An Ekranoplan always seemed to be a cool technology that has serious real world problems. The improved L/D from ground effect is great, but operating that close to the water at high speeds seems to expose the craft to all sorts of hazards: Rogue waves, debris, sea birds etc. Also while ground effect improves induced drag, I don't think it does much for parasitic drag.

Still it would be fun to see one operating.

The Russians did this many years ago. It was not a great success.

China’s mission is very different than the USSR … and advances in propulsion and FBW tech MIGHT make a sufficient difference.

I just finished consulting on the DARPA Liberty Lifter program which was just cancelled. The cancellation was not do to technical issues. We had a potential design, and a path forward, but financially the program was beyond the typical DARPA program given all their other priorities, and budget. WIGs are a challenge when it comes to overall competing technical integration, but the potential aerodynamic efficiency gained by flying in ground effect are real. FBW and modern control theory and approaches mitigate the S&C challenge. I will say we definitely pushed the state of the art forward in many areas.