BRDM – The Specialist Soviet Armored Fighting Recon Vehicles
Arriving in 1957 The first BRDM vehicle, the BRDM-1, entered service in the Soviet army in 1957. It had been accepted for use by the…
Raining Fire – Soviet Multiple Rocket Launcher Vehicles of the Cold War
Rocketry was an important part of the Warsaw Pact to armies during the Cold War. Having discovered in WWII that multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) were…
Nukes on the Moon: The A119 Cold War Project
In the late 1950s, in the midst of the Cold War, the United States developed a super-secret plan referred to as Project A119, involving the…
Things Nearly Went Nuclear When the Chinese Stole a Soviet Tank
In 1900, Russia signed the Treaty of Beijing which gave them Outer Manchuria and other Chinese lands. When both countries became communist, their nagging border…
The Tsar Bomba, The Biggest Bomb The World Has Ever Seen
Every aspect of the phrase, ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ applies to the Tsar Bomba. The weapon was the Soviet Union’s rebuttal to the United States…
Saddam’s Secret Super Gun – Project Babylon
Project Babylon was an Iraqi code name for the construction of a supergun, commissioned by Sadam Hussein in 1988. The engineer in charge of the…
When The Nuclear Submarine USS San Francisco Crashed Into An Undersea Mountain
Launched in 1979, the USS San Francisco is the third American ship, boat or submarine to carry a title featuring San Francisco in the name. In…
Operation Urgent Fury: The 1983 US Invasion of Grenada
In 1983, the Cold War was rather hot: Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States and the relations between East and West deteriorated.…
After 39 Soviet Commandos Took Hill 3234 In Afghanistan, Not Even Hundreds Of Mujahedeen Could Dislodge Them
The Soviet-Afghan War, or the “Soviet Vietnam” as some political analysts called it, was one of the key points in which the decaying superpower came…
When The Coast Guard Supported The D.E.A. & Flew Resupply & Bombing Missions Against The Shining Path
The U.S. Coast Guard has always been there to help those in distress, but that doesn’t always mean ships in a storm. In the Fall…
This Crazy Soviet Pilot Flew a MiG 17 Under A Bridge
In 1965 an incredible stunt was pulled by a Soviet pilot named Valentin Privalov, who managed to fly his MiG 17 jet fighter under a…
New Books From Grub Street – Review by Paul Theobald
Two great new titles from Grub Street are about to arrive on the bookshelves. Both cover little written about jet powered air defence aircraft that…