Fighter Combat

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 189rotor. Since the PD radar sees only moving objects, the real target willappear to be surrounded by many other "targets," as each of the rotorblades alternately increases and decreases its speed over the ground withevery revolution. A Doppler radar and missile normally will have greatdifficulty maintaining a steady track on the helo itself with all this distraction,which can result in erratic guidance, increasing miss distance, andpossibly missile-ground impact. This phenomenon also plays havoc withmost Doppler-rate fuzes, causing early fuzing and warhead detonation.Active fuzes have problems in this environment, too, as they are susceptibleto detonation on ground return before detecting the target. When theattacker's primary weapon is known to be a Doppler-type radar missile, thehelo pilot may choose to fly at roughly right angles to the bogey's approach,which (as described in Chapter 1) should eliminate the primary radarreturn completely, or at least hide it in the ground clutter. This tacticleaves only the rotor blades as radar targets and further complicates themissile's task. Hovering motionless would serve the same purpose, butthat tends to make the helo highly vulnerable to other weapons.Flying toward the attacker has other benefits. The increased closurereduces the bogey's firing time for either guns or missiles, and if theattacker attempts to track the helo visually to fire a boresight weapon, themoving target causes the shooter to steepen his dive angle rapidly. This is avery uncomfortable maneuver for the pilot of a high-speed fighter close tothe ground, and it often causes the attacker to break off a firing pass beforereaching his most effective range. Pointing at the attacker also tends tohide the helo's jet exhaust from a heat-seeking missile.Low-level flying is the bread and butter of most helo drivers, and theyare very comfortable in this environment. Not so with the average fighterjock, who is likely to be quite uncomfortable attempting to bring weaponsto bear against a moving, highly maneuverable, low-level target. Thisfactor is of great advantage to the helo. The helo pilot also should be awareof the background he is presenting to his opponent and use any availableopportunity to make things as difficult as possible for the bogey. This canbe done by positioning over variegated terrain, which blends most closelywith the helo's color scheme. Dark camouflage over dark terrain worksbest, since shadows may tend to highlight the low-flying helo on sunnydays over a light-colored surface. Mottled terrain is usually more effectivethan uniform colors, unless the aircraft camouflage matches the terrainvery closely. Trees, shadows, and hills can also be very useful hidingplaces. Water, tall grass, and dusty areas usually should be avoided becauseof rotor effects on these surfaces. At best, low-flying aircraft are verydifficult to spot and track visually. With a little effort they can be madealmost invisible.The helo pilot should also attempt IR masking when he is faced with aheat-seeking missile threat. Visual masking and IR masking are oftenmutually exclusive, however, since hot, usually light-colored desert backgroundsoffer the greatest problems for IR missiles. Such unlikely surfacesas water and snow can also be quite effective reflectors of IR energy,particularly if the bogey is attacking toward a bright sun.