It was in 80's kids vocabulary when discussing fighter jets and which one is better - 'yeah, but can it do Cobra?!'
It’s incredible how deeply war culture propaganda permeates American society
Cobra Maneuver
51–60 of 160 posts
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#52Is there a reason why modern planes can't shoot backwards? A lot of the WW2 planes had turrets a separate gunner would control, but they all seem to have disappeared. My only guess is that dogfights don't actually happen much anymore.
Simple, it's a matter of range, weight and balance. All other things being equal, a point defense cannon would probably be useful. However, those weapons are heavy and decidedly impractical for even something as heavy as a buff.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#53> Super stall plagued the early years of Saab 35 service, causing several deaths, which led the Swedish air staff to implement extra training on how to counteract and recover from them. The result was the cobra maneuver. Necessity, the mother of invention.
Although in this case there's no evidence that it was a useful invention.
It's not useful for combat. It is useful for training.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#54Re: Cobra Maneuver
#55> Super stall plagued the early years of Saab 35 service, causing several deaths, which led the Swedish air staff to implement extra training on how to counteract and recover from them. The result was the cobra maneuver. Necessity, the mother of invention.
Although in this case there's no evidence that it was a useful invention.
I guess it was useful for the purpose it was invented for; training, and for Russians showing off in airshows.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about guns? Relative speed against the enemy is the same no matter if you shoot forward or backward. Or am I missing something?
Bullets don't move at the speed of light.[1] Shoot a bullet backwards off a bullet train, that bullet's ground speed is less than if shot from the ground while stationary. Similarly, shoot a bullet forward off a bullet train, that bullet's ground speed is more than if shot from the ground from a stationary position. Shoot bullets backwards off a jet moving Mach 3 (just sayin') those 1700mph bullets will still be movi…
Yeah but your enemy is also moving forward because they’re trailing you.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#57Didn't Maverick pull this off in Top Gun?
Yeah so you know it is just as believable maneuver as crane kick from Karate Kid :)
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#58Didn't Maverick pull this off in Top Gun?
In Top Gun 2, he uses it twice. Once, during the training dogfight where Rooster has a chance to shoot him down (he says, "Too late, you had your chance" and then pulls off the maneuver, targeting Rooster instead afterwards). After the training dogfight, he is told by Cyclone, "...and I don't ever want to see that Cobra shit again. That could have gotten you both killed". The second time was towards the end when they…
Top Gun 2 is really a fantastic movie but for anybody skipping the film here's the clips:
First time: https://youtu.be/zlWmeo-4ulw?t=72
Second time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwBwJiyQ_g
Tom Cruise is kind of a weirdo but his films are incredibly entertaining.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
"And after your opponent overshoots--you just lost a ton of energy--and energy is everything in aerial combat. " The idea is, to be able to make the kill, after you are now behind. Then it does not matter, if you are too slow. But wikipedia indeed says, this manoever has never been confirmed in real air combat, so yes, its usefullness is quite limited.
Dumb question - why can't planes shoot in reverse? It seems like this would be useful for these situations. I get that it would be hard to aim - but can't computers do that?
I would imagine you need to install a second cannon. I think these days dogfights are fairly unlikely, jet fighters are more likely to shoot each others beyond the horizon with the advantage to the side with the missiles with the longest range. A second cannon is a lot of weight for a very remote use case.
Re: Cobra Maneuver
#60It was in 80's kids vocabulary when discussing fighter jets and which one is better - 'yeah, but can it do Cobra?!'
It’s incredible how deeply war culture propaganda permeates American society
Young boys don't need propaganda to be fascinated by war. Show me a culture where boys don't have sword fights with sticks.