Defending Rodinu

When the Second World War ended in 1945 the Soviets had numerous conventional anti-aircraft guns and piston engine fighters in service but with the rapid advances of aviation technology much of this was facing obsolescence. Worse, the war-ravaged country was facing new challenges as the end of the war did not bring a time of universal peace but instead a new rivalry with the West in a Cold War, which could at any time turn hot both figuratively and literally. Western competitors for world domination, primarily the United States, could boast a huge bomber fleet capable of delivering devastating nuclear strikes. Developing and fielding technologically and qualitatively new ground-based defenses and fighter aircraft became a most urgent imperative and in a relatively short time remarkable progress was achieved in these fields. Guided surface-to-air missiles were developed and fielded, and jet powered fighters entered service, their performance ever improving from high-subsonic to supersonic speeds. Similar advances were made in the fields of air-to air armaments and detection and early warning technology.