Russia Archives

Varyag under tow in Istanbul. Mainland China purchased the former Soviet carrier, Varyag, from the Ukraine in 1998 for about $20 million dollars (US). The Varyag was the newer, sister ship to the Russian Kuznetsov. But the Ukrainian government had never finished the carrier after the fall of the Soviet Union and had tried to sell it to various concerns. As a result, the carrier fell into a state of disrepair. The Chinese bought the carrier and indicated that the holding company that had purchased it planned to tow it to Red China and make it a floating casino.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

The Varyag aircraft carrier had no propulsion and no crew, so it had to be dragged. Turkey refused passage through the Bosphorus for sixteen...

Harrison Kass6 days ago

Russian Tu-160 bomber. Image Credit - Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Mach 2 Tupolev Tu-160 Bomber Is the Heaviest Combat Aircraft Ever Built and Carries Up to 12 Cruise Missiles on 2 Internal Rotary Launchers. Russia Has Built About 4 New Ones in 11 Years.

Two rotary launchers in the internal bay give the Tu-160 up to 12 cruise missiles. The armament list runs Kh-55SM, Kh-555, Kh-101/102, and the...

Isaac Seitz6 days ago

Su-57 artist rendering. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Russia ordered 76 Su-57s for delivery by 2027-2028. By early 2026 some estimates put the operational fleet at twenty to thirty. Moscow's defense industry...

Caleb Larson6 days ago

U.S. Air Force Capt. Nick “Laz” Le Tourneau, pilot and commander of the F-22 Raptor Aerial Demonstration Team, performs an aerial demonstration during the 52nd Annual SUN 'n FUN Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, April 14, 2026. Capt. Le Tourneau showcased the unmatched capabilities of the F-22 to the SUN ‘n FUN crowds by performing multiple series of combat maneuvers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mary Bowers)

Aerospace & Defense

The 9/11 Attacks Are Why the F-22 Raptor Was Cancelled and the Littoral Combat Ship War Born. The US Military Learned a Painful Lesson

The consequences of 9/11 ran straight into the procurement system. The Navy, unable to explain its role in a war on terror, committed to...

Robert Farley7 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent About $1,200,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark and Sold 0 Aircraft. The F-5 It Was Built to Replace Has Been Flying for More Than 60 Years.

The F-5E was never meant to be the best fighter available. It was built to be credible, affordable and easy to keep in the...

Steve Balestrieri7 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

General Dynamics Is Delivering All 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams Tanks to Poland in About 24 Months. Warsaw Ordered Them for $4,750,000,000 Along With 17 Bridge Layers and 26 Recovery Vehicles.

Poland ordered 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams in April 2022, weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in a $4,750,000,000 package that also included 17...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Electromagnetic Railgun Has Fired More Than 100 Shots Without Replacing Its Rails. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 on Its Own Railgun and Shut the Program Down in 2021.

The US Navy put about $500,000,000 into an electromagnetic railgun and effectively ended the program in 2021, defeated in large part by rails that...

Harrison KassSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A UK Ministry of Defence Official Says GCAP Fighter Will Carry Twice the Internal Weapons Payload of an F-35 and Control Uncrewed Aircraft Alongside It. Almost Nothing Else About the Aircraft Is Public.

The Global Combat Air Programme is meant to give Britain, Japan and Italy a sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035. Japan allocated $1,270,000,000 to it...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Retired the F-117 Nighthawk in 2008 and Never Stopped Flying It. The Service Now Says the Aircraft Will Stay in the Air Until 2034 — 26 Years After Its Own Retirement.

Lockheed built 64 F-117 Nighthawks — 5 development aircraft and 59 production F-117As — in a classified program costing about $6,560,000,000. The Air Force...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Congress Spent $100,000,000 Bringing Just 2 SR-71 Blackbirds Back from Retirement in 1995 and Another $30,000,000 in 1997. By 1998 the Program Was Dead Again.

Across its whole service life the SR-71 Blackbird accumulated 53,490 flight hours, 11,675 of them above Mach 3, over 17,300 sorties. By the late...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "Russia"

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Mach 2 Tupolev Tu-160 Bomber Is the Heaviest Combat Aircraft Ever Built and Carries Up to 12 Cruise Missiles on 2 Internal Rotary Launchers. Russia Has Built About 4 New Ones in 11 Years.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Aerospace & Defense

The 9/11 Attacks Are Why the F-22 Raptor Was Cancelled and the Littoral Combat Ship War Born. The US Military Learned a Painful Lesson

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent About $1,200,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark and Sold 0 Aircraft. The F-5 It Was Built to Replace Has Been Flying for More Than 60 Years.

Aerospace & Defense

General Dynamics Is Delivering All 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams Tanks to Poland in About 24 Months. Warsaw Ordered Them for $4,750,000,000 Along With 17 Bridge Layers and 26 Recovery Vehicles.

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Electromagnetic Railgun Has Fired More Than 100 Shots Without Replacing Its Rails. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 on Its Own Railgun and Shut the Program Down in 2021.

Aerospace & Defense

A UK Ministry of Defence Official Says GCAP Fighter Will Carry Twice the Internal Weapons Payload of an F-35 and Control Uncrewed Aircraft Alongside It. Almost Nothing Else About the Aircraft Is Public.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Retired the F-117 Nighthawk in 2008 and Never Stopped Flying It. The Service Now Says the Aircraft Will Stay in the Air Until 2034 — 26 Years After Its Own Retirement.

Aerospace & Defense

Congress Spent $100,000,000 Bringing Just 2 SR-71 Blackbirds Back from Retirement in 1995 and Another $30,000,000 in 1997. By 1998 the Program Was Dead Again.

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