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by MichaelMoser123 4679 days ago
I think it was supposed to withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion - Special toys for the military in preparation of WW3.

"Soviet Cold War–era military aircraft often had avionics based on vacuum tubes due to limited solid-state capabilities and a belief that the vacuum-tube gear would survive better." says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_puls