Random Unique Russian Military Inventions (17 items)

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  (#7) Corkscrew Tank

  Pondering a way to transport troops over inhospitable ground, Cold War engineers developed the idea of using giant corkscrews as treads. 

  The problem was that while the tank could move decently through muddy or snowy ground, it was useless on roads or on flat, hard ground. It also could only go forward or backwards, couldn't turn, and was both incredibly slow and prone to breakdowns. The Soviets did use some in Arctic areas, but found them to be highly impractical in most other environmental contexts. 
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  (#11) Fractional Orbital Bombardment System

  Looking beyond traditional ballistic missiles, the Soviets developed a program called the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System. These were missiles that would enter a low Earth orbit, then de-orbit for an attack. The missiles could theoretically hit anything at any time, and because they were already in orbit, their flight path couldn't be deduced until a nuclear attack had already begun.

  Because such weapons were banned by the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Soviets tested them without the warheads. Three designs were developed, and one, the 8K69, was actually put into service. Eighteen launchers stood ready to wipe out millions of people from 1969 through 1983, when they were retired.
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  (#10) Kozlov PS Invisible Plane

  Soviet Professor Sergei Kozlov was granted permission to use one Yakovlev AIR-4 plane for a very unusual - and prescient - experiment. He took the fabric covering on the fuselage and wings and replaced it with a transparent plastic material of his own invention. He then painted the opaque structure with a mix of white paint and aluminum dust to try to make the plane appear invisible.
   
  Kozlov's design did actually work, though the paint attracted dirt and dust, which diminished the effect of the stealth. There were also concerns that the material wasn't strong enough to hold the plane together, and about the glare given off by the aluminum. Further experiments were carried out, but the Kozlov invisible plane never saw action.
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  (#14) Ushakov's Flying Submarine

  Soviet engineer Boris Ushakov developed a blueprint for a three-engine aircraft that could seal its outer hull with metal plates and dive, in order to fire its two torpedoes. It was a submarine with wings that could fly... or an airplane that could submerge, depending on how one looks at it. 

  The project was suspended in 1939, but then restarted in 1943 by order of the Soviet secret police. Engineers built the first prototype in 1947, but by then, the war was over and Soviet military research was directed elsewhere. The flying submarine never flew or dove.
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  (#9) Antonov A-40

  • Aircraft model

  Designed to be airlifted in support of airborne or partisan operations, the A-40 was a light tank with glider wings attached to it. It would be towed by a larger aircraft, then released over the desired landing area. One prototype was built, but the design was impossible to tow by the small aircraft of the day, and there was no assurance that the tank and the crew would land together - or that any of it would land without being destroyed or overtaken by the enemy.

  The project was scrapped - though it was a better idea than what the Soviets had previously tried, which was simply dropping a tank out of a cargo plane, and having the crew parachute down.
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  (#3) T-42 Superheavy Tank

  The interwar period saw a frantic race to build bigger and more powerful supertanks. The Soviet entry into this competition was the T-42. Designed in 1930 by German engineer Edward Grotte, this beast would have weighed 100 tons, carried a crew of 14, and had three turrets carrying a variety of heavy and light guns.

  The Soviet military wasn't impressed with the tank, which needed an engine so powerful that it hadn't been invented, causing the tank to be too slow and vulnerable to actually use. The design never got past a blueprint. Grotte went on to design the 1,000-ton behemoth "Ratte" tank for Germany - which was also canceled in the blueprint stage.

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