Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIMILAR AIRCRAFT 99
does not consider external environmental factors that may affect tactical
decisions. In this "sterile" environment there is no concern for weather,
ECM, additional unseen hostile aircraft, groundflre, or anything else that
can force profound tactical changes. Except as noted, the effects of such
realistic factors are covered in other chapters.
Likewise, there is obviously an infinite number of possible starting
conditions for any ACM engagement. Limitations in the scope of this work
require that essentially one initial setup—a roughly neutral, co-energy,
forward-quarter approach scenario—be covered in detail. The tactics recommended
in this chapter and in following chapters cannot be optimized
for every conceivable air combat scenario, but they are selected to present a
broad range of tactical concepts and principles which may be applied
effectively in many commonly encountered situations. This is not to
imply that other techniques might not be superior in some cases; but the
methods presented here are based on sound tactical principles and should
be quite effective within the limitations imposed. Caution: Even minor
deviations from the stated assumptions may invalidate an entire tactical
concept.
In deriving tactics for use against a similar aircraft, two basic approaches
are available: the "angles" fight and the "energy" fight. These labels refer
to the first obiective of the engagement. In the angles fight the tactician
first seeks to gain a position advantage (angles), even at the expense of
relative energy, and then he attempts to maintain or improve on this
advantage until he achieves his required firing parameters. The purpose of
the energy fight is to gain an energy advantage over the opponent while not
yielding a decisive position advantage. Once a sufficient energy advantage
has been attained, it must be converted to a lethal position advantage,
usually without surrendering the entire energy margin. In the case of
similar aircraft, each of these tactical theories has benefits and drawbacks,
depending in large measure on the weapons involved. Therefore both
angles fights and energy fights are discussed.
The guy who wins is the guy who makes the fewer gross mistakes.
Lieutenant Jim "Huck" Harris, USN
U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School Instructor
Guns Only
As long as a fighter has altitude and flying speed for maneuvering, and its
pilot has reasonable tactical knowledge, awareness of his situation, and
the will to survive, the pilot can deny a guns-tracking solution to an
adversary in a similar aircraft. For this reason it is usually more practical to
maneuver for the snapshot envelope; then if the opponent makes a mistake,
a tracking opportunity still may be available. A reasonable snapshot
envelope, as described in Chapter 1, is located in the target's rear hemisphere
at close range, requires excess lead, and is enhanced by the attacker
maneuvering in the same plane as the target. Attaining this envelope is the
ultimate goal of the tactics described in this section.