Everybody do the Cobra!
Pugachev's Cobra First, of all... Thanks for the overwhelming response to the first installment of "Fighter Jet Fight Club"! I set out to inspire some discussion, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Lots of intelligent, well argued debates. I may have not been able to answer all of you, but I do read all the comments. One comment (it was actually responding to the post on the NFPS report) in particular got me thinking... Commenter "Paul" stated: "The F-18 is the only western fighter that can do the cobra". This caught me by surprise, as I was unaware that the F-18 could perform the vaunted maneuver of dubious tactical benefit. There is this video of a Super Hornet coming very close at the 0:50 and 2:25 mark... Even if you consider those as Pugachev's Cobra (the Super Hornet doesn't quite go past a 90 degree angle), the Super Hornet is far from the only western fighter. The F-22 makes it look easy, in fact: ...