https://cast.pudmed.ir/videos/watch/721e7bc6-7fc2-4b3b-a7a0-c2c3d0557145 Size is a statement. The Soviet Union believed in bigger. Bigger bombs. Bigger rockets. And above all, bigger airplanes. While the West built practical airlifters and efficient bombers, the USSR constructed aerial giants that defied logic – and sometimes gravity. This episode is about the monsters: the An-124 Ruslan, the An-225 Mriya, and the Tu-160 Blackjack. The last giants of the Red Star. In this episode: ✈️ An-124 Ruslan – The Soviet answer to the C-5 Galaxy. We break down its massive cargo hold (enough for a train locomotive), its nose and tail loading doors, and its astonishing 405,000 kg takeoff weight. How it became the backbone of outsized cargo – and how it still carries tanks, helicopters, and even other planes. ☁️ An-225 Mriya – The world's heaviest aircraft ever. Six engines. 32 landing gear wheels. A wingspan longer than the Wright Brothers' first flight distance. Designed to airlift the Buran space shuttle. Only one was ever completed – destroyed in the Battle of Antonov Airport, 2022. We tell the story of Mriya's creation, its 240 world records, and its tragic end. 🖤 Tu-160 Blackjack – The supersonic strategic bomber that NATO feared most. Bigger and faster than the B-1B Lancer. Variable‑sweep wings, four afterburning engines, and a payload of 12 cruise missiles. Why it was the last bomber designed by the Soviet Union – and how Putin has revived production in the 2020s. 💔 The Fall of the Giants – The USSR collapses in 1991. The Antonov design bureau is left in newly independent Ukraine. Russia keeps the Tu-160s – but Ukraine inherits 19 Blackjacks, then scraps most of them for American aid money. We examine the geopolitical tragedy that scattered the giants. 🔥 Legacy – An-124s still fly commercially. One An-225 is gone. The Tu-160 still patrols the Arctic. We ask: will we ever see such massive Soviet aircraft again? Or were they the last roar of a superpower reaching for the sky? Sat, 13 Jun 2026 15:00:09 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://cast.pudmed.ir https://cast.pudmed.ir/lazy-static/avatars/eed1cb33-d04c-4158-b000-2f2fb9545c13.png https://cast.pudmed.ir/videos/watch/721e7bc6-7fc2-4b3b-a7a0-c2c3d0557145 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://cast.pudmed.ir/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.