The "Kulbit" is an aerial maneuver

Aerobatic maneuver

Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dog fights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others...

 developed by Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n pilots, in which the aircraft performs an extremely tight loop, often not much wider than the length of the aircraft itself. It is an example of post-stall maneuvering, a type of supermaneuverability

Supermaneuverability

Supermaneuverability is the quality of aircraft defined as a threshold of attitude control exceeding that which is possible by pure aerodynamic maneuverability; in other words, a controlled loss of control beyond normal abilities...

. Like most post-stall maneuvers, it demonstrates pitch control outside of the normal flight envelope wherein pitch control is made possible by having aerodynamic flow over the aircraft's elevators or stabilator

Stabilator

A stabilator is an aircraft control surface that combines the functions of an elevator and a horizontal stabilizer...

s.

The Kulbit drastically decreases the aircraft's speed and could theoretically be used to cause a pursuing aircraft to overshoot its target. The maneuver is closely related to the famous "Pugachev's Cobra

Pugachev's Cobra

In aerobatics, Pugachev's Cobra is a dramatic and demanding manoeuvre in which a plane flying at a moderate speed suddenly raises the nose momentarily to the vertical position and slightly beyond, before dropping it back to normal flight. It uses a potent engine thrust to maintain approximately...

" maneuver, but the Kulbit completes the loop that the Cobra almost immediately cuts off.

Aircraft known to be able to execute the "Kulbit"

The following aircraft are currently known to be able to execute the "Kulbit":

• MiG-29OVT
• Sukhoi Su-35
  Sukhoi Su-35
  The Sukhoi Su-35 is a single-seat, twin-engined supermaneuverability multirole fighter. It is a derivative of the Su-27 'Flanker', and was initially known as the Su-27M. More than a dozen of these were built with some used by the Russian Knights aerobatic demonstration team...
  
  
• Sukhoi Su-37
  Sukhoi Su-37
  The Sukhoi Su-37 is an experimental single-seat, supermaneuverable multirole jet fighter, designed by Sukhoi. A further development of the original Su-27 'Flanker', it was modified from the first-generation Su-35 prototypes...
  
  
• Sukhoi Su-30
  Sukhoi Su-30
  The Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat military aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions.The Su-30 started out as an internal development project in the Sukhoi Su-27 family...
  
  
• Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

All have performed the Kulbit in airshow displays in the past.

External links

• A page containing a movie file of the Kulbit maneuver (listed as "Somersault, loop min radius")
• Video showing the Su-30MKI Flanker showing off its Thrust Vectoring and doing a Cobra and a Kulbit