--- title: "Watch Russia’s Favorite Fighter Jet Pull Off The Most Insane Aerobatics We’ve Ever Seen" date: "2017-07-21" modified: "2017-07-21" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/su-35-moscow-air-show/" categories: - "Aircraft" - "Around the World" - "Fighter Aircraft" - "News" - "Russia" - "Tech & Tactics" tags: - "European Command" --- # Watch Russia’s Favorite Fighter Jet Pull Off The Most Insane Aerobatics We’ve Ever Seen ![]() The Russian military’s state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E multi-role fighters aren’t just turning heads and dropping jaws [over the wastelands of Syria]() anymore. During a flight demonstration ahead of Russia’s annual Moscow Air Show, one of the country’s finest fighter jets pulls off a series of amazing aerobatic maneuvers that might make even the most experienced throttle jockey's guts turn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTyT0OfPq1k Kyle Mizokami at Popular Mechanics has a [great breakdown]() of some of the death-defying aerial stunts on display in this ridiculous video, most of which come with particularly alarming Soviet-era titles like *Pugachev's Cobra* (the nose of the Su-35 is pointed straight up before returning to a level flight path, as seen at 1:56) or the *Frolov Chakra* (at 3:25, the Su-35 enters a controlled spin through an aggressively tight turn, appearing to simply float through the blue skies above the expo). For Mizokami, the best move comes at 5:25, when the pilot backflips the plane into a twisting, turning dive. ![]() Um, what?GIF via Task & Purpose How can this fighter seemingly violate the laws of aerodynamics so casually? Probably because it has a [reputation for freakish maneuverability]() that makes the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter look like an [Albatros D-III](). The Flanker derivative makes use of three-dimensional thrust vectoring that’s standard on most Sukhoi-produced aircraft (including Russia’s brand new Su-30SM1 fighter) using a quadruplex, digital fly-by-wire control system that allows pilots to pull off astounding feats with precision and poise. Don’t shit in your little panties just yet. As Tyler Rogoway at the War Zone [points out](), the aggressive super-maneuverability on display is less important when it comes to actually evading enemy missiles. In the decades since the aerial chases of *Top Gun*, NATO aircraft have developed “high-off boresight (HOBS) short-range air-to-air missiles and a helmet mounted sight for cueing those missiles towards aerial targets far off the aircraft's centerline,” [writes]() Rogoway, effectively negating the impact of aerial gymnastics. Still, it’s impressive as all hell — and helps explain why Chinese pilots flying high in their own Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets have been having so much fun giving American aircraft the *Top Gun* treatment in recent months. **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]()