The “Kobri” maneuver is a famous aerial display in which a fighter abruptly raises its nose to an angle of 90‑120 degrees while maintaining forward momentum, then quickly returns to normal flight. Advanced aerodynamics, flight‑control systems, and in some aircraft thrust‑vectoring enable the maneuver, which only a limited number of fighters—such as the Su‑27, Su‑30, Su‑35, Su‑57 and F‑22 Raptor—can safely perform.
The 1950s‑era Saab 35 Draken, with its delta wing, could execute a similar high‑angle attack called the Short‑Period Cobra or Super Stall, originally designed to shed speed rapidly and gain advantage in dogfights rather than for show. Many experts view the Draken as the first aircraft to demonstrate the principles later popularised as the “Kobri Pogatchov” by Viktor Pogatchov in 1989 with the Su‑27.
Although rarely used in combat, the maneuver showcases an aircraft’s exceptional stability at extreme angles of attack and its ability to stay controllable when other fighters would stall.