Russia's phantom superweapons: Truth behind the facade
One of the fronts of the war in Ukraine is the information war. Kremlin propaganda not only attempts to justify the assault on Ukraine but also tries to intimidate the rest of the world with the supposed prowess of the Russian arms industry. Propagandists from Russia Today, however, made an embarrassing blunder.
Kremlin propaganda often endeavours to portray Russia as a nation with a thriving research-industrial complex, systematically creating modern, avant-garde weaponry sometimes without a global equivalent.
This bears little resemblance to the truth. The defence sector, once innovative during Soviet times, is now a shadow of its former self. Russian weaponry presented as new advancements is often resurrected projects from the Soviet era or equipment that is failed, unfinished, and does not meet the specifications.
An example is the Lada-class submarines (project 677) or the heavy tank support fighting vehicles known as Terminator.
Russian 6th generation aircraft
This is why the report from Russia Today about the supposedly developing 6th generation combat aircraft in Russia — in a situation where the Su-57 from the previous generation is yet to be perfected — raised many doubts.
Illustrations released by the Russians of the purportedly developed futuristic machine depicted — as calculated by Defence24 — a plane with three engines, a large tail (unlike future machines from the USA or China), and wings reminiscent of those from the Su-27 aircraft of the 1980s. The machine also featured a mysterious rounded shape under the fuselage with an unknown purpose.
Russian aircraft of the future according to AI
The mystery of the Russian superweapon was quickly exposed because propagandists from Russia Today failed to remove the Grok watermark — an online service that allows generating images.
Thus, the unusual aircraft stands no chance of joining the ranks of "Putin’s Parade Weapons" — equipment presented during military parades, whose deficiencies have been revealed by the war in Ukraine.
The alleged Russian superweapon turned out to be not only a figment of the propagandists' imagination but also an example that the "Russian aircraft of the future" is a collage of elements from machines developed over 40 years ago.
