Holy Sukhoi, Batman

For many years during the Cold War era Russian tactical fighters were badly outclassed by their American counterparts, as demonstrated every so often when US-built Israeli fighters came up against MiGs supplied to Arab countries by the USSR, resulting in a turkey shoot for the IAF. That time is no more, now that the Russians have the amazing Sukhoi Su-30MK.

A friend shared a video demonstration with me of the Su-30MK's incredible performance capabilities, noting with amazement that "the fighter can stall from high speed, stopping in less than a second. Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute. These capabilities probably don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today."

In USAF computer simulations run a few years ago, the Su-30MK beat America's F-15C, our stalwart air superiority fighter, "every time". That's remarkable, given that no enemy has ever shot down an American or Israeli F-15C in combat since the aircraft went into service in 1979. One hopes our F-22 Raptor fares a bit better against the 30MK.