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  1. Soviet Geo-engineering

    They diverted lots of water for irrigation projects - cotton and the like. The problem is that the irrigation networks were rather faulty...lots of leakage, lots of inefficiency. Perhaps make sure that they don't lose 90% of the water running through them and ensure better drainage to avoid...

  2. A Helicopter Fighter?

    Does this count?

  3. What are the effects of a limited nuclear war?

    Well, even with only a few hundred megatons' worth of weapons used, you'd get pretty significant climatic disruptions. Icing on the cake. Latitude-limited, though. Even a full-up nuclear winter would be survivable. In a way, that's kind of sad...we can't even bring an end to this hideous...

  4. What are the effects of a limited nuclear war?

    Yeah, but there's a difference between the types of particulate matter kicked up...a significant difference. One's mostly rock dust, the other is smoke from urban fires. And they keep running simulations with increasingly sophisticated models, and the numerical stuff supports their hypotheses.

  5. Solid state propulsion: a ramjet aircraft WI

    Did someone mention the BI-1 with the tip-mounted ramjets? (or was it pulsejets?) Again, here's the thing about most of those interceptors, especially the point-defense models...sure, SAMs didn't lead to interceptors being eliminated outright, but they did render a lot of projects honestly...

  6. WI Mirage 4000 built.

    What do you mean by "advanced bombers?" Low-level penetrators, like the B-1B?

  7. Solid state propulsion: a ramjet aircraft WI

    That is probably, for all practical purposes, a manned SAM.

  8. Atomic Australia

    Does Australia have significant stocks of U-235, enriched properly? (Rather silly of them, actually...they're sitting on top of huge reserves of uranium, but they just export the stuff, even though they could do so much if they constructed more power reactors...) Could they enrich sufficient...

  9. Solid state propulsion: a ramjet aircraft WI

    The Romanian fellow was that Coanda guy. The Coanda-1910 aircraft had a motorjet. It set itself on fire during the first taxi test, but at least Coanda figured out the Coanda effect as a result. (Fluid flows stick to surfaces. Put the bowl of a spoon in a narrow stream of water from the tap...)...

  10. Future Map Thread

    Tri-Insula sounds like something a college football player might tear.

  11. Rocket boosters on aircraft?

    The Soviets had some pure rocket-propelled interceptor projects...basically manned, gun-armed SAMs. There was something called the BI-1, after the two designers, Bereznyak and Isaev. (Those were their surnames, of course.) Not very practical, however. What could you do with rocket boosters...

  12. Rocket boosters on aircraft?

    There were zero-length launch (ZLL) proposals. During WWII, some British merchant ships carried modified Hurricanes, which were launches using rocket boosters off of miniaturized catapult-analogues, but they were just big launch rails. (Recovery was impossible; the pilot had to ditch and hope...

  13. Space WI: The Soviet N-1 heavy lifter rocket is successful

    Well, as mentioned, the N1 was a somewhat badly flawed design...all those engines on the lower stage, for example: very difficult to coordinate and keep stable. The thing exploded spectacularly on all four tests. It's more than just the N1; the Soviets were mainly interested in practical...

  14. Photos from Alternate Worlds

    Ha! What a bunch of dorks.

  15. Effects of a 250000 Megaton nuclear detonation...

    Yep. For All Time. This is the Glorious People's Revolutionary Hammer we're talking about, no doubt. I recall in one discussion, someone said that it would cause nuclear fusion to occur in the atmosphere and consume everything. :rolleyes: In fact, 250000 megatons is the exact yield of the...

  16. Faster Soviet ballistic missile development

    Yeah, I was actually thinking that, too...note the "something like." Funny, actually...faster Soviet weapons development at least postpones a potentially world-badly-damaging crisis. Anyway, though, let's say that a decision is made even while the war is being fought; Stalin (although...

  17. Faster Soviet ballistic missile development

    Oh, just somewhat faster vehicle development. The goal is to have a really viable Soviet deterrent force by 1961 or 1962 or so, so that if something like the Cuban Missile Crisis really did lead to war, the US wouldn't "emerge as the battered victor," but rather be destroyed outright, like the...

  18. Faster Soviet ballistic missile development

    Apparently the Soviets lost some time in the 1940s, because they waffled a little when it came to producing their V-2 clone and analyzing German technology. Let's say, however, that Stalin is much more eager to copy German ballistic missile technology and orders a go-ahead much earlier; the...

  19. Excelsior III continued and expanded

    Ah, thank you. I suspected something along those lines. Anyway, as technically impressive as the XB-70 was, if it went in using the attack profile the designers intended and designed it for, which is really the only thing it could do, it wouldn't have lasted very long in Soviet airspace, if...

  20. No-shuttle alternative space timeline

    Are they going to go ahead with the three Apollo missions (18, 19, 20) that were cancelled in OTL?
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