Science & technology | Marine technology

The AirFish is a fast ferry that will fly above the waves

It takes inspiration from the “Caspian Sea Monster”

AirFish Wing-in-Ground (WIG) craft.
Plane sailingPhotograph: ST Engineering

In the 1960s, during the height of the cold war, American spy satellites spotted an unusual stubby-winged craft at a Soviet naval base on the Caspian sea. Was it a boat, was it a plane? Dubbed the “Caspian Sea Monster”, it turned out to be a heavily armed naval craft some 100 metres long designed to attack submarines and aircraft carriers.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The sea monster returns”

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