Okay... It can dance... But let’s see it do it with a full load of weapons.
The very first mistake a US pilot can make is coming up against an experience Russion pilot in something similar and making the mistake he’s flying against a fricking Arab or something.
Same goes for their SAM radars on the ground, BTW. Their double digit systems are effing deadly.
There's an old Russian saying that goes something like “innovation is the enemy of good-enough”. I probably mixed up some of the words but the gist is when is “good enough” good enough?
During WWII, the German's Tiger and Panther tanks were born-ass killers - deadly, every one. Russians approached this with pure numbers - cheap TU-34s produced in massive quantities. And they won it out.
Americans caught on later in WWII. Liberty Ships produced at the rate of one per day, and M-4 Sherman tanks that took on the Tigers and Panthers. On average, it took 4 Shermans to kill one. Three destroyed in head-to-head; the fourth snuck behind and delivered a killing engine blow.
One thing our military must never forget is that Russians are not Vodka swilling idiots. They have over their recent history produced some of the most elegantly simplistic and reasonable approaches to modern weaponry on this planet. An example is their jet engines on their fighters don't need daily FOD walks over the pad....they are designed to eat it and still function.
Compared to our politicized, over-bloated and bureaucratic acquisition systems, highly influenced by the House and Senate, AND the Executive political vote-getting whims, they excel.
All things being even I’ll take raw speed and power over tail-dancing ability.