Russian Weapons With Flowery Names

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Thursday speech unveiling the Oreshnik missile left Western observers scrambling to decode the meaning behind its name, which translates to ‘hazel’ – a flowering plant in the birch family.

But anyone familiar with Russian weapons design knows that there’s nothing Russian engineers enjoy more than giving their terrifying creations names that sound deceptively harmless or mundane:

Deadly bouquets and children’s stories

This includes Russia’s lineup of artillery, like the 2S1 Gvozdika (lit. ‘Carnation’), 2S3 Akatsiya (Acacia), 2S4 Tyulpan (Tulip), 2S5 Giatsint (Hyacinth), 2S7 Pion (Peony) – which shoots nuclear artillery rounds, and the 2B9 Vasilek (Cornflower) gun-mortar.

The deadly thermobaric rocket artillery systems Buratino (Pinocchio) and Solntsepyok (‘Place Where the Sun Shines’) have equally harmless-sounding names.

Animals, smiles, grumps, goblins and orphans

Grandmas and little ballerinas

NATO weapons names: wrapped up in images of power, glory, shock and awe

These names stand in stark contrast to those bestowed on many of NATO’s more pretentious and grandiose-sounding armaments, with the US weapon-naming tradition in particular seemingly aimed at evoking ancient empires and great conquerors, or striking terror in the hearts and minds of the enemy.

The former applies to weapons like the A-10 Thunderbolt CAS aircraft, the C-130 Hercules transport, the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber and the M109 Paladin artillery system, evocative, respectively, of Ancient Greek legends, medieval cavalrymen and the great Paladin knight warriors of Charlemagne’s Court. The same principle applies to General Dynamics’ Griffin armored vehicle – referencing the legendary Ancient Greek lion-eagle hybrid.

Swords and flesh-eating animals