iscover
It has never been officially confirmed by the US State Department but it would appear to be a naive hope that not a single Iranian Air Force Grumman F-14A Tomcat ventured north across the Caspian during those chaotic days of the 1979 revolution. If so, intelligence reports of a Super Foxbat with full look-down shoot-down capability emerging over the next two years are highly likely.
The Invisible War
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Does the West supply military aid to the Soviet Union? Of course not but then why is it that at every level of Soviet technology, western systems and equipment are used?
The Australian Meteor pulled hard to atte itself beyond the attack envelope of the Chi futile attempt really as the lighter, more po able to pull a much tighter turn resulting in another Allied fighter high over the rugged t Korea. Ironically both aircraft were powered engines, the Meteor by relatively old fashion while the MiG enjoyed the benefit of the Nene camouflaged as an RD-45 and producing almost double the thrust of the Meteor’s Derwent.
High over the Ho Chi Minh trail a lone USAF EC-121 electronic surveillance aircraft picks up heavy truck activity on its monitors. That sleepless jugular of the Vietnam war, the Ho Chi Minh trail is alive with customers. Tactical Air Command Phantoms hit the area designated, whether or not they succeed in slowing the convoy is a moot point. What is known for certain is that the trucks, the jeeps and a dozen other types of small military vehicles on the trail were all built at the massive Gorki truck works located on the outskirts of Moscow. More interesting is the fact that, like all of the Soviet Union’s vehicle manufacturing capability, the trucks are really facsimiles of Western types as the Gorki factory was completely built by Ford and Austin, under the auspices of peaceful trade. The Israeli gunners fight for their lives in a lone outpost on the Golan Heights in a desperate attempt to stem the attack by more than one thousand Syrian tanks and armoured vehicles. The thin Israeli defence is soon overcome by the sheer weight of firepower as Syrian T-62 and T-54 tanks break through the border defence while Soviet-built SAMs and ZSU-23 cannon mounted on tracked vehicles provide an intensity of defensive firepower that even the Israeli Air Force flying their American- built F-4 and A-4 aircraft are forced to withdraw air support during the first afternoon of hostilities. The fact that the complete chassis design right down to the ball bearings of the Syrian tanks and supporting vehicles were designed by the American Christie Corporation might come as a surprise to the Israeli defenders.
The sad fact of modern Soviet technology today is that almost all of it is imported from the West. An incredible statement perhaps but one that is sadly backed by fact after fact. Both Russia and China have produced little of original value from their research and development efforts since adopting the ways of Communism. The difference lies in that while the Soviets have gone all out to seek by way of either espionage or commercial deals the technology and equipment required for the world’s largest military force, the Chinese have shunned the West to the extent that their level of technical remain an airliner? Is a tractor factory only ever going to produce agricultural equipment? Is a sheet metal factory only ever going to produce refrigerator panels? Is an automotive factory, complete with engine foundry, only ever going to produce family saloons? The answers to even a person of incredible naivety are assuredly NO.
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