History Main / SovietSuperScience

* Contested Ground Studios' ''Hot War'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to their earlier game ''Cold City'' in which all the powers were trying to get their hands on "[[StupidJetpackHitler Twisted Technology]]" created by the Germans during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; in ''Hot War'', the Soviets seem to have gained the upper hand in this, and decide to use it to send the Cold War hot in 1963. After a nuclear strike, the Soviets send all manner of nightmares, from armies landed by ships that simply carry portals into arsenals in the Soviet Union (and some say much weirder locations...) through the simplest enemies, the Bayonet Troopers, up to Servitors (well, ok, Shoggoths) wandering around through the London tube tunnels (though London was spared a direct hit, the Tube, understandably, doesn't work and is largely no-mans-land). North of London, there is a zone where reality is starting to dissemble itself, and the parts are falling together in new ways. This was clearly marked, but is getting slowly larger. Welcome to the Special Situations Group; this stuff is now your job.

!!Examples

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', the Russia-inspired country Snezhnaya is noted to be the most technologically advanced in Teyvat.
* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' features the Soviet C-Consciousness project, which was an elaborate attempt to manipulate mankind's consciousness to eliminate suffering and wars. Needless to say, the experiment had GoneHorriblyWrong.
** Within the game, there's the [[MagneticWeapons Gauss Rifle]] ([[SchizoTech albeit with Western-style furniture]]), the game's InfinityPlusOneSword. Made by Soviet/Russian/Ukrainian scientists, it'll kill just about anything with one or two shots, but it's hellishly heavy, only available very late in the game, and getting ammo for it is difficult (in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', finding ammo means looting it off dead bodies, in ''Clear Sky'' it doesn't appear, and in ''Call of Pripyat'' you can buy substandard ammunition from one of the technicians).
** There are also various psychic devices (most of which serve to either [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash you]] or just [[MindRape burn out your higher cognitive functions]]) in the games, the most famous of which is known as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Brain]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Scorcher]]. They're developed by the same scientists behind the C-Consciousness project and used as defense devices to prevent anyone finding out the truth behind the project and the Zone.
* The ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'' gives those DirtyCommunists mind-controlled squids, cloning vats, weaponized Tesla Coils, six-legged amphibious boats with double Tesla coils, armored [[BearsAreBadNews war bears]], huge zeppelins with megaton bombs, nuclear [[NegativeSpaceWedgie vacuum]] [=ICBMs=], weapon-stealing tanks, magnetic satellites [[SerialEscalation AND MORE]].
** Don't forget the mancannon-equipped amphibious transports, which also function as AA support. They are quite capable of shooting the aforementioned armored war bears. Talk about AbnormalAmmo...
** A mention should also be made of the mind-control radio towers that drive the plot of ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]''.
** This is far less noticeable in [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert the first Red Alert]], without expansions, partially because it has ''far'' less superscience overall, and partly because the Allies aren't far behind in superscience, their teleporter balancing out a Soviet invincibility generator, leaving only the weaponized Tesla coil to shift the balance in the Soviets' favor (and even then, the Allied GPS system is arguably far enough into the future of the period for it to count as a sort of super-tech). The expansions added a lot more super-science, but on both sides, setting the trend for the future games: the Soviets have Superscience, but only ''slightly'' more than the Allies[[note]]Yes, this does mean ''Red Alert'' technically fails the "far beyond their Western counterparts" part of this trope's description[[/note]].
*** One could argue that the Soviets are actually ''lagging behind'' technologically -- a large amount of the "super-science" is more or less a redux of the prior game's technology -- compared to the Allies, who between ''Red Alert 1'' and ''2'', developed lasers, cloaking devices, and weather control. ''Red Alert 1'' might play it straight, but essentially every game from ''2'' onwards might just count as a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion. The Soviet super-tech is just crazier and more memorable than the Allies one.
*** It crosses over with TruthInTelevision, actually. The Allied tech is more advanced, but far more fragile, while the Soviet technology seems to be crazier, but also far more simple and sturdy. Allies use a highly precise laser, highly-advanced power plants, and a modular MacrossMissileMassacre IFV, the Soviets use giant Tesla Coils, nuclear power plants, and a flak halftrack.
** It should be noted that the Soviets were the first to have advanced cybernetics. They had Volkov and Chitzkoi, a pair of {{cyborg}}s who are devastating when micromanaged properly. Unfortunately, the Allies capturing and sabotaging them caused the Soviets to discontinue their cyborg program. Then in ''Red Alert 2'', they got back into cybernetics with the Terror Drone, a small robot which is pure scary for ground forces. The Allies still didn't have any form of cybernetics. Its only until ''Yuri's Revenge'' that they finally get the Robot Tank and even then its primitive, as evident by the tank's need of a control center to keep it functional as opposed to the independent Terror Drone (which can eat the Robot Tank inside out easily).
** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' removes the nuclear aspect (in a game involving Imperial Japan...). Now their huge reactors function with chemical power, and their superweapon is now the Vacuum Imploder, which sucks up units and deals large amounts of damage.
*** Their support powers involve dumping toxic waste, sucking up vehicles into space with a satellite, and dumping old satellites from orbit (and any vehicles sucked up by the aforementioned magnetic satellite).
*** {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Uprising'', which gives the Soviets another PoweredArmor that squirts toxic waste from the Super Reactors that can eat infantry or vehicles, a motorcycle with a mortar sidecar, and a clunky SpiderTank that spits rockets and grenades. Meanwhile, the Allies get floating artillery, freeze-gun equipped PoweredArmor, and a gunship firing a miniature version of their superweapon. Justified here as the Allies canonically won the previous war and the Soviets are just scrounging for whatever they can get their hands on, not having the spare resources to invest in anything particularly out there any more.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'':
** While leaning more towards realism than the ''Red Alert'' series, it still features this trope with the Chinese faction, with its nuclear reactors, MoreDakka and KillItWithFire policies applied to tanks and aircraft, towers broadcasting propaganda that heals troops, nuclear-powered tanks, nuclear ''artillery'', and twin-barreled tanks so big they can run over lesser tanks, mount gatling guns, the aforementioned propaganda towers, and entire ''bunkers''.
** The totally-not-Al-Qaeda GLA faction uses old Soviet weapons like SCUD missiles modified to carry anthrax, both from trucks (as artillery) and launch sites that fire a dozen at a time (as their superweapon). The more exotic weaponry involves dune buggies with rocket launcher racks, tractors that spray anthrax, and vehicles that scavenge enemy weaponry to improve their guns.
* ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}'' has quite a bit of this. The game's setting is a 1950s Soviet {{Area 51}}-like area with quite a bit of super-science, including a weapon that can progress/rewind space-time.
* ''VideoGame/WarFrontTurningPoint'' has the Soviet Union using "canned Siberian weather" {{Freeze Ray}}s and Freeze Bombs, as well as house-sized tanks with ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill five]]'' [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill turrets]] and building-sized artillery guns. They even steal a [[StupidJetpackHitler German]] [[MiniMecha Exoskeleton]] at one point and jury-rig it with a freeze ray.
* ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'' features Nuclear Winter, who is a Soviet spy dunked in his own chemicals. ''Freedom Force Vs. The Third Reich'' introduces Red October, who for some unexplained reason is a witch.
* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'', the Soviets have a secret moon base and an alliance with aliens.
** "Alliance" perhaps isn't the right way to put it; it's more like [[spoiler:all of the Soviet Union's leaders since the Russian Revolution [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy were actually aliens]] manipulating them for their own aims]].
* ''VideoGame/DUSK12'' revolves around a top-secret Russian SuperSoldier project, the titular "Dusk-12" mutagenic strain, being researched underneath the (fictional) city of Chernozersk. The player character, Gorin, is one of its results, but unfortunately the strain quickly leaks and mutates the entire population of Chernozersk into deformed, mindless abominations.
* One of the levels in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'' is UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla's secret laboratory in Kazakhstan.
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', Soviet Sandviches are [[HealthFood powerful analgesics]].
** Not to mention the Soviet [[PowerUpFood chocolate and steak]].
* ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' has the Soviets develop biological weapons, cryogenic sleep, and androids so advanced that the West didn't have an equal even decades later.
* A rare non-Soviet example in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2''; the Russians [[spoiler:reverse-engineer an American satellite component, which allows them to launch a massive trans-oceanic invasion of the US Mainland with complete surprise]]. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that they don't have tech beyond the Americans, they just cracked the American encryption codes.
* In the 1998 [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|1998}}'', UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace between the USA and the Soviet Union was really about the AppliedPhlebotinum, featured [[HoverTank hovertanks]] and was fought over most of the solar system... in TheSixties. In keeping with this trope, the Soviets are the first to make the major technological advances, including one that shifts the entire tone of the plot.
* {{Parodied|Trope}} in the Wii version of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', where Soda Popinski's Title Defense intro shows Soviet scientists working with all their might to produce... grape soda. Grape soda that makes Soda Popinski strong enough to ''drag a truck with his teeth''.
* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}'', where the Russians were never Communists ([[AlternateHistory the 1917 revolution was crushed]]) and were wiped out by aliens, who did have superscience.
* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series often employs this in the games focused on Big Boss during the Cold War.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', the presence of the [[NightVisionGoggles infrared and night-vision goggles]] in 1964 is explained as being due to the Russians being more advanced technologically (your tech support even asks you to return the items to America for reverse engineering). Thanks to Volgin's use of the funds from the Philosophers' Legacy to advance weapons research, he has working prototype Mi-24 helicopters and ground-effect planes years before they showed up in real life, the prototype sneaking suits worn by The Boss and another which Snake can find and wear, guards on {{Hover Board}}s (based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_X-Jet real concept]]) not to mention the [[HumongousMecha Shagohod]] in this game.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' continues with some minor examples - Professor Galvez, a.k.a KGB agent Vladimir Zadornov has an advanced cybernetic prosthetic hand with a cigarette lighter in the thumb and a RocketPunch attack. In the introduction cutscene, Snake and Miller marvel at his portable cassette player (the game is set in 1974 and Sony wouldn't release the first Walkman until 1979). Despite Zadornov claiming it was invented by the Soviets, it has "SONY" branding on it.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', Venom Snake is given a similar robotic prosthetic due to losing his left hand at the end of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes the previous game]]. One of his early missions in [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionofAfghanistan Soviet-occupied Afghanistan]] sees him rescue the imprisoned Soviet "bionics" engineer who had invented said prosthetics; after doing so, Snake can upgrade the hand to feature bonuses such as sonar detection, a [[ShockandAwe shock attack]], and rocket attacks like Zadornov's. The engineer reveals he was also working on [[HumongousMecha Sahelanthropus]], a new model of Metal Gear being built by the Soviets in Afghanistan, while the Soviet Red Army also utilise the smaller [[MiniMecha Walker Gears]]. However, although Ocelot recognises these as Soviet projects and technology, the truth is they were both developed in secret conjuction with [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Cipher]] by Huey Emmerich and for Skull Face's own ends. With Cipher's resources, Skull Face seems to have enough pull with the Soviets to allow ''American'' XOF soldiers into their Afghan facilities -- the rank-and-file of the Red Army, although aware of this, are otherwise kept in the dark about who they are.
*** The titular Metal Gears that came later in the timeline were all developed based off the theories of a Soviet scientist from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' -- in particular, [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Hu]][[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain ey's]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Otacon's]] Metal Gears were directly derived from Granin's design concepts, while the Metal Gears from the first two MSX games were designed from the ground up by another Russian scientist. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', [[FormerRegimePersonnel former Spetsnaz GRU Colonel turned mercenary]] Sergei Gurlukovich claims the moral high-ground when stealing Metal Gear RAY from the US Marines as "Even the technology which gave birth to these weapons is Russian, developed by us!"
* This trope is RecycledInSpace in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', which brings in a University of Planet faction, ostensibly just following a ForScience ideology, but actually being thoroughly Russian in terms of flavor. The faction is led by [[JustTheFirstCitizen Academician]] Prokhor Zakharov, "Academician" being a Soviet (and now Russian) title referring to a member of the Academy of Sciences, establishing that the person possessing it is recognized by all state institutions, not just academia, as an authority in their field, similar to the British "Fellow of the Royal Society". The Academy of Science of the USSR set the general framework for dozens of other national academies worldwide, particularly in those Eurasian countries that were part of the Eastern Bloc, leading to the adoption of the title all over the world. The University of Planet is likely an {{homage}} to unified academic institutions that have fallen by the wayside since the 1990s when many of them were defunded or dismantled.
* ''VideoGame/YouAreEmpty'' is a weird Soviet-style [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] AlternateHistory story about psi-emitter designed to create a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man "New Soviet Man"]], but it has GoneHorriblyWrong, creating insane zombies and killer Pavlov's Dogs.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'' has the Red Star's forces. You fight regular troops like missile helicopters, tanks, bomber planes, SCUD missiles and ICBM missiles. Then you fight mini satellites with {{death ray}}s, HumongousMecha, and even a CoolAirship that ''SUMMONS METEORS'' via {{tractor beam}}s.
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' this is played straight both in the main storyline and partially in the ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Nazi Zombies]]'' mini-game. In the storyline, the Russians are able to weaponize a highly lethal toxin that has been shown to kill men in mere minutes and is not easily dispersed by wind, making it an effective area denial weapon and weapon of mass destruction. Furthermore, they have access to anachronistic weapons that wouldn't be introduced until the '70s or '80s (though the Americans showcase this too), have mastered drug-induced [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing]] so advanced that they can program a man to do anything that they desire [[spoiler:(even make Mason and/or Oswald [[WhoShotJFK kill John F. Kennedy]])]], and have somehow found a way to create [[UnderwaterBase a base on the ocean floor]] without it being crushed from the sheer pressure it would faced with at such depths. Somewhat {{averted|Trope}} in the ''Nazi Zombies'' storyline, as most of the technological achievements are actually achieved by Group 935, which is an international organization and have more or less equally introduced the same level of technological advancement to the Americans as they have to the Russians. However, the ''Zombies'' map "Ascension" still showcases some pretty advanced technology on the Russians' part; they have created flying platforms, genetically enhanced monkeys, the Thunder Gun (a hand-held cannon that fires high-powered waves of compressed air), which contrary to Richtofen's beliefs was not made by Dr. Maxis but rather Dr. Gersh, a Russian scientist, and Dr. Gersh also created a small device which generates a miniature '''black hole'''.
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' has a {{Magitek}} version, of the "abandoned experiments" variety in the Transylvania zones. Two of the biggest projects included sending cosmonauts through a dimensional rift, and creating [[HalfHumanHybrid human/vampire hybrids]] as {{Super Soldier}}s. Both projects were officially abandoned, but work continues independently at the time of the game, and both involve advanced technology of other forms. The rift project is kept running by an AI and by the last surviving cosmonaut, Halina Ilyushin, whose desire to explore the cosmos has [[SanitySlippage driven her mad]], while the super soldier program was restarted by the [[VampireMonarch vampire queen Mara]], the BigBad of the Transylvania arc, in order to have a supply of workers for [[EldritchLocation the Breach]].
* ''VideoGame/NAM1975'', where the Viet Cong use super tanks, [[HumongousMecha Humongous Mechas]], high-tech weaponry such as [[EnergyWeapon lasers]], et cetera.
* ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'' has Yuri, a 1960s [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace Space Race]] monkey shot into orbit with a jetpack. Disappearing into a warp field and turning into a radioactive genius, he gets lasers, builds a computer all while playing his Russian musical anthem and chatting with a deep accented voice. The American character? He's a cowboy!
* ''VideoGame/HomefrontTheRevolution'' has a variant of this. Instead of the USSR, it's UsefulNotes/NorthKorea that instead becomes a high-tech powerhouse in TheSeventies, leading the computer revolution instead of America's Silicon Valley; by 2004, they're already bringing touch-screen smartphones and tablets onto the market. By the 2010s, they're branching out into selling high-tech weapons, which the Americans eagerly buy in order to fight their wars in the Middle East. Of course, all of this technology has a shutdown switch controlled from Pyongyang, and in 2025, with a bankrupt US defaulting on its debts, North Korea hits the off switch on all of that weaponry and gadgetry and launches an invasion.
* ''VideoGame/AtomicHeart'' is an ImmersiveSim that takes place in a Soviet research base in 1955 where all the experiments have gone on a rampage, the game's aesthetic rooted in the distinct [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futurist styles]] of the postwar USSR. In its AlternateHistory, the Soviets made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIYh4Ouu5OQ great advances]] in robotics, cybernetics, and genetic engineering in the 1930s and '40s that allowed them to win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII by 1941 and quickly rebuild in the aftermath.
* ''VideoGame/AtomRPG'' is a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''-like game that takes place in an {{alternate|History}} Soviet Union devastated by a nuclear war that happened in 1986. In this setting, the advanced Soviet technology of the pre-nuclear war world is more advanced than in our history, but it is hidden or dispersed in many abandoned Soviet military bases, abandoned underground bunkers, secret bases and scientific and technological research centers. It is sought after by both the ATOM and the Mycelium, which aim to control and dominate these advanced technologies.
* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' horror mod ''Paranoia'' eventually reveals that there was an attempt at creating a SuperSoldier using viruses, only for the project to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go to hell]] and the first lab (KROT-1) was sealed off; however, the Russian Government continued in the KROT-2 and the current lab, KROT-3), which led to the events of the game after the protagonist stumbles upon the lab when a terrorist attack opens them, only for a signal in the KROT-1 lab to cause the more advanced super soldiers to turn hostile. The sequel continues this, ending with a blatant reference to ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''.
* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', Andrei Zhdanov leads an "Ultravisionary Socialist" faction of the Communist Party of Komi that plans to create a technologically advanced Soviet Union that will defeat their fascist and capitalist enemies, unite the Earth, and go on liberate the aliens across the stars and create a Universal Soviet Federation. The Ultravisionaries dedicate significant effort and resources on science, no matter how outlandish they are; laser tanks, human cybernetics, shared consciousness, even telepathy are just some of the projects they can pursue, and they're trying to develop these things in the ''1960s''. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Almost all of their projects fail]] because Zhdanov only promotes projects that support his ideology, regardless of their actual scientific credibility.]]
* Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/GenerationZero''. Several of the robot models the player faces are Soviet in origin, including the only true flying enemy. However, these robots are said to have been created in response to the Swedes' own war robot program... a program in turn created out of fears of Soviet aggression. Additionally, given the TurnedAgainstTheirMasters nature of the setting, the only practical difference between the two groups of robots is their propensity to attack each other as well as the player.
* PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/RingOfRed'', where both factions of the Cold War have their own HumongousMecha (AFW) bias: Soviets prefer more advanced [[AntiVehicle Anti-AFW]] units (Although some internal factions push independently the unsuccessful [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMK_tank twin]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-100_tank turret]]-style mecha), Americans prefer the older [[SpiderTank Spider Tanks]] to [[MoreDakka mount huge cannons]]... And both Japanese factions, backed by Soviet or German-American developers, use mostly older [[ChickenWalker Light]] and [[JackOfAllTrades standard]] units. However, the plot kickstarts when the Communist Japanese faction steals a seemingly more advanced German-Japanese Anti-AFW SuperPrototype from the Capitalists, although [[spoiler: the stolen Anti-AFW turns out to have been developed by Capitalist defectors in the Communist faction and financed with German backing, which means that the advanced weapon was all along Communist, and that the German developers are secretly selling weapons to both sides... Ironically, this incident is merely a cover-up to the Communist theft of a German-American [[LoopholeAbuse Loophole Abusing]]-superweapon]].)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Soviet Union being a socialist planned economy while the US and most of the western world were capitalist with mostly free markets meant that while western consumer technology was far superior and accessible, in areas that receive government interest such as nuclear, military and space technology the Soviets were quite advanced and surpassed their western rivals. We cannot forget the example of Soviet Superscience that quite possibly defined the latter half of the 20th century: The plutonium-implosion bomb that detonated at 7:00 am on the 29th of August, 1949, at Semipalatinsk in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The bomb, developed five years quicker than the Anglo-US intelligence services believed possible, turned out to be 50% more destructive than the Soviet scientists had believed possible, as it destroyed one of the most elaborate nuclear test sites (a small mockup city, complete with metro system and a "garrison" of heavy military equipment and animals, was annihilated). Notably, the Soviet science teams made little use of the data they received from the Manhattan Project; their "Prince of Science", Igor Kurchatov, restricted the team to using the US designs only to check their work. The Soviet detonation had many names: RDS-1. Article 501. Joe-1. But it was the name the science teams gave to the test that will live in history: ''Первая молния, Pervaya molniya'' -- "First Lightning".
** They would later use than knowledge to create the experimental RDS-220 ''Czar Bomba'', whose explosion over Novaya Zemlya on October 30th 1961 was equivalent to ''58 million'' tonnes of TNT. The Czar Bomba, the most powerful device ever made by man, produced a fireball eight kilometres in diameter, a mushroom cloud over ''seven times the height of Mount Everest'', third-degree burns 70 miles away, a thermal pulse that reached 170 miles from ground zero, and a shockwave that was visible in the air 430 miles away. Villages hundreds of miles from the test site were destroyed, atmospheric focusing shattered windows as far away as Finland and Norway. The shockwave registered on seismographs around the world, even after it ''had already travelled around the earth three times''. If superscience is about producing AwesomeButImpractical generators of superlatives, then the Czar Bomba is surely its peak.
** The actual equivalent of RDS-220 as designed was supposed to be about 100 megatons. It was lowered on a tested example due to concerns about the extremely dirty fallout from the third stage of fusion device.
** While gigantic nuclear explosions may be [[{{Pun}} flashy]], the actual benefit from running a totalitarian society with [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo no anti-nuclear press]] allowed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_National_Economy the use of smaller controlled nuclear explosions]] [[MundaneUtility for excavation, oil drilling and sealing of gas well fires]]. This is a field where the Western powers did not venture after [[TheSixties the 1960s]].
* It's not only ''military'' nuclear power. When the Soviets announced in 1969 that they maintained 10 million kelvin plasma in their T-3 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak tokamak]] for 10 milliseconds, the Western scientists [[http://www.iter.org/newsline/102/1401 were so skeptical (it was about ten times what anyone else managed) that they demanded their own team be allowed to check]].
* The date is October 4, 1957. Sitting on the pad is a modified R-7 rocket, the world's first operational ICBM. But on this day, it doesn't carry a warhead -- it carries a small metal sphere, about the size of a beach ball, with four whiplike antennae and a radio transmitter. It is known as PS-1 -- "Elementary Satellite 1" -- by the Russians, and soon, to the rest of the world, it would be known as "Sputnik 1". On that day, the Russians blew the United States out of the water with the massive triumph of the world's first functioning artificial satellite. Anybody who doubted the existence of the Sputnik could simply tune to a certain frequency (a bit higher than 20 MHZ, according to the Russian press) and hear its transmitter's steady beeping signal. Before this, the overwhelming idea of Russia to most Americans was a backwards country that could not compete with the US's might -- after this, it suddenly became superior in most Americans' minds, a juggernaut nation that had to be contained at all costs. American politicians gazed up at the small, visible polished sphere passing over their heads and wondered what else the Soviets could carry into space -- perhaps nuclear warheads, military spacecraft, or something worse. While it did not return much data itself, being a simple battery transmitter in space, its legacy kickstarted UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace, and led to a certain American taking the first steps on the Moon in 1969.
* There was a Soviet attempt to create [[HalfHumanHybrid man-chimpanzee hybrids]] for use as workers. It didn't work, but explains the weird science aspect they get in fiction. The precise details of that infamous experiment, which is usually considered (understandably) little more than an {{Urban Legend|s}}, is that the Soviet scientist who did it, Ilya Ivanov, worked more or less alone, only got a grant from Stalin due to red tape[[note]]and probably would have been shot if Stalin had discovered what he was actually doing[[/note]], the experiment consisted of trying to use human sperm to artificially inseminate chimpanzees and orangutans, and his actual goal was to "prove" evolution and use that to stymie the political power of the Russian Orthodox Church, not to make {{Super Soldier}}s.
* This is probably based on the phenomenon of the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker Russian Woodpecker]]", an odd low-frequency shortwave signal caused by the over-the-horizon radar system in the Ukraine that irritated European ham radio operators during the '70s and '80s.
* The Soviet Union, apart from creating apemen, was actively working on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_tank flying tanks]] and [[http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/03/12/ekranoplan/ flying]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_vehicle ships]] built to skim over the surface of the ocean as fast heavy transports that would work below radar.
* The world's only extant modern balanced ternary computer, a design that allows for more efficient handling of many computational algorithms (including basic addition and multiplication), is a Soviet design from the late 50s (Setun). Designs and theories have appeared in the West as well as one of the world's first computing devices, a 19th century wooden calculating machine, but no ternary computers have been actually built outside of the Soviet Union due to general lack of interest and the ubiquity of binary hardware.
* Software development [[TheNineties in the 1990s]] did not fall behind the West, some [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat! popular]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR applications]] become ubiquitous throughout the world.
* In the field of space, there's Polyus (a megawatt-class orbital laser testbed, which fortunately for the West failed on launch) and a ground-mounted laser called Terra-3.
** The Russians were quite keen on experimenting with space stations in general. Once they lost the Moon race, they aimed for and pretty much achieved many records for longest stays in orbit. Russian space habitation technology is possibly still the best in the world.
** While the USAAF-CIA MOL space spy outpost never materialized, several of the Soviet stations were purely military installations armed with a 23 mm gun for defensive purposes.
** Speaking of space stations, one can't forget ''Mir''. Despite the reputation for being an unsafe rust bucket, that was only because it was forced to operate far longer that its original planned operation life due to the fall of the USSR and subsequent space funding limits. Within its original planned lifespan, it was the most sophisticated space station in orbit. In fact, the Russian Orbital Segment, the first Russian-made modules around which the International Space Station was built, was the base configuration of the cancelled ''Mir-2'' program.
* A real-life example of "abandoned Soviet experiment" is the NK-33 closed circuit rocket engine. Originally intended for use in the attempt to get a man on the Moon, the prototypes were supposed to be destroyed once that project was cancelled. Sore losers the Soviets. Fortunately, several NK-33 engines were hidden in a warehouse by their designer, Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov. That happened in the 70s. Fast forward to the 90s, when somewhat improved relations between East and West, and presumably some money, helped the old relics emerge from storage, where they proved to be still cutting edge tech despite being two decades old when they were found. The technology behind the NK-33 allows it to be a very efficient engine, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-33 Wikipedia is to be believed]], the NK-33 achieves a thrust-to-mass ratio that is among the highest among all currently existing rocket engines, and that is for an engine that is over four decades old.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_the_Revival_of_Organisms Zombie dogs!]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Demikhov Also, two-headed dogs!]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole A twelve-kilometre-deep hole in the ground]]. Y'know, ForScience... Or something.
* Real life {{averted|Trope}}: late-70s tinfoil hatter "Dr." [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Beter Peter Beter]] (believe it or not, his real name) entertained many fantasies about Soviet technology, including the existence of "cosmospheres", which were apparently large, blimp-like spacecraft. His, er, theories were carried into the 1990s by noted Usenet kook Robert [=McElwaine=].
* {{Subver|tedTrope}}sion. A lot of Russia's best technology has never been super-science, but BoringButPractical. The T-34 tank is considered by some to have been the best of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII despite inconsistent quality control (some were superb, others were lemons) and maniacal saving on every non-essential part. Also Soviet small arms have long been quite good -- they were usually disregarded by non-shooters due to their ugliness, but when it came to reliability, quality of steels and alloys used, rate of fire for automatic weapons and accuracy of rifles, it was a different kettle of fish.
** On the less bellicose side, Russia makes some pretty good bush planes and similar heavy weather equipment, ''very'' [[BigBadassRig strong off-road heavy trucks]] (inasmuch as one can say there are heavy trucks, very heavy trucks and Russian trucks) and pretty good and reliable if less fanciful watches (they capitalize on simplicity, sturdiness and reliability for medium-priced watches, using dated 21,600 vibration-per-hour calibers, as opposed to modern Swiss 28,800 and 36,000 vph).
** The Soviet created simplified export variants, or "monkey models", of their military equipment, in part to mislead Western analysis of their capabilities (the simplified versions were intended to be used by the Soviets themselves to replace their losses in a full scale war when the pressure to maintain their combat strength means that they have to cut corners to ensure a ready supply of military equipment, much like the obsessive simplification the T-34 underwent during World War II. They found that they could support their allies, make money on the side, as well as field test their vehicles by exporting these versions). These simplified models typically lacked the more advanced fire control systems and electronics, armor inserts, high performance ammunition, and anti-tank guided missiles of the [[TankGoodness tanks]], or radar and avionics of the [[CoolPlane planes]] the Soviets made for themselves and their close allies.
* Speaking of Soviet small arms, the AK-47 and its many, many descendants. The Kalashnikovs may not be the most accurate and their ergonomics aren't the best, but it is ''unfailingly'' reliable -- as one expert put it, a weapon that you could take to hell and back. Whether in the jungles of Vietnam or arid Afghanistan or the Siberian Tundra, whether you run it over with a truck or bury it in a corpse-filled bog for a year until it is covered over with rust, the gun will fire as though it were brand new.
** However, mud and dirt torture tests have proven this to be mostly a myth. The large gaps inherent to the AK design allow dirt and mud right into the inner workings, clogging and jamming them into inoperability. Meanwhile, the tighter tolerances of the AR platform kept the mechanisms clean and running smoothly. The AR/M-16's reliability issues during Vietnam were caused by changes to the ammunition, not a problem with the weapon itself, though that reputation continues to plague it. That said, an AK that's been buried for years is likely to function well ''once cleaned'', and even the newest conscript soldier can be trained pretty easily to clean a rifle.
* The USSR created the first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbita_(TV_system) nationwide satellite TV network]] in the geographically-largest country on Earth, allowing viewers in the Far East to veg out in front of their televisions at the same time as those in the western regions.
* The Soviet Union built an allegedly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_%28nuclear_war%29 automated nuclear retaliatory system]] (though opinions differ if it's fully automated), which the Russian Federation apparently still maintains.
* In TheThirties the Soviets also built a working DrillTank, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterrene Subterrene Trebeleva]], though it was deemed impractical at the time, due to enormous amounts of energy it needed to function and too thick and unwieldy cable it must be supplied by. In TheSixties there reportedly was an attempt to revisit the idea using an on-board nuclear reactor, but it allegedly failed and killed the entire test-crew, at which point the project was deemed "not worth it" and abandoned. Though this later project is probably nothing more than a simple [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia Perestroyka-times]] hoax, when a lot of strange rumors surfaced.
* The Soviet space program managed to build the longest-lasting probes ever to touch the surface of Venus. While most the US had one probe launch the ground through dumb luck, Venera 13 survived on the ground transmitting data for a record-setting 127 minutes before being crushed, melted, and dissolved by the harsh Venusian atmosphere. Sure, Venus is a DeathWorld, [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong but at least it's not Siberia]].
** The last two Soviet landers were also piggybacked by French balloon probes.
** The Russian manned space program is still very much active, while its US counterpart is essentially defunct. So, at least in some sectors, (ex-)Soviets did get to bury Americans. (In the original sense meant by Khrushchev -- i.e. "we will outlast you so that we'll be at your funeral.")
** The R-7 rocket and the Soyuz and Progress capsules have been touted as an excellent example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" by aerospace experts worldwide. These designs have been in service since the sixties and have racked up a truly staggering launch record. And, for all that people go on about "unsafe" Russian technology, the ratio of launches to accidents have shown these systems to be one of the safest long-term systems in the industry to date. The designs have also been continually improved throughout their service life.
** The enormous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/n1_(rocket) N-1]] super-heavy launch vehicle and moon rocket that was the Soviet counterpart to the US's Saturn V both averts this trope, in that all four test flights ended in [[MadeOfExplodium explosive failures]], as well as plays this straight in some of the things that carried on from the N-1. The Soviet moon rocket was an enormously complicated rocket with 30 engines in its first stage alone, and there was never enough money and time (the Soviets having accomplished their feats of spaceflight on a significantly smaller budget than the American space program) to iron out the faults, with none of the test flights having went beyond the first stage. But while the N-1 never had a single success, the engines developed for it, the NK-33 and NK-43, are marvels, that after sitting in a warehouse for decades when the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_manned_lunar_programs Soviet lunar program]] was cancelled, astounded the West with their phenomenal performance characteristics. It and its derivatives are now going on to be used in rockets of Russian and American designs.
** The Soviets were leaders in long-term space habitation, and this shows with their achievements and their space stations.
** The Buran orbiter, while resembling simply a larger copy of the American Space Shuttle, was actually a far superior spacecraft. It used a different launch and propulsion system, advanced avionics that allowed it to operate unmanned from launch, payload delivery, to landing, and, quite critically and very much against [[WeHaveReserves the typical Soviet stereotypes]], greater provisions for crew safety than its American counterpart. Too bad budget cuts meant it never got to do any manned spaceflights, having completed only one unmanned mission, before it was mothballed when the Soviet Union collapsed. The only complete Buran orbiter was destroyed in 2002 when its storage hanger collapsed in a storm, putting an end to what was the most advanced reusable heavy launch system ever developed.
* The Soviets attempted to develop a "Badger Bomber", a plane that could also burrow. While it ''could'' take off from underground, it couldn't burrow from the air without destroying itself. Had absolutely nothing to do with the conventional jet bomber with the [[ReportingNames NATO reporting name "Badger"]].
* Inadvertently spawned by an [[http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/history-transformed-in-vce-exam-20121114-29ce7.html Australian History Exam]] in which a ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' 'Mech storms the Winter Palace in 1917.
* Some people in the West believed it well enough to attempt to use it for their own goals -- such as the aborted [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi-Gulfstream_S-21 attempt to develop a supersonic business jet in 1991]] between Sukhoi OKB and Gulfstream.
** And don't even get us started on the amount of charlatanism being pushed in the post-Soviet Russia using this premise...
* The Soviets also built [[http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/russ/russrefr.htm several weird locomotives]], such as a 4-14-4 (longest rigid locomotive in Europe), a steam-diesel locomotive, and the high-pressure steam locomotive V5. After the death of Stalin, the locomotive industry settled for BoringButPractical.
* While not exactly super-science now, the Soviet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletank TT-26 teletank]] was technically the first remote controlled AttackDrone built.
* There have also been several real-life {{inver|tedTrope}}sions of the trope wherein Soviet technology is vastly underestimated only to turn out surprisingly ''better'' in ways Western intelligence hadn't even considered. For example, for much of the latter half of the Cold War the R-73 was assumed to have been inferior to the AIM-9 Sidewinder[[note]]Probably because Russian heat-seeking missiles got their start with a crude clone of a 1st-generation Sidewinder; it was simply assumed the Russian designers couldn't have possibly outdone the vastly improved third-generation Sidewinders without having another example to copy from.[[/note]] -- until NATO got their hands on their first copies of the non-export-version R-73. They were stunned at how good it was. It was far more agile than the AIM-9, with a much wider seeker arc, and the helmet sight (which the Soviets also fielded before NATO) offered a huge advantage in a dogfight. The one advantage NATO had was in seeker computer tech, since the R-73's was rather crude -- but this was little comfort, since when they tested their own far more advanced Sidewinders on Soviet decoys they found that for all its high tech seeker, the AIM-9 was still really easy to decoy with the dirty-burning Russian flares. It should have been better, but in a serious technological oversight the Sidewinder's developers had optimized the missile seeker to [[GoneHorriblyRight discriminate NATO flares]], [[RockBeatsLaser not cruder Russian ones]]. It led to a huge crisis of confidence -- ironically, a reaction more in line with the trope played straight -- and a significant push by NATO air forces to catch up in this area (with the American AIM-9X and British ASRAAM basically having the design requirement of being able to do everything the R-73 could), the fruits of which we are seeing today.
* There exists '''one''' field where Russia is agreed, by experts on '''both''' sides of the Iron Curtain, to have maintained industrial supremacy since the fall of the Tsar, and that is the manufacture of precision optical instruments. Other nations may best Russia in their design, but when it comes to making high-end optics that have already been designed, Russia has 95% market-share. There are only 3 manufacturers in the entire world that produce the large mirrors and lenses used in the telescopes of astronomical observatories; one in Russia (Lytkarino Optical Glass Factory, abbreviated LZOS in Russian), one in Germany (Schott AG), and one in France (known until 2005 as SAGEM for "''Société d’Applications Générales de l’Électricité et de la Mécanique''". In '05 they merged with French aerospace company SNECMA to form Safran, and the new name for the division that makes optical components is RÉOSC for "''Recherche et Étude en Optique et Sciences Connexes''"). But the German firm only manufactures the rough blanks, and doesn't have the required personnel or materiel for precision-grinding needed to machine the glass to the extremely tight tolerances needed for telescope mirrors. The French firm can't make the rough blanks, they can only do the precision grinding with already-casted roughs. The Russian factory is the only facility in the world that does '''both''' processes in a single factory. Moreover, St. Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad and prior to that as Petrograd) has an optical-instruments manufacturer known as LOMO, which is, to this day, widely regarded as one of the finest builders of telescopes, cameras, and medical optical instruments in the world. There is a '''very''' good reason why so many gun owners insist on fitting their firearms with Russian optics.
** Recently, Russia consolidated much of its optical industry, including LOMO, LZOS and UOMZ (Ural Optical-Mechanical Plant) into one umbrella company and rebranded it as a "Schwabe holding", named after a Swiss optician Theodor Schwabe who opened a first optical lab producing first domestic Russian glasses and telescopes in Moscow in 1837, which, through a number of reacquisitions, mergers and bureaucratic reshuffles became a predecessor to the current UOMZ plant, an anchor part of the company. Since then Schwabe group developed a rather aggressive market policy, trying to expand into new markets and acquire new subsidiaries in such disparate fields as medical tech and automotive and airplane engines. For example, it currently holds a large part of European market for the baby incubators, due to the long-established expertise UOMZ has in producing them.[[note]]It started producing incubators back in TheSixties, when someone noticed a similarity between the needs of a prematurely delivered baby and the high-quality optical glass crucible -- UOMZ by then produced its own controlled-atmosphere chambers.[[/note]]
* One of the key technologies of the Lockheed-Martin's F-35B STOVL fighter, the afterburning vectoring nozzle of its PW F135-400 engine, was actually developed in the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] at the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar for the Soviet Yak-141 VTOL fighter. Lockheed and Yakovlev briefly collaborated in the [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia early Nineties]], and Yakovlev sold them much of its know-how, including the full set of documentation on the cancelled Yak-141. And it doesn't just extends to the nozzle -- if you compare the two jets, the similarity is pretty uncanny.
* [[OlderThanTheyThink This actually extends back to the Imperial era]].
** The [[http://world.guns.ru/assault/rus/automatic-fedorov-e.html Fedorov Avtomat]] is technically the first assault rifle (or something very close to it), as they fire medium-powered 6.5mm Arisaka rounds.
** The first ever prototype for PoweredArmor was developed by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_exoskeleton#History Nikolai Yagin]] in 1890.
** Before [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober the Russian Revolution]] and his subsequent departure to the United States, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Sikorsky Igor Sikorsky]] designed the first four-engine airliner "Russky Vityaz", and the first heavy bomber "Ilya Muromets". The latter resulted in one of Russia's current Tu-160 "Blackjack" strategic bombers (all 35 of which are [[ICallItVera individually named]] after famous Russians) being named "Igor Sikorsky". This created some controversy, because Sikorsky is much more famous (even in Russia) for his development of American helicopters than for his Russian bomber.
* Honorable mention should go to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a [[SelfMadeMan self-taught rocket scientist]] who developed the principles of spaceflight long before Oberth and Goddard. Unfortunately despite being lauded in Soviet propaganda later in life, his role was minimal because few people outside Russia knew about his work.
** Except for [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace the one chap]] called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev Sergei Korolev]]... and hence we get Tsiolkovsky sharing the prime spot on the ISS Zvezda bulkhead with none less than Gagarin].
* In 1968, the Soviets made ''Kitty'', the first AllCGICartoon.
* In 1959, Soviet geneticist Belyaev started to research the genetics of foxes behavior, and noticed that foxes attitude toward humans seems to be hereditary (programmed by specific mutation of SorCS1 gene, albeit it wasn't known at that time). By years of careful selection, Soviet biologists were able to create a specific breed of human-friendly, completely domesticated foxes, who became a popular pets in Soviet Union (and now in the West also).
[[/folder]]

* There was a Soviet attempt to create [[HalfHumanHybrid man-chimpanzee hybrids]] for use as workers. It didn't work, but explains the weird science aspect they get in fiction. The precise details of that infamous experiment, which is usually considered (understandably) little more than an {{Urban Legend|s}}, is that the Soviet scientist who did it worked more or less alone, only got a grant from Stalin due to red tape[[note]]and probably would have been shot if Stalin had discovered what he was actually doing[[/note]], the experiment consisted of trying to use human sperm to artificially inseminate orangutans[[note]]They didn't know about the close genetic relationship between humans and chimps[[/note]], and his actual goal was to "prove" evolution and use that to stymie the political power of the Russian Orthodox Church, not to make {{Super Soldier}}s.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the presence of the [[NightVisionGoggles infrared and night-vision goggles]] in 1964 is explained as being due to the Russians being more advanced technologically (your tech support even asks you to return the items to America for reverse engineering). Thanks to Volgin's use of the funds from the Philosophers' Legacy to advance weapons research, he has working prototype Mi-24 helicopters and ground-effect planes years before they showed up in real life, the prototype sneaking suits worn by The Boss and another which Snake can find and wear, guards on {{Hover Board}}s (based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_X-Jet real concept]]) not to mention the [[HumongousMecha Shagohod]] in this game.

*** The titular Metal Gears that came later in the timeline were all developed based off the theories of a Soviet scientist from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' -- in particular, [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Hu]][[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain ey's]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Otacon's]] Metal Gears were directly derived from Granin's design concepts, while the Metal Gears from the first two MSX games were designed from the ground up by another Russian scientist. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', [[FormerRegimePersonnel former Spetsnaz GRU Colonel turned mercenary]] Sergei Gurlukovich claims the moral high-ground when stealing Metal Gear RAY from the US Marines as "Even the technology which gave birth to these weapons is Russian, developed by us!"

* In ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'', according to Marian, the Russian government of 2033 wants to use advanced psychology, along with a reborn and self-aware neuroscience and anti-{{Manchurian Agent}}s, to destroy the cultural independence of the Balkans and create a giant [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia invincible super-Russian state]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to the future comrade!]]

The common idea nowadays is that UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia won't be able to have anything vastly superior for awhile either due to economic problems and lack of funding, or the resulting lack of personnel. While there is some truth in this, Russia is still a huge industrially developed nation more-or-less tied with Germany as the largest economy in Europe, so it might be able to keep up though, which is largely what the Soviet Union did. The fall of the Soviet Union is often used as a reason why long-abandoned Soviet Superscience is once again rearing its ugly head, it having been forgotten about, lost in the confusion or sold off by corrupt handlers in the post-Soviet restructuring of Russian society. Admittedly, the same story was used by many a charlatan in Russia as well.

The tendency to give those DirtyCommies technologies far beyond their Western counterparts in UsefulNotes/ColdWar or futuristic settings. (Not that the U.S. is left out, as long as both sides are in a LensmanArmsRace.) Expect lots of UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla technology.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', Venom Snake is given a similar robotic prosthetic due to losing his left hand at the end of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes the previous game]]. One of his early missions in [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionofAfghanistan Soviet-occupied Afghanistan]] sees him rescue the imprisoned Soviet "bionics" engineer who had invented said prosthetics; after doing so, Snake can upgrade the hand to feature bonuses such as sonar detection, a [[ShockandAwe shock attack]], and rocket attacks like Zadornov's. The engineer reveals he was also working on [[HumongousMecha Sahelanthropus]], a new model of Metal Gear being built by the Soviets in Afghanistan, while the Soviet Red Army also utilise the smaller [[MiniMecha Walker Gears]]. However, although Ocelot recognises these as Soviet projects and technology, the truth is they were both developed in secret conjuction with [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Cipher]] by Huey Emmerich and for Skull Face's own ends. With Cipher's resources, Skull Face seems to have enough pull with the Soviets to allow ''American'' XOF soldiers into their Afghan facilities - the rank-and-file of the Red Army, although aware of this, are otherwise kept in the dark about who they are.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the presence of the infrared and [[Night-VisionGoggles]] in 1964 is explained as being due to the Russians being more advanced technologically (your tech support even asks you to return the items to America for reverse engineering). Thanks to Volgin's use of the funds from the Philosophers' Legacy to advance weapons research, he has working prototype Mi-24 helicopters and ground-effect planes years before they showed up in real life, the prototype sneaking suits worn by The Boss and another which Snake can find and wear, guards on {{Hover Board}}s (based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_X-Jet real concept]]) not to mention the [[HumongousMecha Shagohod]] in this game.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the presence of the infrared and night vision goggles in 1964 is explained as being due to the Russians being more advanced technologically (your tech support even asks you to return the items to America for reverse engineering). Thanks to Volgin's use of the funds from the Philosophers' Legacy to advance weapons research, he has working prototype Mi-24 helicopters and ground-effect planes years before they showed up in real life, the prototype sneaking suits worn by The Boss and another which Snake can find and wear, guards on {{Hover Board}}s (based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_X-Jet real concept]]) not to mention the [[HumongousMecha Shagohod]] in this game.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' continues with some minor examples - Professor Galvez, a.k.a KGB agent Vladimir Zadornov has an advanced cybernetic prosthetic hand with a cigarette lighter in the thumb and it can [[RocketPunch attack by rocket]]. In the introduction cutscene, Snake and Miller marvel at his portable cassette player (the game is set in 1974 and Sony wouldn't release the first Walkman until 1979). Despite Zadornov claiming it was invented by the Soviets, it has "SONY" branding on it.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' shows the Soviet Red Army utilising [[MiniMecha Walker Gears]] and hosting development of [[HumongousMecha Sahelanthropus]] in occupied Afghanistan. However, although Ocelot recognises these as Soviet projects and technology, the truth is they were developed by Huey Emmerich under Skull Face's supervision.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the presence of the IR Goggles and the [=NVGs=] in 1964 is explained as being due to the Russians being more advanced technologically. Your tech support even asks you to return the items to America for reverse engineering.
** Thanks to Volgin's use of the funds from the Philosophers' Legacy to advance weapons research, he has working prototype Mi-24 helicopters and ground-effect planes years before they showed up in real life.
** Not to mention the [[HumongousMecha Shagohod]] in this game. The titular Metal Gears that came later in the timeline were all developed based off the theories of a Soviet scientist -- in particular, [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Hu]][[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain ey's]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Otacon's]] Metal Gears were directly derived from Granin's design concepts, while the Metal Gears from the first two MSX games were designed from the ground up by another Russian scientist.
** Hell, there is a short section where Snake has to sneak past guards on {{Hover Board}}s!
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' continues with some minor examples - Professor Galvez, a.k.a KGB agent Vladimir Zadornov has an advanced cybernetic prosthetic hand with a cigarette lighter in the thumb and it can be launched by rocket off his arm to attack. In the introduction cutscene, Snake and Miller marvel at his portable cassette player (the game is set in 1974 and Sony wouldn't release the first Walkman until 1979). Despite Zadornov claiming it was invented by the Soviets, it has "SONY" branding on it.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' shows the Soviet Red Army utilising mini-mecha Walker Gears and hosting development of HumongousMecha Sahelanthropus in occupied Afghanistan. However, although Ocelot recognises these as Soviet projects and technology, the truth is they were developed by Huey Emmerich under Skull Face's supervision.