I learned Russian at DLI. Laughingly the KGB wasn't asking for papers throughout the movie, they were asking for paper.

@DrewLSsix

3 ай бұрын

Toilet paper, they'll let you pass with a little bribe that keeps them out of the tp lines.....

@thegloriousryius

Ай бұрын

Chi-Ling! DLI in da house!

@michaelmartin9022

15 күн бұрын

Soviet bog roll shortages

Funny enough, the MiG25 "superfighter" spawned the closest thing to a super fighter of that era in response, the F15 Eagle, the most successfully air to air combatant to exist, 102-0

@104thironmike4

13 күн бұрын

105-0. Also the most successfull air to air fighter was the F-14, because the F-14 was the big bad boogeyman for the US adversaries. While ultimately the Phoenix is less capable than an AMRAAM, the fact that the AWG-9 provided TWS, saw hundreds of miles, and could fire missiles from a hundred miles away (theoretically, in reality it was a bit less, depending on alt, speed, etc of ownship and target), made it scary to the point that adversaries rather turned away. And what could be a more effective weapon than the one that prevents fighting altogether? Or have you ever heard of a US carrier fleet attacked? Exactly. Why it did not rack up kills during Desert Storm, was because the Air Force was hellbound on calling dibs on as much as they could, and the F-14s were not really put to use.

I was in my early 20s, and in the Navy, when this came out. I have to admit that I found the concept of super-advanced Soviet technology to be hilarious...especially since I had read Belenko's book a few years previously. I also wondered just how good voice activated weapons would be ... I can pull the trigger on a gun faster than I could tell it to shoot...and the trigger never misunderstands me. Aerodynamically, the nose also looked a bit funny given the idea that the aircraft was supposed to be exceedingly fast. The F-117 later had something similar and it wasn't exactly quick.

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, I always thought that the weapons were the last thing I'd want "thought control" on. Now direct brain interface on flight controls, that has some potential. Mostly to go horribly wrong when it doesn't work right, but the concept at least has merit.

@awnage

11 ай бұрын

"Awe, shoot" - Mater, Cars 2

The MiG 25 did lead the US to develop the F-15 though, which is not a bad thing for a myth

My fav Eastwood film is the Western where he says "You insulted my horse. My horse doesn't like being insulted." 😂

"...the type of Ork-work I do in my garage." --nice!

I used to read Air Force magazine in my high school library, cannot believe the pacifist librarian even ordered it. Thumbed through that issue and read that exact article! Fun seeing it again. I loved Firefox as a kid, great flick.

Reminds me of The Hunt for Red October... we overestimated Soviet technology right up to the end of the Cold War... laughed when I saw the MIG-37 Model, had it as a kid!

It is, still, perhaps one of the most lethal looking aircraft ever designed. It's menacing as hell when we first see it in the hanger.

I totally agree and appreciate your thoughts. As Eastern-Germany feld back to West-Germany, the NATO got their hands on NVA Mig 29. and the engineers were impressed what they found in the airplane. Simple technic, no. Well experienced when they thought. My father was flight Engineer and he told me from his work back in the days… 1990. wow. This is a heck long ago. But the story ma father told me, i‘ll never forget. Keep up the good work.

I totally agree with your point about the military industrial complex’s ability to “raise concern” over some new design out of the east. Still, an SKS may not be as refined as an M1 Garand, but it can still do the job. Still going on today in order to justify huge defense spending (more like wealth transfer). I did 20 years in the Air Force as an F-15 mechanic, and had the opportunity to give a MiG-31 and Su-27 an up close walk around (still have the pictures) in 1990. Crude, rugged, and essentially sub-par by our standards. Where we had the edge was combined arms doctrine and training, along with the software/hardware interface. Totally digging your videos

I loved this movie as a kid and would Always rewind the dogfight scene at the end on vhs. Blue thunder was also one of my favorite cold war movies.

I loved this movie as a kid as well, one of my favorite movies from Clint Eastwood. I actually enjoyed how vulnerable he seemed in it, but as you said the PTSD is kinda predictable for movie needs.

"Is 1 M1 better than 5 T72s?" Gulf War says yes

My thoughts exactly. Firefox is a perfect example of Cold War American mythologizing. Building semi-mythological wonder-weapons like the Mig-25 fits in with Soviet and Russian strategic and tactical doctrine called Maskerovka. This goes all the way back to the time of the Tsars, when Potemkin built a fake villlage to impress the Tsarina. If you can't build it, make them think you did anyways.

@robertkalinic335

6 ай бұрын

Like omg the high potency bs brew you made here...mig 25 never was mythological wonder weapon, that was what the west came to believe on its own. Its just extremely quick flying brick interceptor that makes sense cause Ussr was vast, even today mig31 enjoys some successes because of its uncommon advantages like big radar and speed. This has nothing yo do with diversion or completely unrelated Potemkin story that you think Russians have in their genes.

Same here one of my most fave cold war movies of the cold war, another one is Falcon and the Snowman which I am currently watching. watched that one in the cinema back int he day and I believe I still have the original cassette tape of the soundtrack with Bowie and Pat Matheny.

yah I rode a 1970s Lada Soviet taxi in Guangzhou China in 1995, well it was OK except for teh air conditioning was a computer fan taped to the dashboard .

I remember the design of the aircraft so much more fondly than the movie.

Saw that movie when I was in elementary school. Later in life I became a Russian speaker. It´s funny how ignorant I was bout that part of the world. I didnt know the difference between Moscow, or Kazakhstan.

I love the location you chose for this video! Showing off a lot of the finest aircraft the US produced during the cold war in the background really drives the point home about quality Vs. Quantity! Where was this video shot? Or would you rather keep your location Classified? Firefox for me is three things: 1) A great movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon! 2) A somewhat crappy Laser Disc Atari arcade game I remember from youth! 3) The Namesake of the Web Browser I'm using right now!

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

It was shot at Ellsworth AFB (the decommissioned B-1 still has its tail code) though my ideal location for this one would have been Wright-Patterson 20 years ago, when their XB-70 was still outside. I never had a chance to play the old Firefox game. It looked amazing for its time, but I never came across one of the arcade machines.

@alanburke1893

11 ай бұрын

Amazingly the game was available at Shannon Airport in Ireland. Professional civilian pilots queued up to play it. I remember begging my father to let me have another 50p coin to play it again. This was about a week's pocket money when I was 11. An Aeroflot pilot took pity and handed me a fist full of loose change. Thanks for bringing back that memory. 👍

Soviet cockpit ergonomics were so bad with vital instruments and switches placed wherever the last subcontractor in could find an empty space, that it would have taken an untrained pilot a few months to figure out how to fly any new type. Glass cockpit? Not at that time. Eastwood single-handedly made the movie work.

I have always admired the fictional 'Mig 31'. I lament no kit manufacturer has offered an accurate injection moulded plastic product of this scene stealing design.

Yep not only the grain, the USSR economy survived by selling oil to western countries the very same countries they were ready to invades across the Fulda Gap. USSR collapsed due to its centralized poor mismanaged economic system. which could not last long and relied on export of its natural resources, when the oil prices in the 80s collapsed to 31 USD in the mid 80s from a high of 147 USD in 1980, the SOviet economy went down with it. massive Soviet spending went to maintaining perceived military parity with the USA but also maintaining all of its deadbeat warsaw pact , communist world puppet allies. Yep, I remember by Russian co worker telling me, that before the USSR collapsed the leaders of the three most important Soviet republics namely Russia, Ukraine and Belarus met and planned the break up, Kazakhstan found out and was let in on the talks. After the talks, the uSSR collapsed and the other Soviet republics were quite suprirsed and were not told , and were told in the end, good luck you are on your own. My co worker was stationed in Baku , Azerbaijan USSR, as part of Soviet troops sent to quell protests etc. when the USSR collapsed so did law and order in Baku collapsed as it was every man for himself, local militias fought each other. They did not target the Soviet troops since the troops had the best firepower. They were eventually repatriated later back to Russia and he emigrated to Canada in the 90s .

I recently watched this film and I liked it. Definitely a time capsule of its time, just like Red Dawn. For similar myth making of Soviet prowess, play Freedom Fighters. Originally released in the 2000s on Xbox, PS2, and GameCube. It was remastered on Steam. Worth a play.

@romanmanner

Ай бұрын

Complete with the ‘intellectuals are in on it, too’ trope. 😂

not to big up the soviets - but the F117 was only possible because of a soviet scientific paper on how to calculate radar refections - its also ironic that the mig25 was made from stainless steel while the SR71 was made from titanium purchased from russia

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

I always found it a bit odd that people either puffed up the Soviets as genius monsters bent on world domination or downplayed them as bumbling incompetents. As usual, the truth was much more subtle.

Thanks for covering this movie! I have some nostalgia for it, since it was one of the first PG-rated movies I saw without parents, and the first Clint Eastwood movie I saw in theaters. It was impressive, and the special effects were decent, even if they weren't ILM. My friend who saw it with me was an ethnic Latvian, and he was quite mortified when the missile cruiser Riga was introduced! 😄 Of course I believed the hype, and the Soviets building Bond-villain level stuff, because it was 1982 and we all knew the Commies were working on superweapons. This was before the Israeli-Syrian War, Afghanistan, and Desert Shield/Storm ruined the mystique and threat. Oddly enough the Firefox was sort-of copied for G.I. Joe as a Cobra heavy fighter.

Wow! This is a great presentation.

@grimandproper

Ай бұрын

Agreed!

Man living in it and looking at it is a hell of an experience.

I seem to remember reading that part of the problems the Germans ran into in WWII in their Russia invasion was their high quality equipment breaking down and the difficulty in getting replacement parts to the places most needed, which makes me wonder if the Soviets looked at that and decided to go with the "better to have a lot of cheap stuff that works well enough..." philosophy.

Cool review. Hit all the points. Basically, a poor script but anything Clint touches turns to at least silver.

The movie probably needs to be re-done, the book was a favourite of mine when a teen, there was also "Firefox Down" a sequel, & "Winter Hawk", where Gant is required to fly one of 2 Mi-24 Hinds on a mission of great importance (movie producers missed some opportunities with this series, but times changed, I guess) They definitely made it look cool, it still looks cool af (& the EuroFighter has canards lol)

@midnightrider9016

11 ай бұрын

It could probably be redone using China instead of Russia. But they would probably screw it up like top gun

The SR 71 was actually called the RS 71 but the American president at the time made a mistake in a press conference so they went with SR.

I loved this movie when I saw it in theaters. It's one of those that as a kid you enjoy the spectacle but as an adult you appreciate it's subtler themes. You should do a video on The Philadelphia Experiment or Blue Thunder. Both good 80s movies that have subtler elements you appreciate more as an adult.

Very talented analysis on various topics. Funny too.

High tech themes were prevalent during the 1980s (Blue Thunder, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Street Hawk), including Firefox, also stuff about the Cold War and a connection to the Vietnam war was in there too. As a kid in the 1980s, I just liked the bit from when the plane takes off, the before bit didn't interest me much.

Pretty spot on analysis. Although NATO during the '70's and '80's was also pretty much a conscript ground army. (Apart from US & UK)

Good movie, watched it a few times in the 80s, on bootleg betamax and laserdisc. also read the book, including the sequel Firefox down. both were OK. Movie and book were good. decades later in Vancouver, I had a Russian watch the movie, he was laughing at the British actors playing the Soviets, he said their Russian was atrocious, and funny, it was like a Brit talking in Russian haha(well they were), but of course not as funny as Arnold talking Russian in Red Heat they found that the most amusing. . The Russian co worker of mine used to serve in the Soviet army in the 80s,(his last posting was Baku USSR, before the collapse, ), he stated that people in the Soviet army did not talk that way as they did in the movie, and he found it most amusing about the Soviet troops calling one officer Comrade col. hahhaahah.

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

Hunt for Red October is another one with atrocious Russian. I mean my Russian is on the level of an above-average chimp but I'm listening to some of that dialog thinking "even I know that's wrong."

@johnwalsh4857

11 ай бұрын

@@feralhistorian yes comrad col. and your papers are not in order from Firefox was a laugh riot. same with the lines from Red heat haha

Watched it on a Pam Am flight from Tampa to London in October 1982.Great movie.

I think this has to be one of the best videos I've seen on this topic

Thought control ? In 1982, IBM CPU's ran at 1MhZ ! Even at the time of writing, an Intel 14900K chip (running at 6GHZ) is incapable of anything remotely approaching reading thoughts in real-time.

It's been a few years since I saw the movie, and a few decades since I read the book; but I don't recall thinking the Soviet counter-intelligence reaction to Gant's mission was "slow." IIRC they had 36-48 hours to go from "business as usual," to "huh, that's weird," to "there appears to be a threat directed at our new top-secret fighter prototype," to "the Americans sent a particular retired ex-USAF pilot, whom we have ID'ed by name, here to steal our airplane, and his plan to get the airplane out more or less has to be thus and so." Clumsy, sure - I'm thinking especially of the decision to sacrifice a strategic bomber and its crew just to create a slightly better chance of hitting the stolen Firefox with a missile (and I _really_ don't know how that was supposed to work; but Craig Thomas was a spy writer, not an aviation expert) - but the story has them playing defense, and the clock doesn't start for them until they found the body of the smuggler Gant was impersonating. As for bureaucratic... Maybe? But especially in the book it seemed like there was a lot of scope for mid-level officers to be clever enough to figure out what was going on, and also influential enough to bring the entire ponderous apparatus of the Soviet State to bear on one guy in an airplane. And while the MiG-25 inspired the fictional Firefox, it wasn't unique in the reaction it provoked in the West: each new generation of Soviet fighter from ca. 1960 on produced a similar effect in its day. Partly, I think, because the MiG-15 had been such an unwelcome surprise over Korea, and nobody wanted to be caught the same way twice; and partly because what the Soviets allowed outside observers to see of their new aircraft was really intimidating. (Especially from the point of view of fighter pilots facing the prospect of having to fight superior numbers of what appeared to be superior aircraft.)

All be honest I totally expected this to be about the old Nintendo franchise Star Fox for some reason.

@geoffreyherrick298

11 ай бұрын

Do a barrel roll!

A friend of mine drives a Mini SUV Lada. He says it is more reliable than modern cars. It is very basic tough.

I so wish they made a sequel to this movie.

@keithallver2450

10 ай бұрын

The book had a sequel.

Great look back. The Soviet Union was a thing back in the day, and most people forget. But it is fair to pick on the fact that they sucked at making cars...

yah I remember during the cold war , NATO analysts would continue to crow about Soviet military technology prowess, the masses of Soviet tanks taht were rady to smash thru the Fulda Gap in Germany and overrun NATO. back in the day when I watched Firefox and read the book, I actually believed the propoganda that the Soviets could make such a weapon. Back in the day, yep lots of scare stories about the Soviets winning the cold war and the whole world would be communists and how inept non communist armies were. Only until Reagan 80s were USA and NATO militaries were beginning to show muscle and yep that was the arms buildup of the 80s. complete with Pershings being deployed to western Europe. both sides conducting massive military exercises in Europe. Lots of near WW3 tensions, proxy wars flraing up even more in the world like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Angola, Lebanon, Iran-iraq, Cambodia, the Philippines etc.

Didn't want to debate the EMP technological utility of the MiG-25 tubes, but just HAD to comment on the engine and intakes at the end, hmmm??? 😃

@BoraHorzaGobuchul

5 ай бұрын

No emp utility. Hardened electronics is the way

Loved the movie and video game. It was on laser disk IIRC.

@springer1696

11 ай бұрын

I remember the video game. It was in times square arcade back on the day.

Solid, excellent review and analysis. US grain shipments to USSR was very surprising. Why no mention at the (ridiculously conceived) Soviet persecution of Jews?

Just to add that I also thought the location pieces-to-camera with the display aircraft was just inspired.

Su-57 is a lemon, yes it shot missles into Ukraine, bombed insurgents in Syria but it was all done from long distances enough so that enemy SAMs dont shoot it down but I did hear mechanical problems with the SU-57 so much that the Indians cancelled sales.

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

The SU-57 seems to mirror the F-35 in a lot of ways. It's either one of the best combat aircraft in the world, or a glitch-prone money-pit that can barely get in the air in peacetime, and then only at huge expense. I'm not sure what to think of either one at this point.

@johnwalsh4857

11 ай бұрын

@@feralhistorian Yes the Russian basically are trying to develop a rival to teh F-35, a cheaper one but one that can stand up to the F-35, of course for export to the world market. Also the Indians had a huge hand in financing and tje avionics and onboard electronic development of the SU-57 but ultimately the Indians declined to buy it, possibly due to political and unresolved plane issues. Also the Russians with their declining economy and the war, as well as embargoes have only built 21 so far and all of them are test planes. and will probably not build more focusing the existing Russian industry to refurbishing the thousands of aircraft and AFVs that have been poorly stored several decades. Heck the Russians are deploying refurbished T-55s to Ukraine in large numbers and the last time the Russians did that(or the SOviets) was the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

yah I was an avid military books reader from the 80s to the present. I read Soldier of Fortune a lot more though from the 70s .

well soviet military hardware is rugged simple to maintain and effective. also easy to mass manufacture. however yes by American and NATO standards, they are crude. Crude but effective.

@masterofrockets

11 ай бұрын

hmmm I would question the effectiveness especially when looking at battles like Battle of Medina Ridge

@johnwalsh4857

11 ай бұрын

@@masterofrockets well the quality of the users is a massive influemnce on how well the weapon does. Like Yemeni houthis capturing Saudi M1A2s intact since their crews ran away. or how about the Russians abandoning T-90s after running out of fuel.

@BoraHorzaGobuchul

5 ай бұрын

Generally those using soviet equipment can't boast high standards of troop training and officer quality. Including society's/Russians.

New sub

Great Video, funny and poignant.

Lmao was hoping was a story on the rise and fall.of mozilla firefox

Any interest in the Ace Combat universe?

I remember there was this Filipino tv pastor I watched in Manila TV in the late 80s who proclaimed that Gorbachev , Gromyko and Cherenko were thje three heads of the great beast and Russia a magog the home of the anti christ, hahaah yep lots of anti Communist cold war propoganda in non commie TVs and media at the time esp. the 80s. The pastor was later arrested for attempted rape of a minor in the 90s. When they showed the TV mini series Amerika on Manila TV in the late 1980s the entire Philippine military command came out on tv to introduce the mini series and said that it was the duty of every Filipno to oppose communism haha. Also , right beside the TV station channel 9 showing Amerika was the Manila HQ of WACL , the world anti communist league headed by John Singalebub, former CIA officer. also right beside the WACL offices was the HQ of the Unification Church of Sun Yang Moon, another very anti communist organization.

Can you fly the plane?

I have to disagree with the general consensus, or maybe not. This film had a premise that was difficult to justify. I'll be frank -- the film centered on a technology that was impossible for Soviets to accomplish two years ago, before full sanctions were pursued against Russia. Not even an iPhone 11, ductaped to the control panel could help. Its basis in Cold War paranoia of a "technology gap" in a time when glasnost provided us with a look at the current state of Soviet technology made the film a joke in US defense tech circles, so, maybe it was an interesting and fun film for younger persons, or those without any understanding of computer technology, but not for anyone in the business, which is why no one said a word against it, at the time. Let the.Soviets believe that our funny looking aircraft over the Nevada desert was controlled by thought, just like Donald Trump could declassify secret documents with his mind.

Are you at Castle Museum?

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

I was at Ellsworth AFB, they have a relatively small museum by the gate. I hadn't heard of the Castle Air Museum before, but now that I looked it up I'll make a point of stopping in there if I'm ever anywhere Atwater.

Whaddya mean "not fair"? USSR/Russia can't make a reputable car, indeed. I know, being a Russian. Most cars are copies of western designs btw. Same with planes. Su25, yak38, just about any aircraft is a copy.

the Russian air force of 2023 the successsor to the Soviet air force is a lemon, before the Ukraine war touted as the 2nd strongest and largest air force in the world, and much bigger than the Ukraine air force , well the Ukraine air force is still flying and doing bombing runs while the Russian air force lost a few hundred planes and decrepit. Russians launched several thousand missles at Ukraine(even launching Cold war Anti ship missles) cities and many missed due to poor crude guidance and poor maintenance. With the Russians bringing back the T-55 to service (the last time they used them in large numbers was the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 68) to send them to Ukraine(97 percent of the Russian army is est. to be deployed there), Im surprised they havent deployed Mig-23s or even the MIg-21s. Soviet built like 7K mig-23s and 12K Mig-21s even up to the 80s. The Mig-23 was the backbone of the soviet air force in the 80s, then again Soviet pilots hated the plane calling it a coffin.

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

I hesitate to write off the Russian military, especially based on the unreliable analysis we're getting from Ukraine. For example the RAF estimates Russian aircraft losses (including helicopters) at 176 as of last month while Oryx says almost 500 (I'm highly skeptical of their numbers in general). I see the Russian air force staying out of Ukrainian airspace for fear of being shot down by NATO-supplied AA, but I also don't see that as a significant issue on their part. It's turned into an artillery duel, there's not much to be gained by sending their top-tier fighters in when they can get the same results with missiles and howitzers. The same with the Ukrainian air force, it flies over Ukraine but almost all the activity inside Russia has been drone attacks. Neither side (Russia and Ukraine as a NATO proxy at this point) is willing to go all-in. The T-55s made me chuckle when I first saw the reports, but really if all you need is a mobile field gun that you don't really care too much about losing, they fit the bill nicely. It's almost the Russian equivalent of NATO countries giving '90s-era Bradleys and cluster munitions to Ukraine, disposal with less paperwork.

@johnwalsh4857

11 ай бұрын

@@feralhistorian True about the T-55s and 62s being mobile field guns, in fact that is what they are being used for, but the Russians have lost several thousands AFVs int he war due to incompetence and criminal underestimation of the Ukrainians, Im not writing off the Russians, but the Ukrainians really performed a bit better than pre war assesments on their military. and as for drone attacks on Russia, Russia has always crowed about its formidable air defenses esp. in the Moscow area, well, yes the Ukrainian drone strikes are few and far between but they are increasing in numbers and this would have been unthinkable last year.

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

@@johnwalsh4857 It's an interesting conflict to be sure, particularly with how both sides seems to have forgotten how to do combined arms operations. There's a lot of burning armor from bonehead moves all around. Not surprising I suppose, there hasn't been much opportunity for anyone to gain real-world experience in mechanized European-theater war for generations. A lot of lessons are being relearned.

if we talk about the cold war than i have to ask do you know about the RTS world in conflict from 2008

@feralhistorian

11 ай бұрын

I've seen it but I never played it. It was out during one of those periods when I wasn't doing any gaming. 07-08 was a busy time. But I always thought it sounded like an interesting premise.