Meet the Su-27 Flanker: the new bogey, by the numbers 86ef63b

The MiG-29 has been asking for backup, and the Soviets have answered: the Su-27 Flanker is in the game — red stars on the fins, blue 38 on the nose, and a very long memory for grudges. It has no missions yet. It is simply out there, waiting. The card:

1. Powerplant: two Saturn AL-31Fs, about 27,500 lbf each in afterburner, widely spaced with the famous tail stinger between the nozzles.
2. The shape: long drooped nose, big blended wing with leading-edge extensions, twin canted tails on the engine nacelles — one of the most elegant fighters ever drawn, and one of the largest.
3. The party trick: Pugachev’s Cobra — a full-poststall pitch past vertical that the big Sukhoi simply shrugs off. If you see one do it in the merge, you are already behind.
4. 1994 colours: Soviet-era grey-blue with red stars and a blue bort number, the same generation of markings our Fulcrum wears — front-line PVO kit before the roundels changed.
5. Dimensions: 71 ft 10 in long, 48 ft 3 in span — twelve feet longer than your Hornet, and it turns like it hasn’t heard.
6. In the bay: a bogie for missions we have yet to fly — it spawns and fights like the MiG. For now, find it on the showroom floor (page 7), watch for the stars, and print one from the store if you want a head start studying it.