Western Military and Aerospace Systems With a Russian Twist

Ex-RAF instructor Tim Davies told The Sun replacing the Hawk with a plane based on a Russian design would border on ‘treason.’

He would likely be horrified to learn that a whole array of Western weapons and aerospace products were created jointly with Russia, or on the basis of Soviet and Russian designs:

A Russian-French collaboration taking a French amphibious assault ship and adapting it to integrate Russian weaponry, communications, and command and control systems, and to carry Ka-52 assault helicopters. The deal was scrapped by Paris in 2015, but the two Mistrals originally meant for Russia were sold to Egypt, complete with complements of Ka-52s.

Sturdy and reliable utility helicopters that NATO fell in love in with after its invasion of Afghanistan. NATO forces and allies adapted the choppers to include Western avionics, GPS, radar, thermal imaging, targeting pods and secure communications, armor kits, and even weapons like M134 miniguns and FN Herstal 7.62mm door guns.

Derived from the Soviet Energia heavy lift launch vehicle, these efficient, ultra-reliable Russian engines were created in the 2000s for use by the US Atlas III and V launch vehicles. Fast forward to 2025, and while new purchases of RD-180s has been stopped, the US still has a stock of them for the launch of critical national security-related equipment into orbit.

The STOVL variant of the US military’s troubled F-35 was developed from the Yak-141, a Soviet carrier-based fighter design with thrust-vectoring engine, vertical lift fan and vectorable exhaust nozzle tech. Lockheed Martin bought Yak-141 blueprints in the 1990s, adopting them for use in the new plane.