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[ILikePie]

Wow, these soviets are crazy. The largest sub is the Kursk, right?

[Aqizzar]

Russian machinery is awesome. Nuclear powered bomber? I need to wiki that.

Actually, I think America beat them to that one.  Kept pace at least.

I think the Soviets basically made the same mistake the Nazis did in the arms race.  It's not about who can build the biggest helicopter/bomber/bomb/submarine/whatever, it's about who can build more of them.  Of course, then NATO was stuck with all these expensive ass weapons laying around and nothing to do with them, but whatever.

For that matter, as I've understood it from reading (a little) history, the Soviet government threw all it's verve into architecture and giant bombers and shit, all of which conspired mightily against the apathy and indifference of the average Soviet worker.  Except for the AK-47, I've heard quality control was a huge problem at every level of design.

Speaking of which, hey Sean, any idea how many Cosmonauts died over the Soviet space program?  I've always wondered about that, I can't seem to find a guess, much less a solid figure.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Hah. I can't even fathom a guess. A lot, probably, plus that one accident that fried a launch site full of scientists. The Wiki article I just found lists 4 fatalities in space, which is surprisingly small (I guess most of our rockets explode empty), plus one training accident fatality and something like 58 in various space program-related casualties (including 48 in the aforementioned accident).

As for "not biggest, but most numerous" - we have the Proton rocket. Not as powerful as the Atlas, but performed more successful flights than all the other existing systems of its class combined. Same goes for the lesser classes, but we did have the Energia rocket, which was biggest at the time.

[Nilocy]

This 'plane' was actually a hydrofoil. Extremely cool and extremely ground breaking technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ekranoplan_of_1980s.jpg

It really does look like a thunderbirds vehicle.

[Cthulhu]

You're late to the "It's a ground effect vehicle, not an airplane" party.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Nuclear Ekranoplan. It must be done.

[Sean Mirrsen]

What's the point though? Except as a precision-guided dirty bomb? I'd much prefer a fusion-powered Ekranoplan.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

What's the point though?

There needs to be a reason?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Well, no. But really, I'd much prefer something that wouldn't make an uninhabitable wasteland for several miles around any place it crashed at. Especially if I was ever going to pilot one.

[Aqizzar]

Not a fan of nuclear powered space rockets then?  Ooh, or nuclear powered tanks!  That would get the Obyekt moving along nicely.

[Cthulhu]

Yes, but can the Soviet Obyekt compare to the good old American-made Thingie?

[Nilocy]

We have nuclear submarines, so whats the issue?

Anything with the word nuclear is awesome.

Nuclear bomb.
Nuclear power plant.
Nuclear seawing.
Nuclear nuclear family.

[tylor]

Soviet Hrenot'en would beat both Obyekt and Thingie:)

[ILikePie]

So what can you do with an ekranoplan? I heard you need an almost perfectly flat surface and no obstacles for it to go anywhere. Is it just meant to be a super fast boat or something?

[Il Palazzo]

So what can you do with an ekranoplan? I heard you need an almost perfectly flat surface and no obstacles for it to go anywhere. Is it just meant to be a super fast boat or something?

You can scare the shit out of people if you fly past them. I don't know about you, but it's good enough of a reason for me to spend (a very large number) of rubles on it.