This video below is only 3 minutes 45 seconds long, but the extreme aerobatics displayed by these brilliant Russian fighter pilots is something to behold – and maybe to fear.  Have you ever seen these sort of maneuvers being done by either of our latest model fighters, either the F-22 Raptor of the F-35 Lighting II?  This former USAF pilot has not.  This jet demonstration was put on at the Paris Air Show. – SORRY!  This video was great, as those of you who have seen it seem to agree, but guess the copyright owners decided not to let YouTube show it . . . too bad 🙁  While I could ask the copyright holders for permission to use it, that would take more time than I have, just to get it done. (Inserted this “sorry” remark September 14, 2015 – Thanks to member Virg Hemphill’s alert following of our site)

Remember:  Turn on your sound and don’t hesitate to go to your full screen view of this video.

The “off the deck” extreme “stalled” type maneuvers are hard to believe, are they not?  Clearly these pilots are some of Russia’s best, but just the fact that this Russian jet can perform such death defying moves so close to the ground will make it an extremely difficult fighter ship to out maneuver, let alone defeat in combat.  The immense power of the Russian jet engines is almost making the typical meaning of the aerodynamic “stall” virtually obsolete – – – at least when it comes to these so hard-to-believe-what-you see jet aerobatics – many of which demonstrate that the aerodynamically “stalled” wing is almost irrelevant, since the power alone can drive and accelerate the fighter straight up into the sky. While both the U.S. new fighters, the F-22 and the F-35 can also fly straight up, whether they can also perform such extreme and abrupt maneuvers remains to be publicly demonstrated.

Some of the maneuvers seen here are surely imposing very high “g” (gravity) force loads on the two pilots.  Possibly exceeding 8 “g’s” or more.  Some of these high “g” load aerial stunts are also putting severely tough loads on the airframes of the fighters, as well – thereby demonstrating the craft’s excellent design and high structural strength.  While these supersonic fighters have the ability to fly at high speed, here we witness them literally standing still just above the ground!  The abrupt maneuvers shown by the talented Russian aviators will make them serious adversaries in any air-to-air combat situation.  Normally, when one considers the potential for exceptional maneuverability, it’s not in the same consideration with supersonic jets, which are known for their lack of maneuverability and of the great distance it takes them just to accomplish a simple turn.  This Russian fighter has clearly changed that concept regarding supersonic fighters.

This video is thanks to the alert eyes of one of our regular Aviation News scouts, John Edwards.  Thank you John!