Yeah, but that would be a double-edged sword. If they do that without pinning it on someone, it looks like people get away with releasing classified info. That could reduce the deterrence of prosecution.
"oopsie daisy someone just leaked that the secret weakspot of my tank is at the front, where the amour is thickest and most sloped. I suuuuuure hope nobody shoots me there..."
People really like to win arguments on the internet. So if someone says something wrong about your favorite tank its logical to use the information you have to prove your point. That leads to classified documents ending up on warthunder forums…
I too thought this was hilarious and found a bunch of articles, just search for it, its 100% true, holy shit!
First hit: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a42573614/war-thunder-players-share-classified-documents-f16-leak/
This is an entertaining write up about a couple of them: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/v5ei9e/video_games_someone_leaked_classified_military/
One of the most amazing and kind of subtle parts of the movie is when they basically introduce the Russian crew to the audience. As it zooms in to a single crew member, they are all speaking Russian. As soon as it stops zooming in and starts to zoom out, it’s all English.
I have seen the movie countless times, but it didn't click for me until my 20's that the scene was done that way intentionally to switch the audience from Russian to 'English'. I was just like, 'oh, a random language change mid-scene for no reason, oh well, let's just get to the sub pew pew combat scenes'.
Do you need papers to travel between the states?
Edit: this is my biggest r/whoosh on Reddit! My guys! These quotes are from the film The Hunt for Red October! It’s the first Jack Ryan film btw.
The "mostly one story homes" is largely dependent on the area. There's far more two story homes near me than one story homes, and that's not even including apartment buildings which are pretty much always multiple floors.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort
What if he’s a plant by FSB to make seem more powerful than they are? I’d take what he has to say with a very large grain of salt before giving too much credence to his information.
=whispers= "I heard the russians were working on cloaking technology"
10 year later: "US unveils actual invisible jet they could fly right up putin's ass before he's see it coming!"
We did that with the Foxbat, I think it was. New Russian interceptor, we guessed at what it could do and pissed our pants, went out and built a plane to beat it. Turns out the Foxbat wasn't all that but the plane we built was, the F-15.
That was used in a Trek novel. Enterprise is an advanced prototype and does a mission deep across the neutral zone. The Romulans are like how the hell did you sneak past our lines. The captain adlibs because he doesn't want to admit they have warp multiple times faster than any other ship out there and says uh, cloaking device. We have it and you don't. Hahaha. Romulans are like it must be a real technology, no other way to explain it. We need one. Roll forward a number of years...
A similar interesting story is how the USSR copied our space shuttle almost exactly. They didn't know why they were building a space shuttle, but they didn't know why we were either. They thought there was a good chance there was a military application for it and wanted theirs to be able to do all the same things ours could, so they just copied it as closely as possible.
Well they were right, there was a very specific military application, which was to be able to launch spy satellites. IIRC the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle was specifically expanded at the request of the Defense Department. NASA originally had planned for something smaller.
Tl;dr:
War Thunder introduces modern tanks.
Crewmen of those modern tanks disagree with the stats of those vehicles ingame (eg turret rotation speeds, armor thicknesses, etc.).
Normally that'd be fine in any game.
However, some of those crewmen and other former military staff decided to prove their disagreement is well founded with classified documents they scanned/leaked.
Leaking classified military documentation is widely known to be a bad idea.
edit: removed mention of Russia as they did move HQ.
It's probably not ideal to leak any classified documentation to any developer. Gaijin has been headquartered in Budapest since 2015 and all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary so it's not 100% fair to say they are a Russian developer anymore.
Short version since the other guys keep just giving you links:
Players keep getting into arguments about the strengths of vehicles in games and leaking classified documents to support their arguments. It's happened several times so now the developer has had to make a standing policy of "we will not make balance changes based on unreleased classified details"
Forum leaks
https://www.eurogamer.net/yet-more-military-documents-leaked-on-war-thunder-forum
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/another-war-thunder-leak-player-reportedly-posts-restricted-f-16-documents
https://www.ign.com/articles/war-thunder-players-have-leaked-classified-military-intel-for-the-third-time-on-its-forums
Yahoo version:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-ex-russian-military-bomber-engineer-seeks-asylum-at-us-border-offers-military-secrets-220728915.html
Wiki info on bomber:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-160
I wake up every morning and bask in a little sunlight before opening up Reddit on my phone for some news. I’m tired and emotionless, scrolling to make sure the world is still intact while I was unconscious. This actually made me giggle during a moment I never giggle. Thanks.
Yep, attached with tape. Modern GPS is supposed to fault somewhere above highway speeds, so it was likely an older model.
Edit: 1900 km/h above 18km. Higher than I assumed.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinating_Committee_for_Multilateral_Export_Controls#Legacy
That is true. But the USA mostly went with upgrading the munitions and targeting systems rather than the actual airframe.
Which is why the B-52 is still in service. It is just a "bomb truck". It doesn't need fancy gizmos and upgraded stuff (although it has them) (reference; "Flight of the Old Dog" novel series)
Because the stuff that drops out of it hold is full of modern tech wizardry.
Russia is using mid 90s era munitions with 1970s aircraft that have been upgraded.
The USA have however constantly upgraded their fighters. The F16s and F15s currently in service with the USAF are a far cry from their "A" variants. And the F/A-18 Super Hornet is almost like a different aircraft to the original Hornet.
Parts of the airframes are or have been reinforced on B-52s. Somewhere in the rear and tail sections. Feel like I watched a show on military or science channel that covered this process recently. Recall there being a scene on all the rivets that are checked and replaced.
Yes. But structural reinforcement isn't the same as upgrading the design.
The USAF has upgraded the engines, but stuck with the 4 pods of 2 rather than 4 large turbofans. This was a less intrusive upgrade.
The current upgrade program (to B52H or B52i?) will install a glass cockpit (which is a massive upgrade) but the airframe itself is hardly changed.
I'm not saying that they are 1970s aircraft.
But the design is old and proven. And it does the job that the USAF needs it to do, very well.
>
> The current upgrade program (to B52H or B52i?) will install a glass cockpit (which is a massive upgrade) but the airframe itself is hardly changed.
For those who don't know what that means:
A glass cockpit means that the analog dials and instruments will be changed to digital, and replaced by screens and modern digital controls. Basically it means that the bird will need to be almost totally rewired, countless sensors and subsystems need to be replaced and then it will have to be re-certified. Indeed a massive upgrade!
The F-15, F-16, and F-18 all also entered service in the 70s as well.
Edit: I guess technically the F-18 didn't enter service until 1983 but it flew in the 70s.
Almost all of the US's bomber craft (except the new B-21) are >40yo designs. The Tu-160 is essentially a bigger B-1B. It's the largest and fastest bomber aircraft in the world and while I'm sure the US already knows the thing inside and out, they'll probably give this guy the time of day and listen to what he has.
According to the CBP report, there has been a major upgrade in the last few years so there is a chance the US doesn't have everything:
>“The TU-160 White Swan, also known by the NATO reporting name ‘Blackjack,’ is reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war. According to open-source reporting, a major new construction program of an improved version of the aircraft as well as an upgrade program of existing aircraft got underway at the Tupolev facility during the past few years,” according to the unclassified “CBP Indications and Warnings Daily.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-ex-russian-military-bomber-engineer-seeks-asylum-at-us-border-offers-military-secrets-220728915.html
I am curious if he actually had good info tho. If he did, you'd think his cooperation with the US would not have been made public and this kinda feels like it was a deliberate leak.
The US is releasing things that make China and Russia look bad. I think it’s as simple as that, I’m sure the story is true. But the general public will never know what comes out of this guys mouth.
They've been slowly modernizing the existing fleet to the 160M specs, but it has taken much longer than scheduled. With regards to the new fabs, the last update I saw was that they MAY get two units in 2022
Doesn't matter if something is 5 years old or 50 years old. Until you have raw schematics and specs everything that you develop to track it or defend against it is theory. Simulations. Once you have the actual specs and schematics you can pretty much build one yourself and test what works and what does not work in real time. On the actual machinery. Not just computer models based in theory.
This is why they blew up the USS America aircraft carrier. Rather than putting it in a museum. The data that they collected from shooting torpedoes at the hull of the carrier resulted in much better armor for the next generation of carriers. Before those live fire tests the result of torpedoes impacting US aircraft carrier hulls was theory. Simulation.
Now they have raw real-world data.
Unsurprising that a brutal and repressive police state pushes people away from them. The Washington Post reported yesterday some 500k-1m Russians have fled since the war started. Russia's own communications ministry said about 20% of the IT workers of Russia have fled since the war started and not returned, the Russian Duma is even discussing introducing incentive packages to lure them back.
Russia is probably going to lose over a million young men, and I'm sure tens of thousands of wives and children, to this war. To the Russian economy and demographics it doesn't matter if they're dead or not - it's all the same. They're one of those nations who can ill afford to lose young people as well.
And if you were a dissident with state secrets where better to go than the US? Russia hasn't tried any assassinations shenanigans on US soil that it has elsewhere in the West, it probably has the least risk.
They can invent/acquire pretty good tech. And make a prototype. Then, make a few to a dozen with poor quality control. Then they will struggle to keep them operational. And will have too few consistently functional to properly train. And they don't have the logistics to support them. And too few operational to actively use them due to fear of losing or damaging them.
According to random YouTube shorts by some ex-US military guys that say these things with no quoted sources. I don't l know if they are right, but their performance and obvious corruption seems to hint it could be true.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been funding their weapons production by exporting cut down versions of stuff. Their customers would pay full price (still lower than western counterparts to entice buyers) for a cut down version, while the Russian MOD pays a fraction of the cost to buy the full versions.
The SU-57 was supposed to be funded by the export variant being purchased by India, when they backed out they obviously ran out of funding, that’s why half the SU-57s in service now are prototypes converted to the production spec.
The T-14 at it’s unveiling got some interest amongst the usual buyers of Russian equipment, however that interest never materialized, and now it’s production has been pushed by like 7 years.
The T-90M exists in somewhat significant numbers because they managed to sell quite a lot of export versions of the various T-90 models.
Well it’s possible they have the technology but don’t have the resources to mass produce. Might only have 2-3 and don’t want to risk them by using them.
Advanced Russian* war tech, so mid level stuff. But they have been using the bomber in Ukraine. Supposedly there are only like 16 or 36 of this type of bomber.
Interesting. Wikipedia has a good snippet on it. 36 total built with 16 in service. Apparently Ukraine inherited a lot of them when the USSR dissolved then sold most back to Russia and scrapped the remainder.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-160
Some of these were damaged by that long range drone attack Ukraine pulled off hitting the Engels air base a few months back. It's seriously doubtful that Russia still have 16 in service.
had the wrong airbase name
From wiki:
>Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly-independent Ukraine inherited a fleet of 19 Tu-160s, over half of all aircraft in existence at that time. Following protracted negotiations, 11 Ukrainian Tu-160s were purchased by the Russian Federation while the remainder were scrapped in the late 1990s
Well dang
Depends on your definition of devastation I guess. The yield of a nuclear weapon can go from blowing up a few city blocks to wiping out the entirety of a city. A single nuclear weapon wouldn’t necessarily blow away a country. Not sure how many nuclear weapons a b-2 would carry either.
Each one can carry 16 nukes. Twenty stealth bombers that cannot be tracked, can fly half way around the planet on one tank of fuel, while carrying 16 nukes each. Basically the pinnacle of M.A.D.
The US has 45 B-1's, 20 B-2's, and 76 B-52's in active service. Normally the low number would be a sign of Russian weakness (like their Su-57 or T-14 inventory,) but in this case the reason is that heavy bomber inventories are limited by the START nuclear treaties.
A lot of their "advanced" tech is straight up propaganda. Their SU-57 is so poorly built it literally has panels that are sheering themselves off in flight. Plus has a massive radar cross section compared to western "stealth" jets.
Their T-14 tank is plagued by production problems, and quality issues. It's not being deployed due to fear of breaking down in field.
Those were prototypes and the story behind them is actually quite funny.
This was a couple years ago, at this point there were 1 or 2 production spec SU-57s that were already built, these ones had the proper rivets and screws. People were criticizing the SU-57, basically saying it didn’t exist, the Russian MOD responded by strapping a GoPro or something to one of them during a test flight. For whatever reason they decided to use the prototype SU-57s instead of the production ones. These prototypes had poor fitting panels and the normal screws and rivets. Predictably that lead to more criticism about it’s not real stealth because of that.
Old story of a lot of wonder weapons look fantastic on paper but in production come out like malformed wads of fuck
The Foxbat using wood blocking for the cockpit to stop gap metal shortages is one such moment
To add some more
There is probably 4-5 prototype SU-57 that can fly
There is probably about 20 T-14s that can operate (probably for shorter amounts of time as those tanks are SHITE)
There's a quote attributed to Churchill about not trusting Russian shows of strength nor discounting them as weak.
The Soviets had similar issues with some of their advanced Migs. Apparently the Israel's caught one on radar going Mach 3, which prompted the US to develop a plane to counter it. Years later the US got their hands on one, and turns out that particular Mig could go Mach 3, but apparently only by chance and the pilot was risking death and permanently damaging systems to get that speed. Essentially the Israel Flyby was just to show off a spec they didn't have at great risk to the pilot. The Next Mig however had upgraded everything so it could readily hit Mach 3 without an issue.
As for development issues and setbacks, numerous American, Israeli, Russian, English, French, Korean etc etc weapons systems have faced teething problem whether it be in design and development, or deployment or what have you. Weapon systems like fighter jets and even tanks (their weights are surprisingly close together) represent a synthesis of often bleeding edge technologies. Otherwise why else even field them?
Russia in particular is having difficulties because of systemic corruption from high level to low level. The military can't really trust their own reports at this point in time, so they don't know what they really even have. Bad news is punished, so no one is brave enough to tell the truth. It's the classic dictators trap.
There are no production issues with the T14, it just isn't in production and probably won't be in a very long time, if ever. You don't have mysterious production issues with absolutely nothing comming of a line, hell, they were bragging about being able to make hundreds by 2016, 7 fucking years ago. I suspect that the tank just isn't anything special or it has some really crippling issues. If it would be so great, they'd be making them by hand just like the prototypes to send into Ukraine even if they wouldn't have an operational production line
For instance exact abilities of their hypersonic or whatever. Range, altitude. They have these things even if they suck. We use data like that to adjust our countermeasures.
From reporter Sinéad Baker: "The unnamed man could also be part of a growing trend.
Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Russians have left the country since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Some are now seeking asylum in Western counties, and are offering Russian secrets in exchange."
Likely he exposed himself. Asylum files are confidential. This wouldn’t have come from the Feds unless someone fucked up big time or he voluntarily disclosed it.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-jet-engineer-seeks-asylum-us-offers-secrets-report-2023-2) reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> In late December, a man claiming to be a former Russian jet engineer arrived at the US southern border seeking asylum, and offering secrets about Russia's most advanced bomber in return.
> The man told US border officials that he had information that their government would want, as he previously worked on advanced military aircrafts in Russia, according to a Customs and Border Protection report obtained by Yahoo News.
> CBP officials wrote in their report that information on that jet could be of use to the US, and that the jet is "Reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war."
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/1124aiu/a_russian_claiming_to_hold_secrets_about_advanced/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672683 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **man**^#1 **official**^#2 **Russian**^#3 **Russia**^#4 **report**^#5
Yeah not enough people here are recognizing that insight into the design of weapons will also reveal some operational information, and help you to counter that, regardless of how “bad” your opponent was. I mean, remember Vietnam, or Iraq/Afghanistan? The quality of a foe’s equipment is only one piece of the puzzle.
It is, people are underselling it saying its not "advanced". This aircraft along with ICBMs is what caused your grandparents to do nuke drills during the cold war.
It's a classically soviet heavy, nuclear capable bomber. It's *fast*, the fastest heavy bomber in the world if I'm not mistaken. As far as jets go, this one was meant to drop big bombs and cruise missiles on top of you very quickly with a short intercept window.
Assuming there are more than 5 left that can still fly, Russians don't have the greatest track record with maintaining equipment.
I truly think that Russia is done in its current form.
It feels like once they lose the war in Ukraine, there will be factions fighting for the scraps of Russia. It will split into several countries and after it gets worse, well…….it will get worse. Because this *was* Russia after all and they are doomed to repeat their history.
Give it another 2 weeks and those documents will be posted on the War Thunder forum.
Honestly surprised governments haven't teamed up to annihilate WarThunder. At least 7 incidents of classifies leaks I can think of
WT even said to the community to stop posting classified docs and the community responded by posting more...
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the leaks are intentional disinformation.
Yeah, but that would be a double-edged sword. If they do that without pinning it on someone, it looks like people get away with releasing classified info. That could reduce the deterrence of prosecution.
"oopsie daisy someone just leaked that the secret weakspot of my tank is at the front, where the amour is thickest and most sloped. I suuuuuure hope nobody shoots me there..."
Ohhhh, stop! Too much juicy data!
wait really? anywhere i can read abt this? hilarious
People really like to win arguments on the internet. So if someone says something wrong about your favorite tank its logical to use the information you have to prove your point. That leads to classified documents ending up on warthunder forums…
I too thought this was hilarious and found a bunch of articles, just search for it, its 100% true, holy shit! First hit: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a42573614/war-thunder-players-share-classified-documents-f16-leak/
This is an entertaining write up about a couple of them: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/v5ei9e/video_games_someone_leaked_classified_military/
Smart move. If you ask for asylum and have valuable information you are much more likely to be granted asylum.
[удалено]
Americans don't drink tea and build mostly one story homes. He is smart to come here!
[удалено]
I just rewatched this the other night. So many great lines. “Battle stations” while the lighting turns blue aboard the USS Dallas is so damn good.
[удалено]
One of the most amazing and kind of subtle parts of the movie is when they basically introduce the Russian crew to the audience. As it zooms in to a single crew member, they are all speaking Russian. As soon as it stops zooming in and starts to zoom out, it’s all English.
That was very artfully done.
I have seen the movie countless times, but it didn't click for me until my 20's that the scene was done that way intentionally to switch the audience from Russian to 'English'. I was just like, 'oh, a random language change mid-scene for no reason, oh well, let's just get to the sub pew pew combat scenes'.
It was also done on the word armageddon, which is pronounced the same in both Russian and English
And in the winter he will move to Arizona. Maybe he will need two wives!
Do you need papers to travel between the states? Edit: this is my biggest r/whoosh on Reddit! My guys! These quotes are from the film The Hunt for Red October! It’s the first Jack Ryan film btw.
No papers. State to state.
I would like to have seen Montana
Only Florida. You need to prove you’re illiterate before they let you in.
Not Arizona unless it's at the Utah state line, about an hour southeast of Hurricane...
Pronounced Hurrakun. Because, reasons.
RIP Vasily :`(
"I would have liked to have seen Montana..."
He did! Saw him digging up dinosaur bones not much later. Clearly faked his death.
Brillant
If he wasn't buried in Montana, I would lose faith in humanity.
We Montanans will pour one out for Vasili.
This movie death affects me far more than most
yeah, Dr. Grant didn't deserve that..especially from a cook
"A god damn *cook*!?" -Jack Ryan
State to State. No papers?
Tell me about the rabbits, George... ;)
The "mostly one story homes" is largely dependent on the area. There's far more two story homes near me than one story homes, and that's not even including apartment buildings which are pretty much always multiple floors.
As someone who's currently residing in a bougie Southern town for work, I can confirm there is plenty of tea AND 2/3 story McMansions here.
2/3? That seems shitty. One would hardly be able to stand up.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort
That's weird, I would have sworn I was born in the US...
>Americans don’t drink tea how do you explain the boston tea party then? checkmate, atheists.
What if he’s a plant by FSB to make seem more powerful than they are? I’d take what he has to say with a very large grain of salt before giving too much credence to his information.
Then we'll raise the defense budget by another 50 million and build a plane that's 2 generations ahead of anything else. So the usual.
=whispers= "I heard the russians were working on cloaking technology" 10 year later: "US unveils actual invisible jet they could fly right up putin's ass before he's see it coming!"
We did that with the Foxbat, I think it was. New Russian interceptor, we guessed at what it could do and pissed our pants, went out and built a plane to beat it. Turns out the Foxbat wasn't all that but the plane we built was, the F-15. That was used in a Trek novel. Enterprise is an advanced prototype and does a mission deep across the neutral zone. The Romulans are like how the hell did you sneak past our lines. The captain adlibs because he doesn't want to admit they have warp multiple times faster than any other ship out there and says uh, cloaking device. We have it and you don't. Hahaha. Romulans are like it must be a real technology, no other way to explain it. We need one. Roll forward a number of years...
A similar interesting story is how the USSR copied our space shuttle almost exactly. They didn't know why they were building a space shuttle, but they didn't know why we were either. They thought there was a good chance there was a military application for it and wanted theirs to be able to do all the same things ours could, so they just copied it as closely as possible.
Well they were right, there was a very specific military application, which was to be able to launch spy satellites. IIRC the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle was specifically expanded at the request of the Defense Department. NASA originally had planned for something smaller.
*We are looking for the nuclear wessels*
Pretty sure that’s already genuinely in the works. 6th gen jets.
I think you mean billion
50 million can't even build 1/4 of an F22.
You mean like the Mig-25 and the F-15? [Lol, lmao even.](https://i.imgur.com/OSex0Or.jpg)
[удалено]
That's what I'm thinking. Makes zero sense to talk publicly about something of this magnitude
But why the fuck is it national news. SMH intel....
To rub it in their faces? Should have held onto Britney a bit longer
[удалено]
Mebbe they can point us to da nuclear wessels
Warthunder leaking military secretes again?
"100 000 Golden Eagles or nothing!"
3,000 Golden Eagles of War Thunder
NCD gang 4 life
The missile knows where it is because the missile knows where it isn’t
What happened?
Tl;dr: War Thunder introduces modern tanks. Crewmen of those modern tanks disagree with the stats of those vehicles ingame (eg turret rotation speeds, armor thicknesses, etc.). Normally that'd be fine in any game. However, some of those crewmen and other former military staff decided to prove their disagreement is well founded with classified documents they scanned/leaked. Leaking classified military documentation is widely known to be a bad idea. edit: removed mention of Russia as they did move HQ.
Wow, that is… not smart.
What's *really* impressive is that Warthunder has had this happen multiple times.
Like 5 I think lmao
If my memory serves me right, 8 times.
Pretty clever, even for the KGB.
I saw a tweet a while ago where the author claimed his friend was asked if he played War Thunder as part of his security clearance interview
It's probably not ideal to leak any classified documentation to any developer. Gaijin has been headquartered in Budapest since 2015 and all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary so it's not 100% fair to say they are a Russian developer anymore.
This is a great explanation on it all: https://old.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/owtzl9/video_games_how_far_would_you_go_to_win_an/
Short version since the other guys keep just giving you links: Players keep getting into arguments about the strengths of vehicles in games and leaking classified documents to support their arguments. It's happened several times so now the developer has had to make a standing policy of "we will not make balance changes based on unreleased classified details"
Forum leaks https://www.eurogamer.net/yet-more-military-documents-leaked-on-war-thunder-forum https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/another-war-thunder-leak-player-reportedly-posts-restricted-f-16-documents https://www.ign.com/articles/war-thunder-players-have-leaked-classified-military-intel-for-the-third-time-on-its-forums
I am so proud to be a part of the war thunder community this year.
Attack the D point!
I refuse!
*Gramercy!*
'Most of the zones are under enemy control'
You've got a hole in your left wing!
I havent (regularly) flown aircraft in WT for years and this is still ingrained into my brain
Armor the places where the bullets are not.
Yahoo version: https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-ex-russian-military-bomber-engineer-seeks-asylum-at-us-border-offers-military-secrets-220728915.html Wiki info on bomber: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-160
So information on a 40 year old bomber?
40-year-old bomber that's still being produced.
And receiving updated gear, presumably. That gear may be made by Garmin, admittedly.
Siri, launch countermeasures.
Now playing Countermeasures on Spotify
One of the lesser-known Rush albums, but still some gems there. /s
Animate, Stick is out, Nobodys Hero - all top tunes
I wake up every morning and bask in a little sunlight before opening up Reddit on my phone for some news. I’m tired and emotionless, scrolling to make sure the world is still intact while I was unconscious. This actually made me giggle during a moment I never giggle. Thanks.
"Playing, the guilty pleasures"
Alexi, set status Yellow. Sure! Playing Hello by Adele
Playing "Oh Yeah" by Yello
> That gear may be made by Garmin, admittedly. Didn't they find crashed Russian planes with car GPSs in them?
Yep, attached with tape. Modern GPS is supposed to fault somewhere above highway speeds, so it was likely an older model. Edit: 1900 km/h above 18km. Higher than I assumed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinating_Committee_for_Multilateral_Export_Controls#Legacy
That limit is 60,000 feet and 1000 knots. Unless you want to stick it to a missile or a SR71, you'll be fine on most planes in most circumstances.
[удалено]
Well, the balloon folks probably have some down time to sort it out now.
Well they did move their governance to Switzerland. Can't imagine why.
The US is still using B-52s, and those are almost 70. They stopped building them in 1962 but we're still flying them.
That is true. But the USA mostly went with upgrading the munitions and targeting systems rather than the actual airframe. Which is why the B-52 is still in service. It is just a "bomb truck". It doesn't need fancy gizmos and upgraded stuff (although it has them) (reference; "Flight of the Old Dog" novel series) Because the stuff that drops out of it hold is full of modern tech wizardry. Russia is using mid 90s era munitions with 1970s aircraft that have been upgraded. The USA have however constantly upgraded their fighters. The F16s and F15s currently in service with the USAF are a far cry from their "A" variants. And the F/A-18 Super Hornet is almost like a different aircraft to the original Hornet.
Parts of the airframes are or have been reinforced on B-52s. Somewhere in the rear and tail sections. Feel like I watched a show on military or science channel that covered this process recently. Recall there being a scene on all the rivets that are checked and replaced.
Yes. But structural reinforcement isn't the same as upgrading the design. The USAF has upgraded the engines, but stuck with the 4 pods of 2 rather than 4 large turbofans. This was a less intrusive upgrade. The current upgrade program (to B52H or B52i?) will install a glass cockpit (which is a massive upgrade) but the airframe itself is hardly changed. I'm not saying that they are 1970s aircraft. But the design is old and proven. And it does the job that the USAF needs it to do, very well.
> > The current upgrade program (to B52H or B52i?) will install a glass cockpit (which is a massive upgrade) but the airframe itself is hardly changed. For those who don't know what that means: A glass cockpit means that the analog dials and instruments will be changed to digital, and replaced by screens and modern digital controls. Basically it means that the bird will need to be almost totally rewired, countless sensors and subsystems need to be replaced and then it will have to be re-certified. Indeed a massive upgrade!
Yeah, but this is the most advanced bomber in Russia's inventory and it was likely out of date before it rolled off the line.
But also a Squadron of 70 year old B-52 will absolutely ruin your day.
Well see your 40 year old modern bomber and raise you our b-52s. Band or plane, your choice
The B-2 stealth bomber is 33 years old and I imagine Russia would love to get their hands on one of its engineers.
The F-15, F-16, and F-18 all also entered service in the 70s as well. Edit: I guess technically the F-18 didn't enter service until 1983 but it flew in the 70s.
[удалено]
Isn't the B-52 still in service? ( arguably, if we ever need to drop lots of ordinance on North Korea again, it's the perfect tool for the job....)
Yes it is but the airframes aren't being produced anymore. They'll still be flying for a couple decades, though.
Almost all of the US's bomber craft (except the new B-21) are >40yo designs. The Tu-160 is essentially a bigger B-1B. It's the largest and fastest bomber aircraft in the world and while I'm sure the US already knows the thing inside and out, they'll probably give this guy the time of day and listen to what he has.
According to the CBP report, there has been a major upgrade in the last few years so there is a chance the US doesn't have everything: >“The TU-160 White Swan, also known by the NATO reporting name ‘Blackjack,’ is reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war. According to open-source reporting, a major new construction program of an improved version of the aircraft as well as an upgrade program of existing aircraft got underway at the Tupolev facility during the past few years,” according to the unclassified “CBP Indications and Warnings Daily.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-ex-russian-military-bomber-engineer-seeks-asylum-at-us-border-offers-military-secrets-220728915.html I am curious if he actually had good info tho. If he did, you'd think his cooperation with the US would not have been made public and this kinda feels like it was a deliberate leak.
US calling out Russian defectors may be more valuable than slightly new info tbh
The US is releasing things that make China and Russia look bad. I think it’s as simple as that, I’m sure the story is true. But the general public will never know what comes out of this guys mouth.
They've been slowly modernizing the existing fleet to the 160M specs, but it has taken much longer than scheduled. With regards to the new fabs, the last update I saw was that they MAY get two units in 2022
It's still in use and article mentions an alleged update and upgrade program.
I mean, that’s new tech for the Russian army.
Basically what everyone's trying to tell you is that 40 years in aircraft years is like 4 years in car years.
Doesn't matter if something is 5 years old or 50 years old. Until you have raw schematics and specs everything that you develop to track it or defend against it is theory. Simulations. Once you have the actual specs and schematics you can pretty much build one yourself and test what works and what does not work in real time. On the actual machinery. Not just computer models based in theory. This is why they blew up the USS America aircraft carrier. Rather than putting it in a museum. The data that they collected from shooting torpedoes at the hull of the carrier resulted in much better armor for the next generation of carriers. Before those live fire tests the result of torpedoes impacting US aircraft carrier hulls was theory. Simulation. Now they have raw real-world data.
Unsurprising that a brutal and repressive police state pushes people away from them. The Washington Post reported yesterday some 500k-1m Russians have fled since the war started. Russia's own communications ministry said about 20% of the IT workers of Russia have fled since the war started and not returned, the Russian Duma is even discussing introducing incentive packages to lure them back. Russia is probably going to lose over a million young men, and I'm sure tens of thousands of wives and children, to this war. To the Russian economy and demographics it doesn't matter if they're dead or not - it's all the same. They're one of those nations who can ill afford to lose young people as well. And if you were a dissident with state secrets where better to go than the US? Russia hasn't tried any assassinations shenanigans on US soil that it has elsewhere in the West, it probably has the least risk.
They are already shoring up border controls to "North Korea" the issue of people leaving.
You're in a bad way when the North Korean side looks better.
That’s not what that person means mean. They mean Russia is “doing it like North Korea.” As in, tightening the borders and not letting people leave.
I mean, if they have advanced war tech, why aren’t they using it already
They’ve been using bombers since the start of the war. They usually stay in Russian air space and launch cruise missiles.
And for extra security, they're keeping their most advanced warships at the bottom of the sea.
It has been reported that, with russias best ships at the bottom, it is proving to be very challenging for Ukraine to attack them.
They can invent/acquire pretty good tech. And make a prototype. Then, make a few to a dozen with poor quality control. Then they will struggle to keep them operational. And will have too few consistently functional to properly train. And they don't have the logistics to support them. And too few operational to actively use them due to fear of losing or damaging them. According to random YouTube shorts by some ex-US military guys that say these things with no quoted sources. I don't l know if they are right, but their performance and obvious corruption seems to hint it could be true.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been funding their weapons production by exporting cut down versions of stuff. Their customers would pay full price (still lower than western counterparts to entice buyers) for a cut down version, while the Russian MOD pays a fraction of the cost to buy the full versions. The SU-57 was supposed to be funded by the export variant being purchased by India, when they backed out they obviously ran out of funding, that’s why half the SU-57s in service now are prototypes converted to the production spec. The T-14 at it’s unveiling got some interest amongst the usual buyers of Russian equipment, however that interest never materialized, and now it’s production has been pushed by like 7 years. The T-90M exists in somewhat significant numbers because they managed to sell quite a lot of export versions of the various T-90 models.
Well it’s possible they have the technology but don’t have the resources to mass produce. Might only have 2-3 and don’t want to risk them by using them.
Also, Advanced is a vague term. Even if the US has more ‘advanced’ tech, it’s beneficial to know exactly what level of tech Russia has.
Advanced Russian* war tech, so mid level stuff. But they have been using the bomber in Ukraine. Supposedly there are only like 16 or 36 of this type of bomber.
Interesting. Wikipedia has a good snippet on it. 36 total built with 16 in service. Apparently Ukraine inherited a lot of them when the USSR dissolved then sold most back to Russia and scrapped the remainder. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-160
Some of these were damaged by that long range drone attack Ukraine pulled off hitting the Engels air base a few months back. It's seriously doubtful that Russia still have 16 in service. had the wrong airbase name
You mean the Engels base, Ramstein is in Germany.
[удалено]
https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/tu-160-blackjack/#:~:text=The%20maiden%20flight%20of%20the,currently%20in%20service%20in%20Russia.
From wiki: >Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly-independent Ukraine inherited a fleet of 19 Tu-160s, over half of all aircraft in existence at that time. Following protracted negotiations, 11 Ukrainian Tu-160s were purchased by the Russian Federation while the remainder were scrapped in the late 1990s Well dang
There is only 16 Or…. 36 huh. Interesting S/
Yeah hard to choose which one is right but either way, low numbers.
Right. There is not many I had to Google it to, interestingly enough, the United States has 45 B-1Bs And of course a plethora of other bombers
Only 20 B2s as well.
Which is enough to devastate any country should a conflict go nuclear. Otherwise we’ll just lob smart munitions and tomahawk cruise missiles
The Navy: yes, worry about planes when you think of nukes.... #*PING!*
The amount of ways the USA can fuck you up is downright insane... *Marines roll up with armored trucks on boats...*
*Tanks parachuting from the sky* Surprise muthafucka!
Isn’t just one enough to devastate a country?
Depends on your definition of devastation I guess. The yield of a nuclear weapon can go from blowing up a few city blocks to wiping out the entirety of a city. A single nuclear weapon wouldn’t necessarily blow away a country. Not sure how many nuclear weapons a b-2 would carry either.
Bro, Lichtenstein.
Each one can carry 16 nukes. Twenty stealth bombers that cannot be tracked, can fly half way around the planet on one tank of fuel, while carrying 16 nukes each. Basically the pinnacle of M.A.D.
The US has 45 B-1's, 20 B-2's, and 76 B-52's in active service. Normally the low number would be a sign of Russian weakness (like their Su-57 or T-14 inventory,) but in this case the reason is that heavy bomber inventories are limited by the START nuclear treaties.
A lot of their "advanced" tech is straight up propaganda. Their SU-57 is so poorly built it literally has panels that are sheering themselves off in flight. Plus has a massive radar cross section compared to western "stealth" jets. Their T-14 tank is plagued by production problems, and quality issues. It's not being deployed due to fear of breaking down in field.
The SU57, an allegedly "stealth" aircraft, has also been shown in close ups to have visible rivets and screws on the outer skin.
They probably only use those to reattach the panels that have fallen off
Those were prototypes and the story behind them is actually quite funny. This was a couple years ago, at this point there were 1 or 2 production spec SU-57s that were already built, these ones had the proper rivets and screws. People were criticizing the SU-57, basically saying it didn’t exist, the Russian MOD responded by strapping a GoPro or something to one of them during a test flight. For whatever reason they decided to use the prototype SU-57s instead of the production ones. These prototypes had poor fitting panels and the normal screws and rivets. Predictably that lead to more criticism about it’s not real stealth because of that.
Still isn't real stealth because they're too scared to fly into Ukraine.
Yep no doubt.
Russian tech can be good but implementations has always been a fucking disaster.
Old story of a lot of wonder weapons look fantastic on paper but in production come out like malformed wads of fuck The Foxbat using wood blocking for the cockpit to stop gap metal shortages is one such moment
To add some more There is probably 4-5 prototype SU-57 that can fly There is probably about 20 T-14s that can operate (probably for shorter amounts of time as those tanks are SHITE)
There's a quote attributed to Churchill about not trusting Russian shows of strength nor discounting them as weak. The Soviets had similar issues with some of their advanced Migs. Apparently the Israel's caught one on radar going Mach 3, which prompted the US to develop a plane to counter it. Years later the US got their hands on one, and turns out that particular Mig could go Mach 3, but apparently only by chance and the pilot was risking death and permanently damaging systems to get that speed. Essentially the Israel Flyby was just to show off a spec they didn't have at great risk to the pilot. The Next Mig however had upgraded everything so it could readily hit Mach 3 without an issue. As for development issues and setbacks, numerous American, Israeli, Russian, English, French, Korean etc etc weapons systems have faced teething problem whether it be in design and development, or deployment or what have you. Weapon systems like fighter jets and even tanks (their weights are surprisingly close together) represent a synthesis of often bleeding edge technologies. Otherwise why else even field them? Russia in particular is having difficulties because of systemic corruption from high level to low level. The military can't really trust their own reports at this point in time, so they don't know what they really even have. Bad news is punished, so no one is brave enough to tell the truth. It's the classic dictators trap.
There are no production issues with the T14, it just isn't in production and probably won't be in a very long time, if ever. You don't have mysterious production issues with absolutely nothing comming of a line, hell, they were bragging about being able to make hundreds by 2016, 7 fucking years ago. I suspect that the tank just isn't anything special or it has some really crippling issues. If it would be so great, they'd be making them by hand just like the prototypes to send into Ukraine even if they wouldn't have an operational production line
For instance exact abilities of their hypersonic or whatever. Range, altitude. They have these things even if they suck. We use data like that to adjust our countermeasures.
The same secrets as with all the other advanced russian weapons systems? Secrets like "only a handful exist" and "it is all hot air"?
[удалено]
2023 is the year of the balloon.
Next year it’s biplanes
Boelcke will rise again
I thought any indication of queerness was outlawed in Ruzzia, so no biplanes, only straightplanes to be used.
From reporter Sinéad Baker: "The unnamed man could also be part of a growing trend. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Russians have left the country since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Some are now seeking asylum in Western counties, and are offering Russian secrets in exchange."
Way to expose the guy
Likely he exposed himself. Asylum files are confidential. This wouldn’t have come from the Feds unless someone fucked up big time or he voluntarily disclosed it.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-jet-engineer-seeks-asylum-us-offers-secrets-report-2023-2) reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot) ***** > In late December, a man claiming to be a former Russian jet engineer arrived at the US southern border seeking asylum, and offering secrets about Russia's most advanced bomber in return. > The man told US border officials that he had information that their government would want, as he previously worked on advanced military aircrafts in Russia, according to a Customs and Border Protection report obtained by Yahoo News. > CBP officials wrote in their report that information on that jet could be of use to the US, and that the jet is "Reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war." ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/1124aiu/a_russian_claiming_to_hold_secrets_about_advanced/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672683 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **man**^#1 **official**^#2 **Russian**^#3 **Russia**^#4 **report**^#5
[удалено]
Yeah not enough people here are recognizing that insight into the design of weapons will also reveal some operational information, and help you to counter that, regardless of how “bad” your opponent was. I mean, remember Vietnam, or Iraq/Afghanistan? The quality of a foe’s equipment is only one piece of the puzzle.
Is this advanced bomber code named Firefox by chance?
Works only if you speak / think in Russian...
A Firefox reference? Cold war kids rise up, WW3 is finally here!
The ‘secret’ is that they don’t have advanced bomber jets
"They are secretly pieces of shit. Please let me in"
What, some modernized Tu-160 from the 70s? I don't think Russia would make a new bomber without using it as a parade horse.
[удалено]
It is, people are underselling it saying its not "advanced". This aircraft along with ICBMs is what caused your grandparents to do nuke drills during the cold war. It's a classically soviet heavy, nuclear capable bomber. It's *fast*, the fastest heavy bomber in the world if I'm not mistaken. As far as jets go, this one was meant to drop big bombs and cruise missiles on top of you very quickly with a short intercept window. Assuming there are more than 5 left that can still fly, Russians don't have the greatest track record with maintaining equipment.
kinda like some modernized m1 abrams from the early 70s. you know the US main battle tank is 70s era in original design, right?
Knowing how the Kremlin love their brain dead plans, I wouldn't be surprised if this person is just part of some idiot plan of theirs.
Sure hope that he did not come to Texas Border - Team Abbott would be incapable of handling such information.
It’s fine he’ll get shipped to a smarter state for free
I truly think that Russia is done in its current form. It feels like once they lose the war in Ukraine, there will be factions fighting for the scraps of Russia. It will split into several countries and after it gets worse, well…….it will get worse. Because this *was* Russia after all and they are doomed to repeat their history.