Fighter Combat

TACTICAL INTERCEPTS 379One peek is worth a thousand [radar] sweeps.UnknownIn some cases pilots have been provided with telescopic devices to allowmore distant visual acquisition and VID of airborne targets. Some means ofextending VID range is often required if full use is to be made of thehead-on capability of all-aspect missiles. Such devices can be as simple as ahand-held telescope or binoculars, or as exotic as a high-powered videotelescope slaved to the fighter radar's LOS. In general, even the simplerdevices can be effective, but hand-held equipment presents problems ofloose gear flying around in cockpits, and hands that are busy performingother required functions in a complex cockpit may not be available for itsoperation. Usually a better solution is to fasten these devices securely tothe aircraft and point them straight ahead. The radar can then be used topoint the aircraft, and the telescope, directly at an unidentified target forcloser examination. Obviously the telescope's field of view must be compatiblewith the accuracy of the radar LOS-indicating system.He who sees first, lives longest.UnknownThe smallness of the area of maximum visual acuity limits the effectivenessof detailed sector search unless the target's LOS can be limitedsubstantially. It can take several seconds to scan thoroughly an area extendingeven 1° about a given point. Therefore, dividing the entire worldinto sectors for consecutive detailed inspection becomes ludicrous. Even ifeach individual search was limited to only one second, it would literallytake all day to complete even one cycle of this process. Based on suchrealities, it just isn't practical to rely on a detailed sector-search scantechnique to produce acceptable results for defensive purposes. Offensively,however, careful inspection of narrow sectors is usually the methodthat yields tallyhos of the longest range.The alternative is to devise a scan technique based on peripheral vision,which allows coverage of a very large area in a relatively short time. Thismethod involves moving the eyes (and the head) back and forth across theentire field of view at a fairly rapid rate. Although the head may appear tomove smoothly during these sweeps, the eyes will actually make rapidjerks of several degrees at a time, and a fairly large area can be searched byperipheral vision at each pause. This technique is somewhat analogous tospeed-reading methods, as opposed to focusing on individual words on aprinted page. The actual speed of the scan is dependent on proficiency, asthe eyes must be trained to make these movements faster for greater scanspeed. If the eyes are not allowed to pause repeatedly, very little will beseen.There should be a regular pattern to these visual sweeps; both above andbelow the horizon and from forward to aft visibility limits on both sides ofthe aircraft should be searched. These visibility limits can usually beextended by rolling, turning, or skidding the aircraft in conjunction withthe scan pattern. The scan should be allowed to sweep distant objectsperiodically (every few seconds) to provide adjustment of focal range.