PLAN Assault Ekranoplan

PLAN Assault Ekranoplan

Revell AG, 1/144

Europe 1989: -

The popular peoples uprisings in East Germany and other parts of the communist block in late 1989 was seen as a warning sign to the generals and hard liners of the Kremlin. Gorbachev it was believed was destabilizing the Soviet Empire and the time had come to act.

The Coup leaders were encouraged by the indecisive action taken by the west concerning the Tiananmen Square massacre, in China earlier in the year. Believing that the West lacked the will to interfere militarily in any action taken against the democracy movement. In addition signals from the west indicated that they preferred to see a stable Soviet Empire rather than an unstable collection of independent states with all the ethnic and religious problems that would arise in any breakaway from the Soviet Union.

The bloody and continuing conflict in Yugoslavia was fresh in the minds of Western European Governments. The one major difference was that unlike Yugoslavia the Eastern Block had Nuclear weapons, which the west feared, could be seized by these new independent states and used in some ethnic conflict or worse fall into the hands of terrorists.

The army and hard liners arrested Gorbachev and crushed the popular uprising in early 1990. As expected the West lodged formal protests with the Coup leaders and economic sanctions were enacted but no military action was taken. NATO was focused on the crisis in Yugoslavia, and late in 1990 the Worlds attention would be focused on the Middle East with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

The Soviet Union in the wake of sanctions made many changes to way the economy of the Soviet Union was structured and corruption at all levels was investigated and stamped out with ruthless efficiency. In addition the Soviet Union sought and made many trade deals with countries such as India, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen and China. This along with the high oil price bought about by the instability in the Middle East negated any impact of economic sanctions.

China 1991: -

The trade deal between the Soviet Union and China marked a thaw in the often-frosty relationship between both countries, and was a direct result of the economic and diplomatic isolation of both countries by the West.

In the trade deal the Soviet Union agreed to supply China with Raw Materials such as Iron Ore, Oil, Nickel and Platinum as well as military hard wear. In return the Chinese would supply the Soviet Union with cheap copies of western consumer goods such as TV's and video recorders.

The military equipment purchased from the Soviet Union included 25 6 engine Antonov An-225's and 50 Orlyonok assault Ekranoplans, 10 of which were extensively modified to incorporate vertical launch missile systems and upgraded assault weaponry.
The An-225's and the Orlyonok's were ordered on the proviso that delivery could be made with in two years. The Chinese were not specific on the reasons for the short delivery time but the Soviets nonetheless agreed.

What the Chinese did not reveal to their new trading partner the plans that they had to remove a thorn in their side, which had existed for just over 50 years, Taiwan. For two years they planned and trained secretly for the mission, which would change the whole balance of power in the region.

Taiwan 1993: -

Early On Christmas Day 1993 the Chinese set their plan in motion. The 50 unmarked Assault Ekranolpans were part of the first wave. Between them they carried 8000 heavily armed troops, whose primary mission was to seize the airports at T'ianan, Kao-hsiung and cut the main north south highway at Hey Lo.

At 6am the first Ekranoplans crossed the coast and disgorged their troops around their targets. At the same time Chinese agents cut all phone communication from both airports. The security at the airports was quickly brushed aside by the troops and within the hour they had quickly secured the main airport buildings and the control tower. Some civilians and foreigners were taken prisoner but as it was Christmas morning the airport was nearly deserted. The Air Traffic controllers were ordered at gunpoint to divert all in coming aircraft. At Hey lo the troops blew the rail and road bridges, effectively cutting off the south west of Taiwan. They then set about destroying telephone and electricity distribution networks creating havoc.

With the seizing of the airports the second phase of the plan was set into motion. Several Months earlier Chinese agents set up a company in Taiwan and this company had organized for the importation of a substantial amount of earthmoving equipment from China. The equipment was to be flown in by 8 An-225 transports owned by a Chinese transport firm. The flights were lodged and the paper work filed with the appropriate authorities. By 9am the flight of 4 An-225's landed at each of the secured airports and began to unload not earthmoving equipment but tanks, jeeps, troops and enough supplies to consolidate the Chinese holdings.

As the first An-225 transports landed at the secured airports a coded transmission was sent indicating that phase 3 of the operation could begin. Phase 3 involved a massive bombardment of the Taiwanese mainland by conventionally armed ballistic missiles. The missiles targets were the army and air force bases of the Taiwanese military. At the same time fighters and bombers of the Chinese air force launched strikes at strategic targets such as Government buildings, roads, rail lines, radar facilities and the fortified islands off the coast.

By the 26th the port at Kao-hsiung had been secured and the Chinese navy escorted in specially modified roll on roll off cargo ships, which unloaded hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carries and thousands more troops.

As each day passed Taiwan was subjected to bombardment by ballistic missiles and by navy and air force units. The Taiwanese armed forces shocked at first responded and fierce battles raged around the Chinese beachheads. The Taiwanese were eventually beaten back; losses were high on both sides but the Chinese beachheads held. More troops and armor were flown and shipped in. As the Chinese broke out from their beachheads their grip on southern Taiwan tightened. As they began moving north it became clear that the time of the Taiwanese Republic was numbered.

Reaction from the West was swift and unambiguous. The Chinese were ordered to cease all operations and withdraw from Taiwan immediately or serious consequences could result. To back up the threat the US put all of it's bases in the region onto a war footing and two carrier groups were dispatched to assist the Taiwanese. The Soviets reacted by placing it's Pacific fleet on high alert and issued a statement of support saying that the "Operations within Taiwan were an internal matter for China and did not warrant outside interference".

China having committed itself to the invasion could not heed the US request without a major loss of face. The US could not afford to allow the Chinese to secure Taiwan, as it would shift the balance of power and damage it's credibility as a worthy ally of many of the Asian nations in the region.

So the rest of the world watched and waited as the region spiraled towards all out war.

The Model: -

This is Revel's 1/144th scale Ekranoplan which was released a couple of years ago. As a reference I bought the Red Star series book on Ekranoplans and found this an excellent resource. The book had many intriguing designs, which set my imagination in motion. I decided that I would come up with my own Assault Ekranoplan design.

The Assault Ekranoplan that I came up with required two kits to make. One of the kits was assembled normally while one was cut up so that just the top portion of the fuselage from the turret to the tail plane was left.

The model was assembled as per the instructions the fit of the nose intake assembly left much to be desired. This required a lot of filling and sanding to get a halfway decent fit. Part of my design called for two rotating ball mounted turrets on the side of the Ekranoplan. The turrets came from the spares box and were fashioned from the end caps of drop tanks from a 1/48 Rafale kit i had lying around. . Prior to the assembly of the main fuselage two holes were drilled and the turrets installed and faired in with putty. Once this was done the fuselage was glued together.

The additional fuselage from the second cut up kit was glued on top of the assembled fuselage and the gaps filled with "Knead It" which is a to part epoxy putty which is kneaded together like dough. This stuff sets rock hard and can be sanded and shaped easily.

The wings, tip floats and tail planes were then glued on. The Fit here was also very poor and lots of filling and sanding was required. Several coats of spray primer filler allowed me to find and correct any gaps, which had not been filled to my satisfaction. It also took care of the rather rough finish to the surface of this kit.

I used a circle template to scribe the missile hatches. At this point, god knows why I decided that I wanted to have one of the hatches open. I drilled a hole, the same diameter as the scribed circle and inserted a tube of aluminum to simulate the launch tube. The missile was made a piece of shaped plastic rod. The open hatch was two pieces of plastic punched out using a gasket punch set that I have.

Once every thing had been completed it was of to the paint shop for an all over coat of dark gray. I decided to highlight the model by using light gray, which was lightly sprayed on the upper surfaces to give it a sun bleached look. I then painted the missile and launch tube white.

And thus it was done.

Page created February 25, 2004