What Went Wrong with Ekranoplans

In this episode of Valley of Depth, we sit down with Regent cofounder and CEO Billy Thalheimer to explore a radical reimagining of coastal mobility, not with eVTOLs or hyperloops, but with high-speed electric seagliders that skim just above the water.

Part hydrofoil, part aircraft, and fully electric, Regent’s vehicles operate in the sweet spot between aviation and maritime. They’re fast enough to replace short-haul flights, regulated like boats, and increasingly viewed by the Pentagon as a new class of strategic asset.

Billy walks us through Regent’s founding story, from MIT aerodynamics to launching the world’s largest electric aircraft-by-another-name. We dive deep into the company’s dual-use strategy, its multibillion-dollar commercial backlog, and its early defense work with the U.S. Marine Corps.

We also get into:

• The technical magic behind “float, foil, fly”
• Why flying 10 feet above water solves big infrastructure problems
• Regent’s bet on maritime-first regulation
• How seagliders fit into Indo-Pacific logistics and contested environments
• The case for a new coastal transportation layer and why no one’s built it until now

• Chapters •

00:00 – Intro
01:01 – Why Rhode Island?
03:15 – Startup community in Rhode Island
07:17 – Founding and origin behind Regent
12:10 – How things have changed since the ekranoplan
19:05 – How Regent's planes handle a rogue wave
20:52 – State of Regent's product build
24:35 – Who will be Regent's first operators?
26:11 – Regent's regulatory process as a maritime vessel
31:59 – What happens when the FAA decides to be involved?
36:02 – Commercial vs government use
38:15 – When did Regent start talking with the DoD?
43:34 – Scaling for dual use commercial vs military
46:34 – Raising $90m and common skeptical questions
49:39 – What does success for Regent look like?

• Show notes •

Regent’s website — https://www.regentcraft.com/
Regent’s socials — https://x.com/regentcraft
Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam
Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace
Ignition’s socials — https://twitter.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/
Tectonic’s socials — https://twitter.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/
Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/

• About us •

Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies.

• Payload: www.payloadspace.com
• Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
• Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com