@dave @alyx meanwhile the US developed recon jets that could outspeed any SAM missile system the soviets had and flew at an altitude none of their fighters could reach

@Nudhul @dave @alyx wrong
the SR-71 never flew above the USSR because it would have been in real danger of being shot down by SA-5, MiG-31 or SA-10/12. It only overflew shitholes with SA-2's at best.

The SR-71 did end up being shortlived because SAMs that could catch it were developed only a few years after we started flying it along Soviet borders, but when it was new there wasn't anything that could catch it as I recall, but I could be wrong about that, and also maybe they were being cautious since the whole reason the U-2 was shot down was because we (falsely) believed they didn't have radar capabilities that could detect it when it first started flying.

Mig-31 at least definitely didn't appear until much later, and the Mig-25 could only catch it on paper, since while it had been observed going over Mach 3, we would later find out it wasn't capable of sustaining that speed, whereas the SR-71 was. It's mentioned in the video I think.

@dave @alyx @Nudhul yeah well everything has an advantage when it just comes out, that's the story of weapons. But by the time the A-12 started flying missions the SA-5 was already being deployed and it was a schoolbus-sized Mach 8 missile that would have given it a very hard run for it's money. Soviets/Russians have always been ahead in SAMs and western experts acknowledge this.

@dave @alyx @RacistReimu @Nudhul
SR-71 was the ultimate fuck you in technology.
It is 50 years old, and still the fastest plane on record.

Also, 26 km high... That is ridiculous.

@dave @alyx @RacistReimu @Nudhul
Learning about cold war Russia Jets is something ridiculous.

It goes like this:
Russia develops a wunderwaffle jet.
The west is doomed.
A russian pilot just lands it on American airbase
Offers the technology in exchange for asylum.
US copies the shit.
.
.
repeat

Lol, if you're talking about the Mig-25 we didn't copy it, we disassembled it and realized it was garbage, not the scary next-gen fighter everyone thought it was.

@dave @alyx @RacistReimu @Nudhul
Mig 15 had exactly the same fate.
And that one got copied.

@dave @alyx @RacistReimu @Nudhul
I mean... aimmagine not paying enough a person, who can leak the most important technology your country owns...

@dave @alyx @RacistReimu @Nudhul
Also, I don't care it didn't work, yak 38 is unbelievably cool airplane.