The Herbst maneuver (also known as a J-turn^[1][2]) is an air combat maneuver that uses post-stall technology such as thrust vectoring and advanced flight controls to achieve high angles of attack.^[3] The Herbst maneuver allows an aircraft to quickly reverse direction using a combination of high angle-of-attack and rolling. Though categorized with Pugachev's Cobra, which is popular at airshows, the Herbst maneuver is considered more useful in combat.^[1]

The Herbst maneuver was named after Wolfgang Herbst, an employee of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB). Herbst was the initiator of the Rockwell SNAKE, which formed the basis for the Rockwell-MBB X-31 project,^[4] and one of the original developers of post-stall technology.^[3] The Herbst maneuver was first performed by an X-31 on April 29, 1993.^[5]