Friday, August 26, 2005
'Putty-Tat' Putin and his Copy-Cat Bug Smasher
Last week the all powerful Vladimir Putin heroically strapped himself into the cockpit of Russia's most technologically advanced and feared Bomber, theTupolev T-160 'Blackjack' Bomber. 
The Tupolov T-160 Bomber... Look Familiar?
At least that's what the international press told us.
In reality, 'Putty-Tat' Putin sat in Russia's biggest joke of a weapons system... a very poor replica of the United States' B-1B Intercontinental Bomber, aka 'The Bone.' In the 1980's, during the heyday of Soviet/Russian military might, the Kremlin's spies obtained a rough copy of the B-1 Bomber's designs. Never one to be out done, the Soviet Union poured billions of worthless rubles into a crash program to make their own version of the B-1, which they called the 'Blackjack.'
Copying our bomber designs was nothing new to the Soviets. They did it with our B-29 bomber after World War II. Ironically, the Soviets had the best rocket and missile program in the world which forced us to constantly play catch up, yet they couldn't put together an effective bomber force without copying our designs. (Although they did copy our Space Shuttle, sort of.)
Fast forward to 2005. The Russian military is still considered the red-headed step child of world military forces. They now have more money then they've ever had, and foreign arms sales are climbing higher and higher for them, yet they still fly their bastardized B-1/T-160 Tupolev.
This bird is so bad, they stopped flying it years ago because of safety and reliability concerns, yet now it's the 'premier' strategic bomber in the Russian Air Force.
Why?
While the international press shows Putin as this brave military leader flying supersonic in an advanced weapon system, all he did was risk his life in a stolen swept-wing wannabe that probably has more crashes under its belt then successful operational missions.
Just like last year's military exercises when the Russian ICBMs failed miserably while Putin was on the Sub that launched them, Putin could have easily ended up in a crater in some Central Asian wheat field while riding in this plane. The Russian military continues to be a joke. The best weapons systems Russia makes go to the highest bidders around the world while the Russian military continues to have their conscripts operate WWII and poorly made Cold War equipment.
All the while the mighty Putin is portrayed as a brave and heroic leader?
Bad to the Bone
posted by El Capitan at 7:48 AM
4 Comments:
Andrew said...
The B-1 is a totally bad-ass plane. One of the coolest things I've ever seen is a B-1 doing a supersonis pass. Man was that impressive.
3:13 AM
Dave at Garfield Ridge said...
*cough* obsolete bomb truck *cough*.
Hell, at least the BUFF crews *know* they're flying an old piece of shit.
Frickin' airbreathers. Thanks to my GPS, you guys can turn a Cessna into a bomber.
;-)
El Capitan said...
Ha! If you only knew...
9:20 AM said...
what it the problem with you americans ?
why don't you try to get information from better sources than people like your stupid president.
to start with, the soviets never named tu-160 "blackjack". it is the NATO call name for the plane.
you say that the soviets copied the design of B-1. if it true then it is more shameful for the USAF as the tu-160 is much faster than B1 despite being larger and heavier. actually, even a concorde can overtake B-1!
i say again - get your facts straight.