russia

Watch a Ukrainian fighter pilot make the craziest low-altitude pass you may ever see

The thing about fighter jets is that just about every developed nation in the world has some, and while the capabilities of these aircraft vary greatly from platform to platform, it’s hard to withhold the awe you experience seeing any one of these purpose-built aviation marvels do their thing. And for the most part, those “things” you see them do tend to fall within a short list of stunts that can be conducted within the range of your eyesight: barrel rolls, loops, and high speed passes.

The high-speed pass is more than an exercise in speed, of course; it’s all about precision control of the aircraft, zooming low over people or structures to deliver maximum effect while traveling at speeds no aircraft should achieve unless the only obstacles in the vicinity are clouds or opposing jets. If you’ve ever been to an airshow and seen a fighter jet execute this spectacular stunt, you’re already aware what an incredible sight it can be to behold. If you haven’t, just imagine the massive amounts of noise and power you witness as Formula One cars whip past you on a high-speed straightaway, but put the car above your head and double up the power output a few times over.

Here in the United States, our pilots are among the most well trained and highly disciplined in the world, with strict rules and guidelines in place to ensure not just their safety, but the survivability of the aircraft. A single F-35, for instance, costs the government somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. That means a showboating fly-boy with a knack for dangerous stunts wouldn’t only be gambling with his life and lives of those around him, but also with a piece of equipment that would cost the average household income of more than 1,600 American families for a year to replace.

Fortunately (for the internet), not all of the world’s nations have such strict guidelines regarding what is deemed acceptable behavior for their aviators (or maybe their aviators just aren’t as concerned about the repercussions of their actions) and from time to time, you get videos like this:

That’s a Soviet era Su-24 being flown by a Ukrainian pilot that has not been identified at an altitude that looks like it might be only slightly higher than the tail fins on these planes. The aircraft on the tarmac appear to be Su-24s as well, making their tail fins just about 20 feet tall… and the flyby only a bit higher than that.

The Su-24 Fencer, it’s worth noting, was purpose built for flying low-altitude strike missions over difficult terrain, but you’ll be hard pressed to find another pilot willing to push that concept to such an extreme.

WATCH: Russian arms maker appears to fire live rounds at soldiers during demo

Just about every special operations command in the world uses live fire drills to give its operators realistic combat experience before actually getting into the fight, though as numerous videos around the web have shown, not every nation’s military adheres to the same safety standards. This video, which appears to show Russian special operations troops (though they may actually just be kitted-up shooters employed by the arms manufacturer, Kalashnikov), is perhaps among the most egregious videos to hit the web in some time in terms of unnecessary risk.

While some of the drills shown in this compilation are not entirely different from similar exercises you may see conducted in the live fire shoot houses employed by America’s elite special operations troops, you’ll be hard-pressed to find American forces actually shooting at one another with live ammunition under most normal circumstances.

According to the description that accompanies the video, these “expert” shooters were giving a demonstration of the tactics employed by “special units in various tactical scenarios.” It’s possible, of course, that the footage has been doctored or that the rounds being fired are purpose-built for reduced lethality in such demonstrations. Still, previous videos to emerge from Russia showing similar exercises have created a precedent that suggests it’s at least possible that this video is every bit as insane as it first seems. According to Kalashnikov’s website, the audience included the “general director of Kalashnikov, Alexey Krivoruchko, the general director of the Rostec Corporation, Sergey Chemezov, and the head of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov.”

The value inherent to live fire training is difficult to discount, but the risks associated with using live rounds to actually engage with one another easily overwhelm any potential benefits. Conventional troops reach their duty stations after receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of training. Special Operations troops receive training that can be valued in the millions–so to risk permanently injuring or even killing one of these war-fighters for the sake of training or demonstrations represents a level of fiscal irresponsibility you’d be hard-pressed to find in most developed nations, barring any concerns for actual safety. American special operations troops have been known to regularly use their own as “dummies” or hostages in live fire shoot houses, but the notable difference would seem to be that the goal of these drills is usually to rescue the human hostages, not to shoot them in the chest.

Ultimately, the goal of this demonstration may have been to show the high level of accuracy permitted by both the weapons and the men carrying them, but it’s hard to see past the foolishness of the enterprise to be impressed.

Russian Romance: Guy hires commandos for marriage proposal at gunpoint

Anyone with an internet connection and access to YouTube already knows that Russia is like the Upside Down from “Stranger Things,” in that it looks like the developed world but seems to operate under a very different set of rules. Watching crazy dashcam footage from inside Russian boarders has long been a great way to kill an afternoon, but this footage uploaded to Twitter by a user named Vince seems to show that even marriage proposals in Putin’s Playland aren’t what we’ve come to expect here in the decidedly less-wild West.

Even by Russian standards, that’s just fucking nuts. pic.twitter.com/UjlXOvv4dr

— Vince (@Captain_Cunto) July 1, 2019

In the footage, a group of Russian commandos can be seen pointing pistols and rifles at a decidedly upset couple. They keep the man and woman face down on the hood of their car as the armed men produce what look like bricks of cocaine from the vehicle’s trunk, all the while jabbing at the man with their pistols. Finally, the man reaches into the brick of drugs to produce an engagement ring, prompting the whole crew to step back and applaud while the woman is overcome by either joy or some kind of fear seizure.

Finally, it seems that the woman agrees to marry her lunatic boyfriend, potentially because he hired a half dozen armed goons to oversee the whole operation… or maybe because she’s just as crazy as he is. After all, she didn’t seem all that surprised by the bricks of cocaine in her trunk…

The Russian Makarov service pistol

The Makarov pistol was Russia’s solution to the need for a modern military sidearm and caliber after World War 2. It was a replacement for the TT33 Tokarev, a pistol that was deemed too large and underpowered for practical use any more; it also lacked a manual safety, something that most military’s desire for a standard issue weapon. As Mikhail Kalashnikov’s AK-47 entered into service, it effectively negated the need for a pistol as anything more than a secondary to the rifle or as a defense based duty weapon. While the Makarov was designed in 1948 it did not enter service until 1951, after it had undergone several key design changes. It is still in use today in certain military and police capacities throughout several eastern bloc based nations.

The Makarov’s development came about through a contest between multiple engineers set up by the Russian military. Nikolay Makarov’s German Walther PP based design won almost hands done for its sheer simplicity, user-friendly features, and exceptional reliability in contrast to the other entries. The design has been copied and reproduced by several countries quite successfully despite essentially minor aesthetic changes.

The Makarov is chambered in 9x18mm and fires a projectile at a muzzle velocity averaging around 1000 feet per second. It features an 8 round capacity single stack magazine that can be ejected via a thumb lever on the underside of the pistol found next to the magazine’s base-plate. Its blowback design is typical of the system employed by most modern handguns and it’s all steel construction makes for a beefy 26oz frame that dampens recoil well. It’s manual safety doubles as a decocker and is disengaged by flipping the lever down. The Makarov runs on a double/single action system and should the safety be re-engaged after firing or chambering a round, the hammer will decock back to a double action set-up while simultaneously locking the slide.

Disassembly is incredibly simple and for the most part self-contained to prevent the loss of necessary parts as I’m sure was part of the intent. The slide is removed by pulling down the (hinged) trigger guard and offsetting it to catch on the frame. Then the slide is pulled to the rear and lifted up on so that it can slide off the front of the barrel. The recoil spring goes over the barrel which is pressed and pinned into a fixture that is part of the frame. The majority of the composite grips found on the Makarov are removed via a retention screw on the back-strap portion of the grip. Beyond that, is an armorer’s work and far past the basic maintenance requirements for the pistol’s routine operation or cleaning.

Overall the only real shortcoming of the Makarov is it’s extremely limited capacity although some modern variants feature a double stack magazine with an increased capacity of up to 12 rounds; still rather short by modern standards. The gun is reliable and comfortable to carry despite it’s almost all steel construction. Accuracy is good too, despite the 9x18mm round being an oddball caliber that some may think of as being underpowered. Its size caters to concealment as well but its small grip can make for a slightly difficult draw, even with a holster. If you ever get the chance to handle one or pick one up in the states, I highly recommend it as they are fairly inexpensive but somewhat hard to find off the cuff.

Featured Image Courtesy of Andrey Mironov [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

The Timepiece of Cosmonauts: Fortis B42 Cosmonaut

To many, a watch is more than just something that tells you the time or the date. In many career fields having a watch on your wrist is almost a requirement more than it is a fashion accessory for men. Pilots, Doctors, Nurses, and a host of other professions rely on accurate timekeeping on a daily basis. Many times those watches receive a great deal of abuse in the form of knocks, bangs, scrapes, and in some instances, they are exposed to great torque and extreme temperatures. There is one profession where all of the hazards and conditions I listed above could be encountered by a single timepiece, and that profession is that of a Cosmonaut or Astronaut as our own National Aeronautics and Space Administration refers to the personnel lucky enough to be selected for manned space flight.

When you stop to think about the hazards, testing requirements and extreme climates that anyone involved with manned spaceflight has to endure it’s staggering. Any failure of equipment in an environment like space or in the international space station could have grave consequences. Every piece of equipment that is loaded into a rocket or shuttle to space is examined, prodded, beaten and tested to its limits, including a wristwatch. It’s a high standard to pass, so when I had a chance to pick up a Fortis B42 Cosmonaut Watch, the official watch of the Russian Space Federation ROSCOSMOS, I jumped at the chance.

WHY?

Am I a Cosmonaut ?, Nope, Am I ever going to experience the temperatures or conditions of outer space? Most likely not. I do however live in Alaska so I can promise being exposed to stupidly cold temperatures at times, that’s as close as I can get. If I am lucky I will won’t experience anything near the G-Forces that military pilots will experience either. So why would I want a timepiece that was designed to handle those conditions if I never expect to be in those conditions? We will get to that in a little bit, but first, let’s look at some of the specifics of this watch and the history of the Fortis Brand. We will also take a quick look at how this line of watches became the official timepiece of people lucky enough to earn the title Cosmonaut.

The Brand

Fortis was like many other fine watch manufacturers founded in Switzerland where it still resides today as one of the last privately owned watch companies. The company was founded in 1912 by Walter Vogt in the Swiss village of Grenchen and has over the last 100 plus years been an innovator in technology and style. In 1926 it was Fortis who released the Harwood Automatic, the first self-winding wristwatch to be made commercially available. In terms of horology, the release of that design turned the watch world on its ear. In 1943 Fortis again set the standard in technology when they released the Fortissimo, the worlds first line of waterproof watches.

After years of testing and design work with NASA and other agencies, Fortis was ready to step to the big stage and beat out several larger manufactures in a competition for the next generation of timepieces to be used in not only manned space flight but in orbit on the International Space Station. When the trials had ended Fortis, beat out the big names of the industry like Rolex and Omega and was deemed worthy to wear the title “Official Cosmonaut Watch”.

Emblem of Russian Space Federation ROSCOSMOS shown on watch back

Specifications:

Manufacturer: Fortis

Country of Manufacture: Switzerland

Movement Type: Swiss ETA 2836-2 Automatic

Case Diameter: 42mm

Water Resistance: 20 BAR (669 Feet)

Lug Width: 20 mm

Case Thickness: 15.5 mm

Strap Types:

Stainless Steel
Leather
Rubber

MSRP: $840 – $980 depending on band choice at www.watchbuys.com

Weight: 6.7 Oz with Stainless Steel band

Pros:

Stainless Steel Case
Automatic movement means no batteries
Can withstand the most severe elements
Classic look with
Affordable compared to its competition

Cons:

Price for some people
Lack of chronograph function
Large, thick heavy stainless steel case
Metal bracelet can be problematic to size and small easy to loose screws

Fortis logo seen on the stem. Lots of small details in this watch for sure

30 Days of Wearing, Thoughts and Impressions

I have been wearing this watch for just over 30 days on my wrist and I can tell you there are somethings I have come to like, and some I have come to dislike. The overall watch is a beast, it presents a large clear no-nonsense face to the wearer. This is nice but at the same time just sort of bland at times to be honest. I understand the target audience on this watch is not a guy who works in a government office so I take that into account. At almost 7 ounces of weight, the stainless steel case at times is nice and other times feels like you are wearing a wrist weight all day.

The 42mm case easily protects the Swiss-built ETA 2836-2 movement that is also found in many other watches made not only by Fortis but other makers such as Hamilton, Rado, Sinn, Ball & Tissot. The stainless steel comes it handy because you will most likely knock this watch into things on a daily basis. The case also features uses Fortis specific strap bars that are 20mm wide instead of the more universal and generic spring bars common on most wristwatches today.

The watch I have been wearing has the stainless steel bracelet style strap on it which adds to the overall weight. One thing to note on this is the, however, Fortis designed the bracelet they did it in a way that it doesn’t pull out wrist hairs. This is something to mention because to date I have only owned one watch that had a metal strap that didn’t constantly pull out my wrist hairs, and that was the Doxa Sub 1200, which costs nearly twice what the Fortis B-42 does.

Shortcomings

Any watch that gets close to the $1000 price range I tend to be more critical of the fit, finish, and presentation of the product. The Fortis B-42 left me with a sense that the company could have done better in some areas. The first area I think needs to be addressed is the previously mentioned stainless steel bracelet. While the strap is great at not pulling out hairs, the screws that hold the link together are prone to breakage and easily getting lost. It’s a shame Fortis doesn’t offer this watch with more strap options. I like the strap now that it’s sized but I will not be happy if I ever have to adjust it again.

The numbers and markings on the dial show up wonderfully clear in the daytime but at night the markings are hard to see even considering that Fortis touts its “Superluminova” technology. I noticed after a few days I could pick the markings up in a dark car but it’s still a chore to see them clearly and that is unfortunate. I have other analog watches that are at a much lower price point where the hands and numbers are easier to see in low light. Again Fortis missed the mark here.

Closing Thoughts

The Fortis B-42 Cosmonaut Watch is a large, well built and accurate timepiece that will take a beating for years and is able to withstand more abuse than it’s wearer. The company continues a tradition of handmade Swiss watches that goes back over a hundred years in the Grenchen region of Switzerland. That being said the Fortis B-42 is not a watch for everyone, and honestly, I was a bit let down by it after 30 days. I plan to keep the watch and put it into my watch rotation and use it when the mood hits, but to me this is not an everyday watch. The size and lack of features aren’t a problem for me personally, what bothers me is the thickness and weight of the case. When you add that to the sub-par lume on the dial it just sours the overall feeling of the watch.

The company also has in recent months suffered a financial setback and has asked the Swiss Government for bankruptcy protection for a specified time period. This is interesting because it’s an independent company and would most likely be primed for a buy out by the SWATCH group or another Swiss watchmaker. In a nutshell, the slight slip in attention to detail and quality control (the poor illuminating quality of the dial) coupled with the shaky financial status of the company, unfortunately, makes me not recommend this Fortis B-42 or any Fortis currently to our readers.

We sometimes get accused of being paid shills for the manufacturers of the gear we review, this has not and will not be the case here at Hurricane Group. This test watch was not provided by Fortis or one of their authorized retail outlets, it was purchased with my own money from an Authorized Distributor. One who I would like to add sent me replacement screws for the stainless steel bracelet when a set snapped off. That was a nice touch of customer service and the substandard review of this watch in no way reflects on the treatment I received from the Authorized Distributor.

We hope you enjoyed this honest look at the Fortis B-42 watch if you have a watch that has served you well over the years we would love to hear about it. Horology and higher end watches aren’t for everyone, just like a custom 1911 isn’t for everyone. But for those of us who enjoy, collect and choose to wear higher-end timepieces, I think it’s safe to say we enjoy hearing about other peoples watches and why we tend to gravitate towards one brand or another.

Iron Man? Russian Special Ops Going For Predator Camouflage

In the never-ending search for the next best technology, both the United States and Russia are searching for armor, camouflage, and exoskeletons to carry the next generation of Special Operations Forces into battle. And as they are both working on the latest upgrades for their troops, some of the newest technology looks like it came from a Hollywood backlot for its inspiration.

The Russians reportedly are already fielding at least parts of their Star Wars-like third generation Ratnik-3 Combat Suit, which more resembles the armor worn by the alien in the film “Predator” than it does anything out of Star Wars.

But now the Russians have supposedly upped the ante by displaying what they claim is a new paint which can change colors quickly, almost chameleon-like (does the Predator ring a bell here?) which will better protect Russian troops.

Russian defense contractor Rostec was showing off this new camouflage on a helmet at the Army-2018 Forum in Moscow that they claim will blend in to just about any surrounding terrain easily and can even display moving images.

In a media statement for the even, Rostec said, “The specialized electrically-operated material covering the helmet prototype is able to change color depending on the camouflaged surface and environment.”

They also added, “the material can display dynamic changes of color intensity and simulate complex images, for example, the motion of leaves in the wind.”

When combined with Ratnik-3 combat suit which the Russians dub a “Star Wars-like combat suit”, the helmet, if it works as advertised would give the Russian Spetsnaz, Special Operations Troops a stealth technology that would be unsurpassed. The paint can be applied to anything, including the rest of the combat suit and even armored vehicles and according to Rostec is applied like ordinary paint and doesn’t require, “great accuracy in terms of thickness and uniformity.”

The third-generation Ratnik-3 suit according to earlier media releases by the Russians, “comprises five integrated systems that include life support, command, and communication, engaging, protection and energy saving subsystems.”

The Russian suit even appears more akin to the “Predator” wear than a Star Wars armored suit that the stormtroopers wore. The Russian system like the American “TALOS Iron Man” armor has a built-in exoskeleton which is supposed to make it much easier for the operator to move long distances and carry more weight, without sapping his strength. The Russian system has 59 different pieces of gear, including a fully encompassing helmet and visor with a heads-up display.

However, the Russians did not supply any video or offer a demonstration of how well the new system works, if at all. The Russians have deployed parts of the 1st generation Ratnik suit in the Crimea back in 2013.

The TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit) nicknamed the Iron Man suit is still a pie in the sky concept that is not even close to being ready for deployment. The Pentagon back in 2013 with the backing of Admiral McRaven of the Special Operations Command, announced plans to develop a high-mobility suit of armor that could better protect special operators tasked with entering contested spaces.

After 5-years and over $80 million dollars, the suit is nowhere near ready. SOCOM announced earlier this year that the testing will continue for the bulky, battery-heavy suit for quite some time before they’re ready for testing. In contrast, Lockheed-Martin has already produced a light exoskeleton that we profiled here last year.

That piece of equipment is form-fitting, has already been tested by a United States Special Operations Tier-1 unit and the results were quite encouraging. Plus, the battery pack in the rear of the exoskeleton, on the back of the operator is easily changed.

The system isn’t nearly as bulky although it doesn’t incorporate armor, which makes the TALOS system so heavy. SOCOM may be better served using an exoskeleton like that and then develop upgraded armor and targeting systems inside of the helmet.

So, in the not-so-distant future, Special Operations Forces may be going into battle with some futuristic-looking armor and camouflage. And it could just be that it is life imitating art.

Photos: Rostec/Universal

Originally published on Special Operations.com