Fighter Combat

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIMILAR AIRCRAFT 117"8") before AOT increases beyond limits. Should the attacker begin hispull-down too early, he will have insufficient nose-tail separation andprobably will induce a defensive spiral. If the pull-down is performed toolate, the target may generate enough AOT in its pull-out to preclude a validshot.Timing is very critical to this end-game, and the shot opportunity willbe missed quite often. When timing the pull-down at point "7," it isusually preferable to err on the late side, rather than be early. Too muchnose-tail separation resulting from a late vertical pull normally allows theangles fighter to maintain an offensive position; but too little separationoften results in a defensive spiral, from which either fighter may gainadvantage.If it is obvious at about time "7" that a shot will not be forthcoming, theattacker has the option of disengaging or continuing the fight. Disengagementmay be accomplished by rolling opposite to the direction shown inFigure 3-8 and extending away from the bogey. When a pilot is separatingfrom a missile fighter, however, it is imperative that it be kept in sightuntil maximum firing range has been exceeded. Accelerating to maximumspeed and diving to low altitude usually aid disengagement by reducing themaximum firing range of a hostile missile.If the angles tactician chooses to pursue the bogey after a missed shot, hecan expect his opponent either to extend for separation or to come back in anose-high maneuver, which often results in a rolling scissors. Thereforethe attacker should be careful to attain his vertical-maneuvering airspeedbefore pulling out of his dive, even if this requires overshooting the bogeyvertically. The threat of the angles fighter deep in his rear hemisphere mayinduce the bogey pilot to pull out at too slow an airspeed, giving the anglesfighter an advantage in the ensuing rolling scissors.The Energy FightThe energy tactics described in the guns-only section are almost entirelyrelevant to the RQ missile scenario. Although this scenario eliminates thethreat of a forward-hemisphere gun shot with each pass, there are otherdangers inherent in the use of energy tactics with these weapons. Forinstance, although these missiles are termed "rear quarter," a very slowtarget with little G capability is unable to present a high LOS rate to themissile in its terminal phase and therefore may be vulnerable at muchgreater AOT than a highly maneuverable target would be. The energyfighter will be slow and vulnerable at the top of its vertical maneuvers.Going vertical without sufficient energy advantage, allowing the bogey togain more than 90° of position advantage, or pulling-up substantiallybefore the bogey crosses six o'clock may allow the opponent to get his noseon the energy fighter for a beautiful look-up shot. Although these errorscan also cause trouble in the guns-only scenario, they are even more deadlyhere since increased range of the missile can offset a considerable targetheight advantage over the shooter.It can be expected that more turns in the rolling scissors will be requiredto satisfy RQ missile parameters than to reach the gun snapshot envelope.