The WIG (Wing-in ground) effect discovered by the Wright Brothers without they do not know it, was the subject of advanced work in the USSR during the Cold War; And today it shows all the characteristics of a technological breakthrough towards transport of the third millennium.

The ground effect principle is based on two phenomenons:

The chord dominated ground effect which increase the pressure under the wing and so increase the lift.

The span dominated ground effect which reduce the wing induced drag and so decrease the power needed.

The combination of this two physics phenomenon offer to WIG ships the best power to weight ratio on maritime and aeronautics market.

It results a lower energy need witch allows obtaining very fast sea transportation, less polluting and cheaper than conventional means. Compared to the aircrafts, the WIG ships are also surer. In case of failure, the runway is never too far! However, the WIG designers have to insure good ditching conditions if necessary, taking into account the sea state which is generally different between the protected areas chosen to take of or to land and the condition we can find in cruise.

Our civilization is about to undergo major changes. In coming years, we will have to take account of the consequences of our choices and actions on our environment. We will have to consider economic as well as ecological, technical and as well as strategic aspects in our choices.

Indeed, the saturation of the airports and land infrastructures in general, are the economic indicators of the changes which we will have to anticipate.  We will also have to find more environment friendly solutions. Less polluting while respecting economic constraints will obviously consider solutions with smaller power requirements for the same transported load. Nevertheless, we will accept these changes in our transportation means only if we have advantages in our travels, in particular in terms of time saving.