I never knew this, but it seems the su27 was not unique in the capability of making a Cobra. Apparently the much older Saab Draken could already do this. That was some fighter, considering it was f in the'50ies.
Absolutely incredible video. Always loved the Draken...just an incredibly good-looking aircraft, and clearly a great performer from a handling perspective, too.
It seems the swedes actually developed the maneuver which later became known as Cobra maneuver.
It was required in flight training to recover from super stalls the Draken was susceptible to due to its design
There is a story (reported also by Wikipedia, among others) that the Mig-21 can do a cobra and it was discovered by chance (or re-discovered) by a Syrian pilot in the '60s.