Dushman: Russian, “bandit,” a derogatory term for the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance.
Frontal Aviation Regiments: The fighter and fighter-bomber units of the Soviet Air Force.
full military power: Maximum throttle setting short of afterburner, equal to 100 percent of normal engine power.
G-force: The acceleration forces acting on an aircraft; “G” can be expressed as positive or negative, with 1 G being the aircraft’s normal resting weight.
G-indicator: An instrument to measure the acceleration forces on an aircraft.
G-suit: A protective garment worn by military pilots, which employs inflatable bladders to constrict the body and reduce blood flow away from the brain during high-performance maneuvers.
GAZ: The generic term for many Soviet-design military vehicles, ranging from “jeeps” to heavy trucks.
GCI: Ground Control Intercept: the air traffic control of military aircraft by ground-based radar operators.
gorka: Russian, climb (aerial maneuver).
Gosplan: The Soviet Central Planning Ministry.
GSh-301: The 30 mm automatic cannon on the MiG-29 Fulcrum.
Guards: An honorific title applied to certain Soviet military units, which have earned that distinction in battle. GULag: Soviet acronym, Central Administration for Corrective Labor Camps; made infamous by Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who coined the term, “gulag archipelago.”
HMS: Soviet Helmet Mounted Sight.
HUD: Head Up Display: an optical cockpit display, which projects crucial data on a transparent screen, which does not restrict the pilot’s view forward.
Il-2: The Ilyushin “Shturmovik” fighter-bomber of World War II fame.
Il-76: An Ilyushin Design Bureau four-engine military jet transport similar to the U.S. C-141.
ILS: Instrument Landing System.
IRST: Infrared Search and Track (targeting system).
K-36D: A modern Soviet-design fighter aircraft ejection seat.
Kalashnikov: The designer of the AK-47.
KGB: Soviet Committee for State Security, the secret police.
kolkhoz: Russian, collective farm.
kollectiv: Russian, the Communist and “worker” members of any Soviet organization.
Kolyma: An infamous Soviet mining labor camp in the Far East of Siberia.
Komsomol: The Soviet Young Communist Party Organization.
krug: Russian, a horizontal, circular aerial maneuver.
kursant: Russian, a military cadet.
L-29: A Czech-design single-engine jet trainer.
LA-17: A rocket-powered aerial target drone.
laser range finder: A measuring device using laser light to calculate distance.
Lenin Room: A part of a Soviet military barracks reserved for troops’ reading and propaganda.
look-down, shoot-down radar: A pulse-Doppler fighter radar system that can track low-flying enemy targets normally masked by the ground below.
Mach: The speed of sound at any given atmospheric altitude and temperture.
Makarov: Designer of the standard Soviet semi-automatic 9mm handgun; the gun itself.
malchi-malchi; “Hush-hush'; often applied to nuclear weapons procedures in the Soviet military.
Mi-8: A Mikoyan Design Bureau troop-carrying helicopter; forerunner of the Mi-24 troop carrier assault gunship.
microrayon: Russian, a State-planned housing project, often in isolated suburban areas.
MiG: Soviet acronym for Mikoyan and Gureyvich Design Bureau, the most successful Soviet military aircraft builder, known in later years simply as the “Mikoyan Design Bureau.”
MiG-21FM; The two-seat trainer version of the Mikoyan Design Bureau MiG-21.
MiG-23UB: The two-seat trainer version of the Mikoyan Design Bureau MiG-23.
MiG-29: The Mikoyan OKB’s first “fourth generation” fighter, equal in performance to U.S. F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft; NATO designation, Fulcrum.
MVD: Soviet acronym, Ministry of the Interior.
nakal: Russian, standby.
NKVD: Soviet acronym, People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the predecessor of the KGB, Stalin’s main “organ” of terror and repression.
NO-193: The pulse-Doppler radar on the MiG-29.
nomenklatura: The official elite of Soviet society, whose positions were listed on secret registries.
oblast: Soviet designation for local district, corresponding to American county.
OKB: Soviet acronym for military design bureau, often named for the chief designer.
ogon: Russian, firing (a weapon).
OMON: Soviet acronym for Interior Ministry special troops, the infamous Black Berets.
Osobii Otdel: “Special Department,” the KGB counterespionage division assigned to all units of the Soviet military.
Osobist: A member of the Osobii Otdel.
P-39: The Bell Air Cobra fighter of World War II; under Lend Lease it was the Soviet Kobra.
Partkom: Soviet acronym, Party Committee, of any civil or military organization.
Pilot tube: A pressure-sensitive instrument to measure an aircraft’s airspeed.
Po-2: A Soviet World War II biplane night bomber.
podyezd: Russian, staircase (the entrance of an apartment building wing).
poligon: Soviet acronym, a weapons testing range.
ponyal: Russian, “Roger,” message acknowledged.
pusk: Russian, “Launch.”
prezant: Russian slang, a small bribe.
pulse-Doppler radar: Radar that identifies and tracks moving targets; its ability to “lock” onto an enemy aircraft can be “broken” by maneuvers that cancel the relative differential speeds between the aircraft involved.
PVO: Soviet Air Defense Forces.
RC-135: U.S. military version of the Boeing 707, which has many aerial tanker and electronic intelligence variants.
RD-33: The standard turbofan engine of the MiG-29.
RDF: Radio Direction Finding instruments, variations of the standard “radio compass.”
Redeye: A U.S. infrared-homing antiaircraft missile.
RN-40: A tactical Soviet nuclear bomb.
Rodina: Russian, “Motherland.”
RPM: Revolutions Per Minute, usually engine speed.
rubege: Russian, range (distance to target).
Ruslan: Soviet military designation for the Tskhakaya Air Base in Georgia.
shlem: Russian, helmet.
Shturmovik: Russian, “fighter-bomber.”
Spetsnaz: Russian acronym, “special purpose troops.”
split-S: An air-combat maneuver involving a steep descent and reverse of direction, partially inverted.
SPO-15: A Soviet military aircraft radar-warning receiver.
SRZO: A Soviet “Information Friend or Foe” instrument.
stall-limiter: An automatic mechanical system actuated when a fighter surpasses a maximum angle-of-attack and loses aerodynamic lift and “stalls.” The stall-limiter thrusts the control stick forward to reduce AOA.
Su-25: A Sukhoi Design Bureau attack jet similar to the U.S. A-10.
Su-27: A Sukhoi Design Bureau multipurpose military jet aircraft. The Su-27 has higher performance than the MiG-29, but is also larger and heavier.
