Killbox Flanker

What happens when a Soviet fighter outlives the empire that created it?

The Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" emerged from the Soviet Union as one of the most fearsome fighters of its generation—a long-range air superiority platform built to meet the American F-15 Eagle on equal terms. But the collapse of the USSR ensured that the Flanker's story would unfold far beyond the Cold War battlefields for which it had been designed.

In Killbox Flanker, military historian Mike Guardia (author of Tomcat Fury and Viper Alley) traces the combat history of the Su-27 family from its Cold War origins to the battlefields of the 21st century.

Follow the Flanker and its descendants—the Su-30, Su-33, Su-34, and Su-35—through air patrols over the former Soviet frontier, fierce dogfights in the Horn of Africa, Russia's intervention in Syria, and the brutal air war over Ukraine.

Along the way, the Flanker story extends eastward into China, where the Su-27 evolved into the J-11, J-15, and J-16—aircraft now patrolling the Taiwan Strait and the Himalayan frontier.

From the dying days of the Cold War to the hot skies over Ukraine, Killbox Flanker tells the story of an aircraft family that became one of the defining combat aviation systems of the post-Cold War era. Through firsthand accounts and operational analysis, discover how this Cold War fighter became an icon of modern air power—and why it still flies today.