Bombers, Battleships and Carriers: 5 Gamechanger Weapons Russia Wanted

By Robert Farley,The National Interest

For nearly seven decades, the defense-industrial complex of the Soviet Union went toe-to-toe with the best firms that the West had to offer.  In some cases, it surprised the West with cheap, innovative, effective systems.  In others, it could barely manage to put together aircraft that could remain in the air, and ships that could stay at sea.

No single weapon could have saved the Soviet Union, but several might have shifted the contours of its collapse. The relationship between technology and the “human” elements of war, including doctrine and organization, is complex.  Decisions about isolated systems can have far reaching implications for how a nation defends itself.

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As with last week’s list [6], weapons are often cancelled for good reason.  Events intercede in ways that focus a nation’s attention on its true interests and needs, rather than on the pursuit of glory and prestige.  In the Soviet case, many of the “wonder weapons” remained safely in the realm of imagination, both for the enemies of the USSR, and the USSR itself. 

Sovetsky Soyuz class battleship