The Secret Russian Fighter with Backwards Wings

In the early 1980s, before the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union was on a quest to develop a fifth-generation aircraft that could dominate the skies and outmatch every American fighter in the market. Sukhoi's groundbreaking design of an aircraft with forward-swept wings, which dates back to World War 2, was just what the Soviet Navy and Air Force had been looking for. After years of research and development, the Su-37 Berkut or Golden Eagle was born, boasting advanced technologies that were ahead of its time. The use of composite materials to integrate carbon fiber wings was a game-changer, allowing the Berkut to withstand the immense stress put on an aircraft with such a unique wing configuration to go along with its increased maneuverability. Despite its impressive technological advancements, the fate of the Berkut was thrown into uncertainty with the imminent fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. Nonetheless, the Su-37 remains a symbol of Soviet engineering inge