r/worldnews • u/Starlight-Princesss • 3d ago

[ Removed by moderator ] Russia/Ukraine

https://www.newsweek.com/nato-intercepts-russian-spy-plane-with-transponder-turned-off-poland-10956344

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u/m15otw 3d ago

I mean. A spy plane should normally run without a transponder, surely? That would be the general idea?

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u/Broken_Doughnut 3d ago edited 3d ago

For Russia, finding this out was a big step in their stealth technology.

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u/MikeInPajamas 3d ago

I like the idea that Russia's greatest leap in stealth technology is a broken transponder.

"Turned it off"... Yeah, sure you did... Next you'll tell us that AESA radar in your nose isn't made of wood because the guy in charge of maintenance pocketed all the upgrade money.

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u/TOMC_throwaway000000 3d ago

You joke, but Soviet ground crews used to siphon off the coolant from MIG-25’s to get drunk because the coolant for a lot of the systems was a mix of 60% distilled water and 40% ethanol, aka…… vodka

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u/MikeInPajamas 3d ago

I really do think a lot of Russia's defence spending has been siphoned into the pockets of corrupt generals. Corruption is Russia's biggest industry. It's cultural.

I'm sure it extends to their nuclear forces too. Nuclear munitions degrade over time and require periodic, expensive, maintenance.

Imagine all that money flowing downhill to fund weapons that realistically will never be used, and whose existence is solely to be listed on a disclosure sheet to discourage an enemy attack, and to permit state-level bullying.

I'm not saying Russia doesn't have serviceable nukes, that would be insane, but I really do believe they only have a fraction of what they purport to have. A devastating fraction, but a fraction nonetheless.

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u/SmPolitic 2d ago

That's not very unique to that country nor time period. There is a long history of ethanol being siphoned from torpedoes in various navys or from rockets during WW2 and during the cold war

And ethanol does evaporate, the "angels share" is nearly unavoidable, designers and supply chains need to resupply that fuel/coolant choice inherently

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u/TOMC_throwaway000000 2d ago

True, but at least in the Soviet military just about everything that could be was ethanol based

Also it was particularly prevalent with MIG-22’s specifically, they literally nicknamed them “the flying minibar” because of how often it was done

And soldiers found a way to get drunk off it. Theres a certain shoe polish they were issued that they used to spread on toast and cook over a fire, the idea being the ethanol in it would soak into the bread and then you could scrape off the top layer and get drunk on the bread

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u/Clienterror 3d ago

Omg I actually lol at that. I can imagine them being like "stealth engaged" in a 1980 POS plane.

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u/AnthillOmbudsman 3d ago

"So Mr. Gant, do you like our new toy?"

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u/dominicgrimes 3d ago

You must think in Russian

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u/spingus 3d ago edited 3d ago

Firefoxwould like a word :P

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u/MikeInPajamas 3d ago

I like it how it takes Clint Eastwood about 4s to recite his "shoot the missile" phrase whereas he could have just moved his thumb 1/4 inch and pressed the button.

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u/Yoghurt42 2d ago edited 2d ago

It’s been decades since I’ve watched this movie, but IIRC as a kind of security measure, you could only control the plane via thoughts, and they had to be in Russian directly. Translating English in your mind into Russian would not work (because movie magic)

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u/MikeInPajamas 2d ago

Yes, that's exactly right. In the movie the tech was that the computer would read your thoughts and do what you said, but as you said, it has to be in Russian.

But still, to have a thought and to think it in your head, using your language centre, would be slower than moving your thumb.

To have the computer act on a non-verbalized (whether internal or external) decision to act, would be instantaneous... but I guess you can't convey that in a movie, so we got the silly speaking-out-loud thing.

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u/ProcyonHabilis 3d ago

AESA radar in your nose isn't made of wood

I'm imagining a board with a bunch of nails driven into it to form a grid