Back in the 80s, actual information coming out about new weapons systems and their capabilities was hard to come by and speculation was rife. Knowledge of a lot of those mythical weapons is lost now both because we know better in hindsight and we now have ways to speculate on new hardware that we never had before.
It was a different time then with no internet and no way to verify stories in media. I want to preserve this psuedo-knowledge and mythology.
In the West we wondered about certain items that ended up never being real. Back in those days the MiG-29 was the scary super fighter while the SU-27 was really unknown.
In addition, in the West there were classified programs that were unknown and hinted at by a skeptical public.
Let's make a list of all that 'might have been' hardware. No movie stuff, so no MiG-28s (Top Gun) or MiG-31 Firefoxes (though there was a MiG-31, which wasn't anything like the movie) please.
Here's a pair to start-
Soviets- The T-74 tank. It was supposed to be some super tank that was better than a T-72 but not the same as the T-80. It made it's way into a few table top war games and I seem to remember some miniatures (am I wrong on this?) speculating as to this 1980s wonder tank.
US- F-19. Thanks to President Carter, people knew there was some kind of magic stealth fighter out there, but they didn't know what it was capable of. Enter the F-19- super stealth fighter/bomber and hero of Testor Model Kits, Red Storm Rising (which came later) and the Microprose game of the same name. The actual F-117 was a bit of a let down compared to the speculation with its limited speed, maneuverability and weapons load (still did a trick in various conflicts).
Any other mythical boogeyman weapons people remember from those days?
examines another pre-painted building for WWII.
