Soviet & Russian Military Aircraft: From Cold War Icons to Modern Flankers
The Yak-28 | Fast & Terrifying
The Yak-28 occupies a strange place in Cold War aviation history—mass produced, widely used, yet almost completely forgotten. On paper it promised speed, range, and versatility; in reality, it became known for difficult handling, questionable design compromises, and a...
MiG 1.44 – Russia’s forgotten next gen fighter
In the 1990s, Russia would produce an assortment of strange but interesting concept aircraft. Experimenting with forward swept wings to supermanoeuvrability, several designs would emerge inspired by Soviet-era concepts. One such design was the MiG 1.44. Originally a...
The Soviet Space Shuttle Buran
The Soviet Buran space shuttle, developed in the 1970s as a rival to NASA's Space Shuttle, was a reusable orbiter capable of unmanned flight and launched by the powerful Energia rocket. Completing its only automated orbital mission in 1988 with superior payload...
The forgotten Soviet VTOL jets
Forgotten Soviet VTOL jets include Yak-36 prototypes, underpowered Yak-38 Forger naval strikers with limited range, upgraded Yak-38M, canceled multi-role Yak-39, and supersonic Yak-141 promising advanced capabilities. Scrapped post-USSR collapse due to funding and...
SU-30 – Russia’s Best Jet?
The Su-30, Russia's best multirole fighter evolved from the Su-27 Flanker, features thrust-vectoring engines, canards in variants like Su-30MKI, Mach 2 speeds, and advanced standoff weapons like R-37M hypersonics. Exports to India, China, and domestic SM/SM2 models...
Staying Aloft | 100 years of in-flight refuelling
Staying aloft 100 years of in-flight refuelling traces pioneering experiments from 1923 hose-and-reel trials to modern boom-and-drogue systems enabling global reach for fighters and bombers. Milestones include WWII adaptations, Cold War KC-135 tankers, probe-drogue...
The MiG that flew itself to the West
The MiG that flew itself to the West refers to a 1989 incident where a Soviet MiG-23MLD pilot ejected during training over Poland, but the jet continued flying on autopilot across East Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and Belgium before crashing in Belgium....
Su-25 The Russian Warthog
The Su-25 Frogfoot, developed in the mid-1970s by Pavel Sukhoi as a Soviet close air support aircraft akin to the A-10 Warthog, features robust armor, high munitions load, and speeds over 500 knots for contested environments. Battle-tested in Afghanistan, Chechen...
The J-16 | Is it the best Flanker?
The J-16, China's advanced multirole variant of the Su-27 Flanker family, features AESA radar, thrust-vectoring engines, superior electronic warfare suite, and long-range PL-15 missiles. With greater payload, range, and sensor fusion than legacy Flankers, it excels in...
The Unrealized Potential of the MiG-29
The MiG-29 Fulcrum, developed in the late 1970s by the Soviet Union, emerged as a Mach 2-capable, agile dogfighter rivaling the F-16 with superior instantaneous turn rates (24-26°/s) and helmet-mounted displays enabling advanced short-range missile use. Entering...
Russian Su-27 vs Ukrainian Su-27
Russian Su-27 vs Ukrainian Su-27 highlights wartime differences where Russia's upgraded Su-27SM features multifunction displays, advanced radar, active R-77 missiles for fire-and-forget BVR, and datalinks, outperforming Ukraine's legacy Su-27P/S/UB with semi-active...
Israeli F4 vs North Korean MiGs
Israeli F-4 vs North Korean MiGs details unconfirmed 1973 Yom Kippur War encounters where IAF Phantoms intercepted MiG-21s piloted by North Koreans in Egyptian airspace south of Cairo. In one dogfight, F-4s fired Sidewinders, damaging a MiG that Egyptian SAMs later...