Russian propaganda fails with AI‑generated superweapon image
One of the fronts in the war in Ukraine is the information war. Kremlin propaganda not only seeks to justify the assault on Ukraine but also tries to intimidate the rest of the world with the supposed might of the Russian arms industry. Propagandists from Russia Today, however, made an embarrassing mistake.
Kremlin propaganda often tries to portray Russia as a country with a thriving research-industrial complex, systematically creating modern, cutting-edge weaponry sometimes without equivalent in the world.
This has little to do with the truth – the defence sector that was innovative during Soviet times is now a shadow of its former strength. Russian weaponry presented as new armaments is often either old projects from the Soviet era or equipment that has failed, remained unfinished, and does not meet specifications.
An example is the Lada-class submarines (Project 677) or the heavy tank support fighting vehicles, the Terminator.
Russian 6th generation aircraft
That’s why the report from Russia Today about the 6th generation combat aircraft being developed in Russia – in a situation where the Su-57 from the previous generation still hasn’t been perfected – raised many doubts.
Illustrations released by the Russians of the purportedly developed futuristic machine depicted – as calculated by Defence24 – a plane with three engines, a huge tail (future machines from the USA or China lack this) and wings resembling those from the Su-27 aircraft from the 1980s. The machine also had a mysterious rounded shape under the fuselage with an unknown role.
Russian aircraft of the future according to AI
The mystery of the Russian superweapon was quickly exposed because propagandists from Russia Today did not remove the watermark of Grok – an online service that allows for generating images.
The unusual aircraft, therefore, stands no chance of joining the collection of "Putin’s parade weapons" – equipment presented during military parades, whose weaknesses were revealed by the war in Ukraine.
The alleged Russian superweapon turned out to be not only the imagination of propagandists but also an example that the "Russian aircraft of the future" is a collage of elements taken from machines developed over 40 years ago.
