Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker

Updated: October 2026 – A huge fighter taxis into the sky, suddenly points its nose almost straight up, hangs in the air for a moment like a cobra and then simply flies on: with this image the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker burned itself into the memory of airshow fans. It was the Soviet answer to the F-15 Eagle and became the ancestor of one of the largest fighter families in the world. On this page you learn how to recognize the Flanker, how to tell the Su-27, Su-30, Su-33 and Su-35 apart, what the Cobra is all about and where you can still get the type in front of your lens.

What is the Su-27?

The Su-27 is a twin-engine air superiority fighter with long range. Its story begins in the late 1960s: the Soviet Union was looking for a fighter that could take on the new generation of American combat aircraft, above all the F-15. The Sukhoi design bureau got the contract for a heavy fighter, Mikoyan in parallel for a lighter one – which became the MiG-29.

The first prototype, the T-10, flew on May 20, 1977. It still had AL-21 engines and a wing with rounded tips. The results were not convincing, and Sukhoi made a bold decision: the aircraft was redrawn almost completely. The revised design, the T-10S, made its first flight on April 20, 1981 and formed the basis of the production series. The Su-27 was built from 1982 and entered service in 1985.

Typical of the design is its aerodynamically unstable basic layout, which becomes controllable only through an electronic flight control system. Fuselage and wing form a single lifting body, and a lot of fuel fits inside. That explains the long range of around 3,530 kilometers at cruising altitude. The Flanker is powered by two AL-31F engines from Lyulka, today Saturn, which deliver around 122.6 kN of thrust each with afterburner. At high altitude it reaches Mach 2.35.

The Su-27 is armed with a 30 mm GSh-30-1 cannon in the right wing root and up to ten external hardpoints, which typically carry R-27 and R-73 air-to-air missiles. In total around 680 Su-27s were built through 2010 – not counting the many derivatives.

Sukhoi is now part of the United Aircraft Corporation, under whose roof civil aircraft such as the Superjet 100 were built. The plant in Irkutsk that builds the two-seat Su-30 belongs to the same group as the manufacturer of the MC-21.

The Flanker family at a glance

Over the decades a whole family has grown out of the Su-27. For you as a spotter, four questions matter most: how many seats, are there canards ahead of the wing, an airbrake on the back, an arrestor hook?

Su-27S/SK and Su-27P (Flanker-B): The classic single-seater. The SK is the export version, the P a variant for air defense. Later upgrades in Russia go by Su-27SM.

Su-27UB (Flanker-C): The two-seat trainer with tandem cockpit, fully combat-capable. The longer canopy with two seats one behind the other gives it away immediately.

Su-30 (Flanker-C, Flanker-G, Flanker-H): The two-seater evolved into the Su-30 multirole fighter, whose predecessor flew in Irkutsk on December 31, 1989. The family includes many export versions: Su-30MKK and MK2 for China, MKM for Malaysia, MKA for Algeria and above all the Su-30MKI for India, which Hindustan Aeronautics builds under license in Nashik. In Russia the Su-30SM flies. More than 630 Su-30s had been built by 2019.

Su-33 (Flanker-D): The carrier version for the Admiral Kuznetsov. It has canards, folding wings and horizontal stabilizers, an arrestor hook and a shortened tail sting. Of all people, Viktor Pugachev flew the prototype’s first flight on August 17, 1987. Only 24 were built.

Su-35S (Flanker-M): The current top version for Russia. It first flew on February 19, 2008, entered service in 2014 and has AL-41F1S engines with swiveling nozzles. China received 24 aircraft, and Algeria reportedly took over aircraft from an originally Egyptian order. An older Su-35 with canards (originally the Su-27M, first flight 1988) was built only in small numbers for testing and demonstrations.

Shenyang J-11: China agreed to license-build the Su-27SK in 1996. Shenyang developed the J-11B from it, with mostly Chinese systems – a point of dispute with Russia. The carrier-based J-15 is considered a close relative of the Su-33.

Not directly covered on this page, but related: the Su-34 fighter-bomber with side-by-side crew seating and a broad “duck bill” nose. You can find the very different Sukhoi line of ground-attack aircraft at the Su-25 Frogfoot.

Feature	Su-27S/SK	Su-27UB	Su-30MKI/SM	Su-33	Su-35S
Seats	1	2	2	1	1
Canards ahead of the wing	no	no	yes	yes	no
Large dorsal airbrake	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
Swiveling nozzles	no	no	yes	no	yes
Folding wings and arrestor hook	no	no	no	yes	no
NATO name	Flanker-B	Flanker-C	Flanker-H / -C	Flanker-D	Flanker-M

The three features that are enough to identify it

Once you have consciously seen the Flanker, you recognize it from a long way off. Three looks are enough.

To identify the version, you count the seats, look for canards ahead of the wing and check whether a large airbrake folds up on the back at landing. The classic Su-27 and the Su-30 have it, while the Su-35S does without and brakes instead with the rudders deflected in opposite directions.

Flanker, Fulcrum or Eagle?

Mix-ups happen mostly with the smaller MiG-29 and with the F-15. The finder narrows it down with three observations.

If you generally struggle with fighter jets, the guide Identifying fighter jets in Europe offers a broader overview, for example of the Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen.

The Cobra: how a demonstration made history

In June 1989 the Su-27 came to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget – for many Western visitors the first close look at the new Soviet fighter. Test pilot Viktor Pugachev showed a maneuver there that immediately got its name: the Cobra.

The aircraft flies straight ahead, the pilot switches off the angle-of-attack limiter, which normally kicks in at 26 degrees, and pulls the stick hard toward himself. The angle of attack rises to around 90 to 120 degrees, the aircraft stands almost on its tail for a moment and loses speed drastically while altitude stays nearly the same. Then the nose tips back, the pilot adds thrust, and the flight continues straight ahead. This is possible only thanks to the Su-27’s special aerodynamics and its powerful engines.

The idea was not entirely new: Swedish test pilots had developed a similar technique with the Saab Draken in the early 1960s, and test pilot Igor Volk flew the figure in the Su-27 before Pugachev. But Pugachev showed it in front of a huge audience – and with that the legend was born. Whether the Cobra is of any use in real air combat is still disputed today. At airshows it is a crowd magnet, and later Flankers with thrust vectoring have expanded the repertoire even further.

If you ever want to go to Le Bourget yourself: how the show works for spotters is covered in the article Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.

Records and aerobatics

Even before the appearance in Paris, the Flanker had made headlines. The P-42, a prototype lightened to around 14.1 tonnes without armament, radar or paint, set a series of time-to-climb records between 1986 and 1988. In doing so it beat several marks of the American “Streak Eagle” – a duel that sums up the rivalry between the Su-27 and the F-15.

On April 5, 1991, the aerobatic team Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) was formed at Kubinka near Moscow with six Su-27s. As early as September 1991 it performed abroad for the first time and made the Flanker known at airshows worldwide. Since October 2016 the team has flown the Su-30SM, and since late 2019 the Su-35S as well. The team’s history has dark sides too: in 1995 three aircraft crashed on approach to Cam Ranh in Vietnam, and in 2009 two Su-27s collided while training for an air display near Moscow. How other teams in Europe operate is covered in the overview Aerobatic teams of Europe.

Service and operators worldwide

Russia is the largest operator of the family, with Su-27 upgrades, Su-30SM, Su-35S and, at sea, the Su-33. Russian Flankers regularly make headlines: in March 2023 an Su-27 collided over the Black Sea with an American MQ-9 drone, which then crashed. Over the Baltic Sea, Flankers repeatedly escort transport and government flights, which brings NATO interceptors into play.

Ukraine: After the breakup of the Soviet Union the Ukrainian Air Force took over numerous Su-27s and has used them in the war against Russia since 2022. Several aircraft and pilots were lost in the process. Before the war Ukraine also showed its Flankers in the West, for example in 2017 and 2018 at the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford.

Other operators: Su-27s fly or have flown in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Angola, Ethiopia and Eritrea, among others. Belarus retired its Su-27s in December 2012 and now uses Su-30SMs. The Su-30 is even more widespread: India operates the largest fleet outside Russia with the Su-30MKI, joined by Algeria, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Armenia and others. Curiously, there are also Su-27s in the USA that got there by roundabout routes from Belarus and Ukraine.

Operator	Versions	Chance for spotters from central Europe
Russia	Su-27SM, Su-30SM, Su-33, Su-35S	practically none – photographing there is risky
Ukraine	Su-27, Su-27UB	none at present, wartime service
India	Su-30MKI	at airshows in India, occasionally at international exercises
Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam	Su-27/Su-30 versions	occasionally at airshows in Southeast Asia
China	J-11, Su-30MKK, Su-35	occasionally at Airshow China in Zhuhai

How to track military flights online and why Russian jets usually stay invisible there is explained in the guide Tracking military aircraft online. You can classify military serials and registrations with a database such as Scramble.

Photo tips specifically for the Flanker

The Su-27 is big, loud and often flies very close to the crowd at airshows. A few tricks help make the pictures work.

You can find general tips for the airshow day under Photographing airshows and suitable dates in the overview Airshows in Europe.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

If you want to rate the Flanker as a special sighting, the guide Spotting rare aircraft helps.

Conclusion

The Su-27 Flanker is one of the defining fighter jets of the late 20th century: designed as an answer to the F-15, radically redrawn after a false start and turned into an airshow legend by the Cobra at Le Bourget. Widely spaced tails, separate nacelles and the long sting identify the type; seats, canards and dorsal airbrake identify the version. For spotters in central Europe it is a true rarity today – anyone who gets a Flanker in front of the lens has a special photo in the bag.