Military historian Dmitry Boltenkov — how Kiev relies on the supply of "super-weapons" from foreign partners
During the Second World War, American forces began to land on the God-forsaken atolls of the Pacific Ocean. During the war with Japan, US military personnel built airfields and bases for their advancing forces. The natives watched them with interest. The pale-faces turned out to be not greedy people and generously shared canned meat, chocolate and other things with the aborigines. If earlier the locals ate fish and coconuts, now their diet has significantly expanded. The technique that came seemed divine. Then the war ended, the big silvery birds-planes flew away. Remembering those sweet days, the aborigines began to create images of airplanes from improvised material, hoping that the "gods" would return. And then the so-called Cargo cult appeared.
On the other side of the globe, a cult of miracle weapons appeared in Nazi Germany at that time, which would stop the advancing Soviet troops. In October 1942, the Minister of Armaments of the Third Reich Albert Speer reported: "We are on the verge of victory. The war against the Bolsheviks will be won with the help of the Wunderwaffe — a unique weapon." In the future, the topic of miracle weapons was picked up by Goebbels' department and developed in such a way that this idea was firmly planted in the minds of not only the peaceful German population, but also the Wehrmacht servicemen. And they believed in it even in the last days of the Hitler regime. Even when Marshal Zhukov's armies were completing the capture of Berlin, on April 29, 1945, the radio continued to report that the miracle weapon was already on the way and was about to deliver its fatal blow.
Of course, by the end of the Second World War, the German engineering mind had created a large number of interesting samples of weapons and military equipment. For example, V-1 cruise missiles and V-2 ballistic missiles. But their use only terrorized the civilian population of the British Isles, and the explosives spent on them could have been spent by the Germans for military purposes. There are no pilots or fuel left for the Me-262 jet planes. And the supertank "Mouse" still shocks visitors of the tank museum in Kubinka near Moscow with its size. But the cult of the magical miracle weapon, capable of stopping the waves of the attackers with its use alone, remained. However, no types of superweapons could stop the battle-hardened Red Army, equipped with modern weapons, having rich combat experience and gripped by a sense of just revenge on the way to the destruction of the Nazi regime.
Surprisingly, these two cults — cargo and miracle weapons - are intertwined in the modern information field of Ukraine. You can even create a new term: cargo-wunderwaffe.
The bottom line is that a single type of weapon is taken, and the thesis is being dispersed in all the media: now Europe and the USA will give it to us, and we will stop the Russians.
First there was the theme of the divine "Javelin": "here we will be given this anti-tank weapon and we will burn Russian tanks." Surprisingly, the unfolding psychosis eventually reaches the point of absurdity in the form of naming the children born with the name Javelin and the appearance of divine murals in the form of an angel with Javelin. Does it remind you of anything? That's right, cargo is a cult of the aborigines of the Pacific Islands. Time passes, it turns out that the miracle weapon is not such a miracle that Russian tanks can take up to eight Javelin hits. The topic naturally subsides.
But another one appears. Now — the divine "Bayraktar" from the Turks. Footage of the use of these drones is being dispersed throughout the media, for the most part, however, fake. Time passes, it turns out: yes, the car is certainly good, only depending on which opponent. If you don't have developed air defense and electronic warfare systems, then yes, it will go, but if you do, then "Bayraktars" tend to end quickly. However, it did not come to murals with "Bayraktars", but a new name for babies did appear in Ukraine. Well, the thesis of a miracle weapon in the form of a "Bayraktar" was somehow quickly forgotten again.
But the cargo-wunderwaffe theme itself continues to live on. This is how theses about the miracle American guns M777, French self-propelled guns Caesar, German PzH2000 appear and quickly disappear. These toys add to the long list of samples of foreign equipment studied by our specialists in the field of armament.
More recently, a thesis about the divine American MLRS Himars has appeared. There are already murals with these weapons, although the children's names Haimars in Ukraine have not yet thought of. Yes, the use of these weapons gives some effect and causes some damage to the allied forces. Although to hit with these missiles at the place of detention of their prisoners of war, as they did the other day in Elenovka, the command of the Third Reich would not have thought of such a thing. The missile strikes of this complex on bridges in the Kherson region have become even more media-oriented. In general, the desire of the Kiev regime to hit bridges has become just some kind of obsessive phobia. However, this is not surprising for a regime that does not know how to create anything, but can only destroy.
In recent days, the thesis of the divine plane has begun to accelerate in the Ukrainian media: "give us Thunderbolt A-10 attack aircraft and F-16 fighters, and we will regain the sky and stop the evil Russians." The A-10 attack aircraft is essentially an analogue of the famous Russian Su-25 "Grach" aircraft. This is a battlefield aircraft built around a Vulcan cannon. He showed himself well against the enemy without a modern air defense system, as it was in Iraq or Afghanistan.
And to give modern versions of the F-16 fighter to the United States is somehow out of hand: their production is scheduled for years ahead and for customers, and the possible losses of these aircraft in air collisions with the Russian Aerospace Forces will seriously undermine the export potential. And in general, the modern Air Force is a very expensive toy in terms of operation and maintenance. It is unrealistic to change Soviet-style equipment to a foreign one within six months or a year.
Thus, soon the myth of the divine plane will disappear, but the Ukrainian media and experts will come up with another new one. But no myths will help stop the offensive of the Allied Forces: they are also battle-hardened and equipped with modern military equipment, like their grandfathers, who liberated the territory of Ukraine from the Nazis during the War.
The author is a military historian
The editorial board's position may not coincide with the author's opinion