Cold War Air Thieves: Stealing Military Aviation Technology and the East-West Battle for Aviation Secrets

The Cold War was a conflict defined by the battle for intelligence. And nowhere was this intelligence war more keenly fought than in the sphere of military aviation.Gaining information on the enemy’s latest warplanes and aviation-related hardware was a prime intelligence objective for both sides throughout the titanic ideological struggle that dominated the second half of the 20th century.Had the Cold War turned hot, the side possessing the greatest knowledge of its opponents’ combat aircraft would enjoy a crucial tactical advantage. Lagging behind the US and its NATO allies in many areas of aviation technology, the USSR also relied heavily on industrial espionage as a means of bridging the technological gap between East and West, shaving years and many millions of roubles off the development process in such key areas as the gas-turbine engine, long-range strategic bombers, air-to-air guided missiles, electronic countermeasures and stealth technology. Recruiting senior engineers and de