During the period of the Cold War, a large proportion of the Soviet Union’s economy and scientific establishment was dedicated to the development of new and better weapons. The Soviet’s paranoia about Western technical superiority was at its height during the 50s and 60s.

This film takes a look at two notable but unsuccessful secret weapons programs of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The first was a submarine (called “Queen” by NATO) that had a revolutionary new propulsion system and a nasty habit of catching on fire. The second was a very large hovercraft, the Ekranoplan, which had spectacular specifications, but was never actually built.