Mirgorod

You are so wrong :) MiG-23/27/29 can all use unprepared fields, which can basically be any patch of grass. Just look at those heavy mudguards on the nose gear strut. Plus the intake covers. What, you think it's just for show? ;) This is the whole philosophy: frontline aviation must be able to follow the advancing frontline, obviously. Do you know that An-124 Ruslan can land on a grass field? Mean pressure of the wheels is soooo low :) you would never believe that looking at the size of that mother.

I have actually read the entire damn thread... phew... Long riff-raff about nothing. After all, who cares about supermaneuverability? In combat it's not about performing stunts, it's about winning, and doing it from as far away as possible, preferrable with ICBMs on the grand scheme of things. I think BVR capability is much much much more important than any close-quarter stuff. As far as I know, the Russians are trailing behind in this particular aspect, but this is !only! to my knowledge. On the other hand, you must keep in mind that to underestimate Russia is to die. Most Russians hate Viktor Suvorov (Rezun), but he was right in stating that while T-72 was already the backbone of the Soviet tank forces, NATO still thought that T-55 was by far the most numerous type. It's all about deception, kids. Same here. What they show you is not necessarily the best they have. And if Su-27 and Mig-29 have been performing this way looong before the F-22 was even incepted, they HAVE to have something now that outperforms the F-22 by a wide margin. If they need to produce it in large numbers, they will. No doubt about it. To all Americans here - guys, cool it. The Germans made a fatal mistake with the Russians once. Do you want to fall prey to the Russian deception techniques? NEVER underestimate their capabilities. And, they are not your typical friendly teddy bears, too. Big grizzly beasts with sharp claws. Constant alert is needed. Bragging is not going to help. I do hope that no military conflict will pitch Su's and Raptors against each other, because if something like this happens we would not live to witness the end of it. Any American-Russian conflict will immediately go nuclear, which means that Moscow and Washington will evaporate within 20 minutes from the beginning of hostilities, and the rest of the world will follow within several weeks. In this context I think the childish bragging about the outstanding manuevering capabilities of the F-22 is pointless.