It's called "alpha" people...
Andrewr - finally someone with a clue
It's a thread drift but I'll continue...
I'm going to wager that very few besides those piloting the military types have experienced flying (and recovering) a jet in the high alpha regime.
For their various sins some get around in the 1:1 thrust ratio types, and routinely exploit the high AOA spectrum, recognising full well that while yanking on 30+ alpha provides instantaneous turn rate, it also comes with the penalty of energy bleed rate. We're talking lots of knots per second wiped off the dial. No problem if it's planned, all it requires is an extended period of stick forward back into single digit alpha and we're accelerating (and flying in the classical sense) again, but not before significant altitude is lost.
Not a problem for someone who routinely flies in this regime, but who really see this type of flying ever?
I don't think it's too long a bow to draw to assume the AF guys had never experienced high AOA flight. Why would they? Airliners don't go there, right?
POWER + ATTITUDE does not always = PERFORMANCE