Russia's nasty missile

[CINDERS]

Now that was a hilarious movie for those of us with a very off center sense of humor Aragorn especially John Hurt's reenacting the "Nostromo" dinner scene that along with Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy are some of the best off beat humor.......

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[Flying10uk]

If Russia had made some great leap in nuclear missile technology they would be very unlikely, in my opinion, to be telling everyone about it because the West would likely start looking for technology to overcome it. The story is most likely, in my opinion, an attempt by the Kremlin at disinformation, for reasons best known to themselves.

[Bob Womack]

My comment about the Mig 25 was not meant to denigrate the Mig 25 but to ask the forum to compare the PR jobs done on that technology to this current situation. The Mig 25 was actually an excellent Interceptor. It had the one job of taking off, climbing to altitude, following a vector to an approaching bomber, homing in with an incredibly power radar, and launching missiles to take that bomber down. It was an ingenious application of the technology and budget available to carry out its mission. However, though it was excellent at its designed role, it simply wasn't a dogfighter. More of a rocket than a fighter, like the American F104.

NATO analysts had no idea that its mission was so restricted. They hadn't built planes with that philosophy since the 1950s. The Mig 25 was clocked by western observers at mach 2.5 over Turkey. Published records showed that it climbed to 20,000 feet in two minutes and forty-nine seconds. The Russians talked up its capabilities to great effect, obscurring the fact that when the records were broken the planes were at their absolute theoretical performance limit. They limped home with their Tumansky engines completely destroyed because their metallurgy couldn't support the performance they were "advertising." Didn't publicize that either. Let's be honest: it worked. The Mig 25 and its propaganda scared the CRAP out of NATO countries and caused them to push development of air superiority fighters to beat this perceived threat. Some great planes came out of that. Until Russian pilot Victor Belenko flew his Mig 25 to Hokkaido, Japan, and offered himself to the CIA for debriefing we had no idea of the plane's severe limitations.

Now, with that explanation, how do you think this current missile and the surrounding propaganda parallel that of the Mig 25?

Bob

[Aragorn243]

Bob,

I understood your point about the Mig 25 but not sure I'm seeing a huge comparison. They kept that secret and it was our own intelligence that hyped it up into something it wasn't and caused our military to develop countermeasures for what we perceived it to be, a highly maneuverable dog fighter due to it's huge wings. But the wings were huge because of the weight of the steel used in it's construction as they lacked titanium. This time they are broadcasting they have this miracle weapon more highly advanced than anything anyone else has and I simply find it unlikely. Putin needs to maintain control. He runs around shirtless to appear buff and fit and strong, he invaded a weak Ukraine to regain some former glory but his fleets, at least those that weren't sold off are rusting in port sinking at their slips. For propaganda, it may be more for his people than for ours. In any case, it will simply lead to rapid development of countermeasures which will make them comparatively weaker than they are now. Russia remains cash poor and he's making bad decisions siding with Iran rather than bolstering ties with NATO as he had previously.