Last Day for Based Books

Last day to get some of the two hundred fifty books in the 2025 Summer Based Book Sale for $0.99 or free! I think Midnight’s War fans will be very pleased to know that the sequel to OUT OF THE SHADOWS is already underway and A MERCILESS NIGHT will be published a) after SIGMA GAME […]

https://voxday.net/2025/12/02/last-day-for-based-books/

Not so great at East End accents, but good on him.

A Quiet Sensation: What Does the MS-21 Flight from Irkutsk to Zhukovsky Really Tell Us?

Without fanfare and with little public attention, the fully import-substituted MS-21-310 completed a flight from Irkutsk to Zhukovsky. One wonders where the press services of UAC, Rosaviatsiya, UEC, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade were during this moment.
By now, the import-substituted MS-21-310 could fairly be called an aircraft that has been unjustly maligned.

Despite its industrial might, the USSR never succeeded in building a modern counterpart to the Boeing 737.

The three-engine Tu-154 burned fuel at an extraordinary rate and was removed from civil service in the early 2010s.

The Tu-204, the last Soviet passenger jet, was overweight, and there was no funding to refine it.

In the difficult 1990s, the Yakovlev Design Bureau embarked on the Yak-242 project, which later evolved into the MS-21.

With the aviation industry in ruins, producing every part and component domestically was considered unrealistic, so reliance on imported systems was deemed necessary.

Engines and the “Black Wing”

The first priority was engines. Western designs were far more fuel-efficient, and the MS-21-300 was initially equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines. Russia, meanwhile, was still developing the new PD-14 engine with 14 tons of thrust. A lighter airframe was also required, leading to the decision to create a composite—or “black”—wing.

With the new airframe and engines, the aircraft was expected to achieve fuel consumption of just 2.1 tons per hour.
Passenger comfort was improved by widening the fuselage.

The Collapse of Import Dependence

Reliance on imports began to fall apart as early as 2018. At that time, Japan was among the world leaders in composite technologies—and it refused to supply wing materials.
President Putin responded sharply:

They simply stopped supplying composite materials for our wing on grounds of unfair competition. What is this? It’s outright misconduct on the global market, violating every recognized rule and principle.

Fortunately, Russia had its own composite research to fall back on. The wing was successfully replaced with a domestic version, though it became 300 kg heavier.

Mass production was postponed to 2022.

By 2022, imported aircraft systems and Pratt & Whitney engines became entirely unavailable.
Everything had to be substituted: engines, avionics, and onboard systems.
By 2025, nearly all systems had been domestically produced.

One should also recall that major Western aircraft manufacturers, Airbus among them, were caught giving bribes to individuals in Russia and elsewhere.

Internal Problems: Russia’s Persistent Weakness

As often happens, Russia’s greatest obstacles have been internal. Airlines were once fed up with the support (or lack thereof) for the Tu-204 and its engines:

The only issue was support from the designers—PAO Tupolev. Because of this, Red Wings ceased operating the type. There was no extension: the aircraft reached their calendar limits and were grounded at the same time.

The Tu-204’s service life proved short.
Operating it became economically impractical due to the small fleet size, which created chronic shortages of spare parts and technical specialists.
Maintenance support is a crucial problem rarely discussed.
Foreign manufacturers maintain extensive global support networks.
The otherwise competitive Superjet often sat idle both in Russia and abroad due to service difficulties.

#info
#industry
#Civil_Aviation

The Dark Herald (barely) Recommends: Wicked For Good

Can you own a fable?

https://arkhaven.substack.com/p/the-dark-herald-barely-recommends

Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized “AUTOPEN,” within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect. Anyone receiving “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

The Biggest Scam in Cardiology

40 million Americans take statins, thinking it’s the best way to protect their hearts.

But what doctors never tell them is what really happens to the body when you take a statin every day.

https://www.vigilantfox.com/p/the-biggest-scam-in-cardiology

Follow @VigilantFox 🦊
More Stories: VigilantFox.com

Don’t Buy New Cars

I never intend to buy a post-2010 car again. Thousands of Porsche vehicles across Russia automatically shut down. The cars lock up and engines won’t start due to possible satellite interference. Many speculate the German company is carrying out an act of sabotage on EU orders. No official comments yet. Any modern car can do […]

https://voxday.net/2025/12/02/dont-buy-new-cars/

"The largest game we have done to date was a 1700's inspired battle consisting of 15,000 1/32 miniatures, over 100 cannon and a few hundred cavalry men", Beck says. The initial fight "lasted five days" with "an ensuing campaign that resulted in four more battles over the next two weeks".

https://www.wargamer.com/miniature-wargame-in-the-yard

"By failing to note his influencers and predecessors, like Poincaré and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928), Einstein created lasting disputes about the extent to which his thinking was original and how much it was derivative. Max Born shared Einstein’s account, decades after the fact, of what Einstein recalled as his influencers, and historians have done extensive detective work to piece together the sources and references on which Einstein may have relied. The point is, they should not have had to do this. Einstein exhibited a shockingly cavalier attitude toward citing references throughout his career."

https://aetherczar.substack.com/p/521-origins-of-relativity

Report says world's biggest arms producers increased revenue by 5.9% last year

A new report says that the world’s biggest weapons-producing companies saw a 5.9% increase in revenue from sales of arms and military services last year as demand was fed by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as countries’ rising military spending

Nov 30, 2025

Porter, the world’s first driving dog learned how to drive in just 47 days.

He was trained by a driving school in New Zealand that specializes in teaching dogs to drive.

Did you know? 🎓

"A vast body of practical antenna and wireless experience sits locked away in engineering textbooks and patents that are never read by most physicists. Instead, physicists form their intuition of electromagnetic behavior from Feynman diagrams and that intuition is at odds with how electromagnetic fields and energy actually behave."
https://aetherczar.substack.com/p/when-antennas-throw-and-catch-curveballs#:~:text=A%20vast%20body,energy%20actually%20behave.

The Collapsing Economy

All the media reports are breathlessly positive about the success of the Black Friday sales, nearly 10 percent higher than last year. But the media can never be trusted in matters economic, or anything else. Notable that Black Friday sales data shows a 9.1% increase spend from last year. But: -1% in total item volume […]

https://voxday.net/2025/12/03/the-collapsing-economy/