USSR Archives

SR-71 Blackbird over the Earth Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

To Fly the US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird at Mach 3 and 85,000 Feet You Needed an Astronaut’s Body, Iron Nerves, and the Stomach to Outrun Soviet Missiles

The Air Force never advertised. A board met at Beale roughly every six months to fill seats opening seven to nine months later, working...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 12, 2026

Venera 13 Venus Probe Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

The Soviet Union Soft-Landed 8 Venera Spacecraft on the Surface of Venus Between 1970 and 1982, in 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure. The United States Has Never Landed on Venus Once.

Ninety-two bars is roughly what you feel 3,000 feet underwater. Soviet engineers answered it by building what were effectively robotic deep-sea vessels aimed at...

Harrison KassSeptember 12, 2026

Apache AH-64 Helicopter Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

The AH-64 Apache Helicopter Entered U.S. Army Service in the Mid-1980s, Purpose-Built to Destroy Soviet Tanks Pushing Through Central Europe. The Army Now Plans to Fly It Into the 2060s — Close to 80 Years of Service, About 70 of Them After the Soviet Union Stopped Existing.

The AN/APG-78 Longbow radar sits above the rotor mast, so an AH-64 Apache can stay hidden behind terrain with only the radar exposed. It...

Harrison KassSeptember 11, 2026

Venera 14 Probe Image Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

On March 5, 1982, the Soviet Venera 14 Lander Survived 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure to Reach the Surface of Venus. Its Soil Instrument Deployed Exactly as Designed and Measured the Camera Lens Cap the Spacecraft Had Just Ejected.

Perseverance and Curiosity have spent years on Mars choosing targets and repositioning instruments. Venera 14 had under an hour before Venus destroyed it. Every...

Harrison KassSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

America Did Not Have Enough High-Grade Titanium to Build the SR-71 Blackbird, So the CIA Bought It From the Soviet Union Through Shell Companies in Neutral Countries. The Airframe Was 85 to 90 Percent Titanium, and Much of the Ore Came Out of Soviet Ukraine.

Cadmium-plated steel tools embrittled titanium on contact, so Lockheed had to build new tools out of titanium for the SR-71 Blackbird. Parts washed in...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 11, 2026

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 KassSeptember 11, 2026

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 SeitzSeptember 11, 2026

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 LarsonSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J58 Engines Ran at Full Afterburner for Hours at a Time With Exhaust Temperatures Near 3,400 Degrees. At Mach 3.2 Cruise, Roughly 80 Percent of the Thrust Came From the Inlet, Not the Engine.

The J58 burned JP-7, a blend so hard to ignite that a lit match dropped into it goes out. Starting the engines required a...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 11, 2026

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 BalestrieriSeptember 11, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "USSR"

Aerospace & Defense

To Fly the US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird at Mach 3 and 85,000 Feet You Needed an Astronaut’s Body, Iron Nerves, and the Stomach to Outrun Soviet Missiles

Aerospace & Defense

The Soviet Union Soft-Landed 8 Venera Spacecraft on the Surface of Venus Between 1970 and 1982, in 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure. The United States Has Never Landed on Venus Once.

Aerospace & Defense

The AH-64 Apache Helicopter Entered U.S. Army Service in the Mid-1980s, Purpose-Built to Destroy Soviet Tanks Pushing Through Central Europe. The Army Now Plans to Fly It Into the 2060s — Close to 80 Years of Service, About 70 of Them After the Soviet Union Stopped Existing.

Aerospace & Defense

On March 5, 1982, the Soviet Venera 14 Lander Survived 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure to Reach the Surface of Venus. Its Soil Instrument Deployed Exactly as Designed and Measured the Camera Lens Cap the Spacecraft Had Just Ejected.

Aerospace & Defense

America Did Not Have Enough High-Grade Titanium to Build the SR-71 Blackbird, So the CIA Bought It From the Soviet Union Through Shell Companies in Neutral Countries. The Airframe Was 85 to 90 Percent Titanium, and Much of the Ore Came Out of Soviet Ukraine.

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

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J58 Engines Ran at Full Afterburner for Hours at a Time With Exhaust Temperatures Near 3,400 Degrees. At Mach 3.2 Cruise, Roughly 80 Percent of the Thrust Came From the Inlet, Not the Engine.

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.

Trending

Recent Posts

Archives