Arado Ar 234 Blitz: Germany’s Jet-Powered Bomber

Despite around-the-clock bombing by British and American heavy bombers, the Germans during World War II produced an ever-increasing volume of advanced military materiel right up until the end of the war. Even though they had terribly limited resources and were being squeezed on all sides, they st...

By Will Dabbs, MD •

Brewster F2A Buffalo: WWII’s Forgotten Fighter

The air war during World War II saw the transition from the last of the biplane fighters to the beginning of the jet age. A myriad of aircraft were in action around the globe; some have become enduring icons while others faded into obscurity. The Brewster F2A Buffalo can legitimately claim member...

By Tom Laemlein •

The Soviet AO-29 Lightweight GPMG

In the early 1960s, the Soviet military found itself at a crossroads. The recently adopted Kalashnikov PK general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) has solved many problems by easing logistics and supporting a single machine gun type. Still, its adoption also revealed new tactical expectations: a single...

By Lynndon Schooler •

AKs From Azerbaijan (IGLIM) Are Coming to the USA?

If you’re into Kalashnikov rifles, you probably miss the good old days. It has been a while since AK enthusiasts heard any good news about their hobby, and it seems that things are only getting worse every year: sanctions, tariffs, bans, and other troubles are constantly driving prices up a...

By Vladimir Onokoy •

American Bombers in World War II

American bombers in World War II represented the most significant leap in strategic air power the world had ever seen. Between 1941 and 1945, the United States Army Air Force (U.S.A.A.F.) deployed an unprecedented array of bombing aircraft across both European and Pacific theaters. From light att...

By Richard Johnson •

The RPK: The Soviet Choice of Commonality Over Capability

In the mid-1950s, the Soviet high command accepted a compromise that would shape frontline infantry small arms for decades: prioritizing platform commonality over dedicated squad-level suppressive fire capability. That decision, formalized with the 1959 adoption of an AK-derived automatic rifle, ...

By Lynndon Schooler •

The RPD - Soviet Union’s First Squad Automatic Weapon

In the years after World War II, the Soviet military asked a simple question: how could an infantry squad bring a higher volume of automatic fire without surrendering mobility? A lesson they learned from the Eastern Front, where volume of fire was king. The answer, in part, was the RPD; this ligh...

By Lynndon Schooler •

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15: First Soviet Swept-Wing Fighter

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 entered the Cold War as a swept-wing jet fighter that stunned Western planners and demonstrated its lethality in the skies over Korea. In this article, Peter Suciu examines how its advanced aerodynamics, heavy cannon armament, and combat performance against American ai...

By Peter Suciu •
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