Originally posted by 95EagleAWD
Yeah, ground effect vehicles didn't really catch on for a good reason... they suck.
And a 747 and an A380 are bigger and heavier than it. And it can't actually fly, either, so it's not an aircraft.
LOL.
How do you figure? Their subs are old and noisy, they have ONE aircraft carrier and it can barely carry anything and hardly ever leaves port, their front line fighters can't compete with the F-22 or F-35 and would barely be an even match for an F-15C or Block 50 F-16C...
The Russian military is so, SO shitty right now it's not even funny. They don't have the funds for training, sailing or anything. They barely fly at night anymore, they don't routinely practice mid-air refueling, their ballistic missile subs don't do deterrence patrols, they just sit in harbour. Their ICBM fleet is ragged and old and if the rest of their military is any indication, in shitty, shitty shape.
Military development in Russia is at LEAST 10 years behind the USA in anything that matters, whether it's actually FIELDING at stealth platfrom, which the USA has had since 1981, or projecting power with an aircraft carrier. They can't do it.
Singling out a noisy, supercavitating torpedo as an example of Russian genius is pretty picky (admittedly, it's cool. And no, Canada doesn't use it at all. We still carry Mark-48s in our subs.)
I know there are numerous modern planes are bigger then these, but I wanted to point these interesting planes out to the majority of the beyonders here, as I think most had no idea of any of this type of stuff.
Actually the "Spruce Goose" is still the biggest I believe, at least as of a couple years ago. It had a few feet on its next biggest rivals.
Last edited by Graham_A_M; 03-21-2010 at 09:38 PM.
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