[icegreentea]

Something to take note of was that analog systems could drive far more power than solid state systems at that time, especially given the USSR's relative backwardness in solid state electronics. It really is worth noting how montrously powerful that MiG 25's radar is. It could pump out 600kW. Western fighter radars top out in the low 10s of kW. (they went with raw power to burn through jamming).

I think the whole EMP robustness thing is overplayed everytime something like this pops up - I think that at most the EMP robustness is just a side benefit to the analog systems.

[honkhonkpants]

Analog is not the opposite of solid state. You can build analog systems with solid state components.

[nickff]

To further this point, it is often said that "at high speed, everything is analog".

[NickNameNick]

Or "Digital circuits are built from analog components"