A while back I visited Hill AFB in Salt Lake City. While there I saw an F-16 take off with afterburners on and pull a high-gee 180-degree turn not 50 feet off the ground. The turn took about 2 seconds and the jet continued to climb afterward. Seriously. It happened so fast it was incredible. The fact that the F-16 can maintain its speed, even accelerate and climb during such a tight turn demonstrates alot of fighter capability.

If it lost speed and stopped like the X-plane it would be a sitting duck, although it might be more useful against enemy aircraft that fly slower than the F-16 stall speed.