to 330 knots
Maximum speed of 400 knots
Cruise altitude of 12 feet or 3.65 metres
Maximum operating altitude of 16 feet or 4.87 metres

Finally, the American PARWIG has an intended radius of 2000 nautical miles with possibility of a 10day loiter out at sea plus ten 100 nautical mile dashes.

So why was it never built?


Honestly, its because the United States had no need for one. These kinds of large wingingroundeffect craft, while impressive, really serve no military purpose and provide no major military advantage for the US Armed Forces to possess.


Aside from the internal Great Lakes, there are no major bodies of water within the United States of America where such a craft could be readily employed and no need to position strategic or tactical assets there. Both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are covered by the US Navy with


the form of carrier battle groups and submarine fleets, which provide portable power projection for undersea, surface and air operations virtually anywhere around the globe.

In the early 1980's, there was a US Navy plan to conduct flight tests using the Hughes Hercules aircraft, to study ground effects.

It wasn't expressly designed as an ekranoplan, but its enormous wings benefitted from ground effects (the goose never made it out of ground effects on its one flight). Sadly, that plan never came to be, and we missed the opportunity to see that giant back in the air.

In summary,
Large wingingroundeffect aircraft do not provide a significant increase in America’s power projection when compared with that.