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The best secret agents in the world work for private corporations as industrial spies simply because "big business" pays better than any government. Cobra can attract some of the best pilots from around the globe to join the air wing of the Cobra Legions, known as the Air-Vipers, by doubling and tripling their salaries. Air-Vipers are formidable opponents, but the Strato-Vipers are the "crème de la crème".
To qualify as a Strato-Viper, a candidate must first be an Air-Viper with 1,500 hours logged in flight time. He must have a fixed-wing rating up to four engines, combat experience, an impeccable security clearance, and be willing to undergo the surgical procedure necessary to make him more resistant to hypoxia, hyperventilation, and other decompression sicknesses that can affect a pilot above Armstrong's Line (63,000 feet).
Strato-Vipers that qualify and undergo a surgical implant operation are upgraded to Star-Vipers. Astro-Vipers (or "Cobranauts") are also recruited from the ranks of the Strato-Vipers who are naturally and artificially conditioned for high-altitude flying and high-G maneuvering.
In 1990, an experimental, reverse-engineered version of the Strato-Viper uniform was
assigned to the G.I. Joe operative Drop Zone
of Sky Patrol.
Cobra had confirmed deployments of Strato-Vipers to North America from 1986 to 1992. In 1988, during Operation Deep Six, a Lampreys, Motor-Viper, and Strato-Viper managed to capture the G.I. Joe Admiral Keel-Haul and hold him prisoner on an uncharted island in the Gulf of Alaska for interrogation. In 1991 through 1992, Motor-Vipers and Strato-Vipers deployed with F.A.N.G.s in specialized Cobra Patrol Units. Cobra Patrol Units were notably deployed in the Terror on the Tundra mission by Serpentor to patrol for G.I. Joe scouts around his Arctic missile launch sites. In 1997, Cobra Commander sold plans for several of his troopers uniforms to a terrorist organization known as Pyro's Band of Thugs. This included the Strato-Viper uniform which was assigned to
the operative Backdraft with an altered color scheme. Given Cobra's advances in high altitude pressure suits for their Aero-Vipers, Air-Vipers, Astro-Vipers, A.V.A.C.s, C.L.A.W.S., Neo-Vipers, Star-Vipers, and the individual Cobra pilots Vapor and Wild Weasel, it is unlikely that the Strato-Viper will be redeployed to Cobra's air forces.
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