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The Submersible Nuclear Ramjet: Part Nuclear Bomber, Part Submarine (2018)
- mirimir 7y agoAnd you wonder why the USSR was so angry and suspicious?
- ceejayoz 7y agoThe Russians are currently testing this sort of nuclear propelled missile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyonoksa_radiation_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyonoksa_radiation_accident
- mirimir 7y agoNot good. But predictable, given the current situation. Putin has quite the grudge, it seems.
- rainworld 7y agoIf you want to understand Putin and Russia start with this ARTE documentary from 2005: [0]. Continue with [1] (three parts). [0]: https://youtu.be/oLNKqbwec0s https://youtu.be/oLNKqbwec0s [1]: https://youtu.be/ZLPxyDlQfBc https://youtu.be/ZLPxyDlQfBc
- mirimir 7y agoThat's all later stuff. And who made those videos? I don't see any organizational affiliation. So I suspect propaganda, of one sort or another.
- rainworld 7y ago>And who made those videos? ARTE (Franco-German public broadcaster) [0] and the BBC [1]. Back when they weren’t fighting Cold War II. [0]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182322/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182322/ [1]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811050/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811050/
- eesmith 7y agoThe first one starts "Hello. Welcome to Human Edge. I'm Ian Brown." Human Edge is a Canadian television series - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Edge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Edge Ian Brown is a Canadian journalist - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Brown_(journalist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Brown_(journalist)
- eesmith 7y agoIsn't it a predicable consequence of MADD, rather than specifically due to any grudges that Putin might have? As I understand it, the goal of MADD is to prevent a preemptive first strike by having an effective second-strike method?. Eg, supercavitating nuclear torpedoes are not useful in a preemptive first strike as they can only take out port cities and spread fallout downwind. But they are an effective second strike weapon as they are impossible to intercept, so make it harder for the US decide to attack.
- mirimir 7y agoI'm sort of joking about Putin. But he is rather an archetype of Russian nationalism, no? For maybe a couple decades, it seemed possible that the Cold War was over. But I guess that was an illusion.
- eesmith 7y agoIt doesn't help that we (the US) continued to improve our weapons systems - both offensive and defensive - as if the Cold War were still going on.
- mirimir 7y agoWhich is sort of my point.
- eesmith 7y agoI couldn't tell from what you wrote what you regarded as the source of the illusion. Since you earlier pointed to Putin's grudges, I thought you meant that Russia's new weapons development programs (post-2000) broke the illusion.
- mirimir 7y agoSorry to be unclear. When the USSR collapsed, the US could have been gracious. Although there was some show of that, overall the US was aggressive, vindictive and disrespectful toward Russia. From what I've read, Yeltsin took it very hard, and drank himself to death. And then his protégé Putin came to power. Whose family had died during the siege of Leningrad, and who had watched his mentor drink himself to death. At that point, Cold War II was ~unavoidable.
- rayiner 7y agoThe USSR was angry and suspicious because it was a brutal communist regime that relied on purging dissidents and killing millions to stay in power.
- mirimir 7y agoI don't deny that it ended up that way. But it's important to consider how external forces drove its development in that direction. I do think that it could have turned out very differently. Edit: What plumednom said, seriously. It's true that they initially sided with Germany, but that was largely driven by the hate from other countries. And indeed, it was stupid to trust Hitler and his crazy crew. But it's undeniable that the Allies would not have won without their help. And the cost was immense. Far more than anyone born in the US can imagine. Consider even Leningrad. And by the way, Putin lost his family in the sack of Leningrad.
- aeneasmackenzie 7y agoEver heard of the october revolution? That was the starting point.
- 77544cec 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution
- arethuza 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Russian_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Russian_Revolution You can keep going back a long long way....
- mirimir 7y agoLook, it was a mess. At that point, Russia was still a feudal state. And some say that Lenin was actually a German agent, directed to destabilize Russia, and keep it out of WWI.
- braythwayt 7y agoThey had their own wonder-weapons, some of which (barely) entered service, like the Ekranoplan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan I believe it has been discussed on HN several times.
- mirimir 7y agoThat was not powered by a fission ramjet. It was by no means the sort of doomsday weapon that TFA describes.
- ailideex 7y agoEkranoplan ... wonder-weapon ... ehhh ... I mean the thing technically worked but I would not quite call it a wonder weapon. It may look quite outlandish but if it was such a great idea we would see more of them.
- braythwayt 7y agoI kind of assumed that the expression “wonder weapon” implied air quotes. AFAIK, the term is a calque of “Wunderwaffe,” and dates back to WWII. Most of the wonder weapons didn’t work, or were rushed into production without adequate engineering or testing, and proved to be disappointments. Thus, I have always associated the term with something that is developed in the hope of changing everything, but ultimately serves only for propaganda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderwaffe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderwaffe
- plumednom 7y agoI have always thought that maybe the USSR was pissed off that they lost 20 million people to Hitler while winning World War 2 for us and were never told, "Thank you". You know, instead of thanking them we immediately labeled them enemies and poured all of our resources into rebuilding Germany .. against them.
- leeoniya 7y agoshkval was faster underwater: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval modern hydrofoils also arose in that era, also in russia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofoil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofoil
- undebuggable 7y ago> shkval was faster underwater: > https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval There exists a German design of rocket torpedo from the 40s of the 20th century [1][2]. Looks to me it relies on supercavitation as well? The information plaque claims the launch speed of well over 900 km/h (launched from an airplane though). [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Bombotorpeda_BT_1000_RS_2.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Bombotor... [2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Bombotorpeda_BT_1000_RS_1.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Bombotor...
- leeoniya 7y agoi can't find any reference to it using supercavitation though the nose certainly suggests it. however, that nose can also serve to improve breaking the surface tension of the water upon entry. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/77/77403-0f6438e029c699c888d933337d992150.jpg https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/77/77403-0... https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/german-bt-torpedo-bomb-projects.18301/ https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/german-bt-torpedo-b... https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163/weapons16.htm https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163/weapons16.htm
- nabla9 7y agoProjet Pluto actually tested the nuclear ramjet engine. Some of the materials research was used in Space Shuttle, I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto Russians are trying to make modern small version of SLAM called 9M730 Burevestnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik
- SiempreViernes 7y agoIsn't it great to live in age of the new nuclear arms race? And all that was needed to get there was to accept the Boltonian percepts that international cooperation is unamerican and unpatriotic!
- carapace 7y agoSteve Carell is already planning a sitcom based on the "Space Force". FWIW https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9612516/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9612516/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force
- r721 7y ago>nationalinterest.org The publisher of The National Interest is Dimitri K. Simes [1], who "went to Moscow and became a moderator of the political program Большая игра ("Big Game") on Channel One Russia, together with Vyacheslav Nikonov"[2]. Also: "While investigating Maria Butina for illegal foreign agent activities, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly explored her ties to Russian-American political expert and Center for the National Interest president Dimitri Simes"[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Interest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Interest [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Simes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Simes [3] https://meduza.io/en/news/2019/03/07/in-connection-with-maria-butina-fbi-agents-reportedly-questioned-people-close-to-dmitri-simes-the-president-of-the-center-for-the-national-interest https://meduza.io/en/news/2019/03/07/in-connection-with-mari...
- ailideex 7y agoI can read and understand the words you are wrote but I cannot discern a purpose behind writing them. Is it just random trivia?
- r721 7y agoWell, I meant this outlet is not impartial, and it is often cited in Russian state media when they write about "strong Russian superweapons": "It is worth pointing out that it is not the first time the National Interest has been a crutch for Russian propaganda outlets. Indeed, the U.S. publication seems to run a story every week about some Russian superweapon that America must fear. The latest came just four days ago, and claimed a developmental weapons system, the S-500, will kill all U.S. fighter jets. Almost all of these stories get regurgitated in the Russian press, and presented to the Russian people as conclusive evidence that Russia is the great military power the Kremlin claims to be." https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/04/14/dear-america-russia-wants-you-to-know-its-bombs-are-bigger-a57732 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/04/14/dear-america-russi... (2017) This article on the other hand is about American "ultimate Cold War terror weapon", so probably could contain bias in the other direction (I just skimmed it).
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- z92 7y agoTill now I was wondering how the infinity range nuclear powered Russian missiles that Putin is developing is supposed to work. I know now. Can see the similarities. This also answers why USA hasn't come up with similar tech. It did. In the 60s. And didn't feel it needed it anymore.
- twic 7y agoNuclear Ramjet are also a pretty decent Quebecois psytrance band, not active recently as far as I can tell: https://nuclearramjet.bandcamp.com/ https://nuclearramjet.bandcamp.com/