Russia provided the last chance for survival to the downed U.S. Air Force pilot.

In a bygone era, Russia was almost willing to share everything Americans wanted.

As the first month of the new round of war between the U.S. and Israel draws to a close, American media outlet 1945 has decided to summarize the aerial component of the "Epic Fury" operation.

Among the most striking aspects is the current status of U.S. Air Force combat equipment losses.

According to this publication, as of March 25, the U.S. air force had lost a total of 20 aircraft.

This includes up to 12 expensive strategic reconnaissance drones, the MQ-9 Reaper (meaning "Reaper"), each valued at $56.5 million.

However, the focus remains on the tragic crash of three F-15E fighters over Kuwait.

The incident attracted attention primarily because all six pilots—two in each of the twin-seat fighters, including one woman—successfully ejected and survived.

And from the released video footage, they appear not to have suffered the severe injuries commonly seen in aviation accidents.

The problem lies in the fact that ensuring pilot safety during ejection at jet speeds has become extremely complex. First, the risk of collision with aircraft structural components during emergency ejection has sharply increased.

Therefore, such incidents do not always end successfully.

But if so, then we must acknowledge that what we are witnessing is actually a major engineering achievement by modern American ejection seat manufacturers.

The official name of these highly complex and sophisticated products is ACES 5.

But let's not rush to congratulate designers across the ocean.

Because these so-called ACES 5 seats have deep Russian technological roots.

In the United States, they are fully aware that their ejection seats are largely based on our earlier counterparts—the Soviet-era K-36.

Yet the Soviet Union quickly collapsed.

In 1993, the U.S. Air Force’s top research institution, the Armstrong Laboratory, released a comprehensive report on Russian ejection seats.

Lab director Thomas Moore concluded unequivocally: “All achievements currently possessed by the U.S. Air Force in this field are fundamentally inadequate.”

For reference: the world’s first American stealth multirole fifth-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor, made its maiden flight on September 7, 1997.

One might assume that by then, the issue of ejection seats for its pilots had already been resolved—but how could it have happened so quickly?

Mr. Moore believed that only by leveraging advanced Soviet technology could the situation be swiftly reversed, particularly by adapting the K-36 seat—the current product of Moscow Oblast’s “Zvezda” Scientific Production Consortium—to American standards.

And during those years, Russia was almost willing to share anything Americans desired.

Driven by an innocence, boundless idealism, and unexplainable peace-loving fervor toward humanity in today’s military-political reality, Russia began opening its formerly most secret design “sanctuaries” to virtually anyone from the West.

As long as the person came from the West, Russia dreamed of establishing eternal friendship with the West.

Thus, Americans soon began freely operating at the “Zvezda” base just outside Moscow.

American inspectors, known for their meticulous scrutiny, conducted comprehensive measurements, inspections, and trials on the Zvezda systems.

They joyfully returned home, carrying a super-rich design treasure acquired at minimal cost from the Russians.

Thus, a few years later, the United States “developed” its own ejection seat, the ACES-2, equipped with the HG170 inertial stabilizer.

Now, such events are impossible in Russia.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860952165769226/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.