While comparing Western to Eastern technology and fighter jets we cannot skip over two widely compared aircraft: Sukhoi Su-27 \u201cFlanker\u201d and the McDonnell Douglas\u00a0F-15 \u201cEagle\u201d (now Boeing F-15 Eagle). In the eastern aviation world, Sukhoi stands for a legend. The Sukhoi design bureau made such successful aircraft as the SU-24 Fencer strike fighter and the SU-27 Flanker series of air superiority fighters. The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker was the top of Soviet technology at the time of its debut in the mid-1980s. Large but exceptionally agile, it had powerful engines and a big load of weaponry. With the Flanker fighter jet, the Soviet aviation industry made\u00a0a leap forward in military technology.\u00a0The Su-27 is a really great aircraft and a huge success of Soviet aviation, not only because it holds 27 absolute records. It is an exceptionally manoeuvrable machine, one of the most agile aircraft ever built. Russians proudly demonstrate it during air shows \u2013 the Russian Knights aerobatic team of the Russian Air Force performs with six Su-27.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Flanker is an extremely nimble aircraft, can be controlled even at very low speeds and high angles of attack. A Cobra<\/em> (Pugachev\u2019s Cobra) – briefly sustained level flight at a 120\u00b0 angle of attack – is a dramatic and very demanding manoeuvre usually demonstrated by Su-27 during airshows.<\/p>\n Video: Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker doing Pugachev\u2019s Cobra<\/strong><\/p>\n