Russia now has the number one fighter plane in the world, the SU-30. Vectored thrust with Canards. As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along the side of and just below the canopy rail.  The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings.

This is a video of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's 30MK fighter aircraft.  What you are about to see is almost unbelievable.

The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping in less than a second, then descend tail first without causing a compressor stall.  It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute.  These capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today.

View video with the sound on.  This aircraft is of concern to the U.S. and NATO Planners.

We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK.  Hopefully China isn't one of them.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Russian SU-30 Fighter Plane (Video 4.3 mb)

Video runs 3 minutes