Fighter Combat

206 SECTION TACTICS. TWOVERSUS-ONEFigure 5-4. The Sandwichthe attack, as shown here, it quickly becomes sandwiched by the secondfighter.The sandwich is an ideal defensive maneuver when the threatenedfighter can be identified early in the attack. This identification is madeeasier by the wider cruise formations available with the double attackdoctrine. When the bogey does not commit clearly to one fighter early inits attack, a "defensive split" may be used to force the attacker's hand. Thistechnique is illustrated in Figure 5-5.In this scenario the fighter section is cruising in combat spread, lineabreast, when a bogey is detected closing from six o'clock at time "1." Theattacker's position between the fighters, and the relatively long range,makes it difficult to determine which of the fighters the bogey pilotintends to attack. Therefore the fighters take a defensive split north andsouth, turning away from each other. Assuming the attacker is still beyondthe range of his weapons, these turns can be of the energy-sustainingvariety rather than break turns. The defensive split quickly forces theattacker to commit to one fighter or the other, and, in pressing the attackon one fighter, the bogey must turn its tail to the other, often causing theattacker to lose sight of the free fighter. In this engagement the northernfighter is engaged more heavily and is definitely defensive. The defendercan expect to be fired on around time "2" if the bogey is carrying all-aspectmissiles, and he almost certainly will be required to perform a guns defenseat about time "3" against a gun-equipped attacker.The bogey's overshoot between times "3" and "4" leaves the engagedfighterpilot (assuming he has survived to this point) with the options ofeither continuing his turn, as shown, or reversing nose-to-nose, setting up