Basic Prosecution of the BVR Fight

8/10/2019 Basic Prosecution of the BVR Fight

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Basic Prosecution of the BVR Fight

Successful prosecution of the BVR engagement relies heavily on a

simultaneous execution of both offensive and defensive tactics, when

dealing with high threat bandits such as Su-! and "i#-$S%s& Both the

Flan'er and Fulcrum (Sierra) model are **-+ capable, ma'ing them the

most lethal Red aircraft in the s'y& *s such, Prosecution tactics will be

discussed with regards to them&

he Soviet *dder indeed has a longer range than that of the

*"R**", however it%s less maneuverable and its radar%s cone of vision is

slightly smaller than that of the *"-+.& hese two deficiencies can almost

entirely negate the longer range of the Soviet missile, if exploited properly&

n facing the **-+ in combat, there are several primary methodseach of which have their own benefits and deficiencies/

he Beam

he concept of the beam is based on exploiting a flaw inherent to

most modern Radar& n order to reduce ground clutter on the radar scope,

modern radars filter out what they see as stationary ob0ects through the use

of the 1oppler 2ffect& 3hat that this means to you as a pilot, is that if youwere able to ma'e you aircraft appear stationary to the hostile radar, it will

indeed filter you out 0ust as it does buildings on the ground& nitially you

might thin' this not possible, however (Beaming) your bandit does exactly

this&

he term (Beam) refers to your 4 and $ o%cloc' lines& So following

logic, to beam or the act of beaming refers to placing the ob0ect in 5uestion

along that axis of your aircraft& 3hen that ob0ect is a Pulse 1oppler type

radar the end result is that you have effectively 6eroed your speed relativeto

the radar& he only closure the radar senses is that of its own aircraft%s speed&

*t this point you are filtered out as being nothing more important to theradar than a tree& *t best this will prevent the bandit from loc'ing you

solidly enough to engage, but more realistically it will ma'e their life more

difficult by providing intermittent chances of loc'ing&

n order to apply this techni5ue in a BVR fight the Bandit

should be identified and loc'ed by no closer than a . nm range& his will

give you ade5uate time to set up for a head on engagement, which is

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desirable in this situation& 3hile head on, 'eep a close eye on your range to

target, his aspect, and closure rate& 7ou may launch at anywhere inside .nm

and possibly ac5uire a 'ill, but generally spea'ing +-+8nm is preferred

depending on closure and aspect 9aspect simply put is the number of degrees

you are off your target%s nose:& ;aunches at the longer ranges 9+8nmotice Range/ +?nm, @eading +A+degrees, Speed/ ? 'nots& >ear @ead Cn orientation to bandits& Dammer on&

mmediately after launching on the Bandit the Beam is executed& hisis performed by a high # turn either left or right, roughly $. degrees& Should

the Slotbac' still have his radar active, the R3R will provide an excellent

reference to place the boogey on your 4 or $ line& Should his radar be

intermittent or off entirely, some estimation is re5uired as you%re sure to bust

gimbals 9lateral range of your radar: in this maneuver, which means you had


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better been paying close attention to his headingEaspect before going into

your turn& *t this point the defensive maneuvers are begun&

Figure +b/ >ose down attitude, speed increasing extending from bandits& @eading, !? degrees, nearly a

perfect beam 9$4 degrees of original heading of +A+:&Dammer off&

f your launch range approached +8nm, it%s a safe bet that the Slotbac'

has launched on you& Remember, always defeat the threat, and when amissile is launched it becomes the threat and the launching aircraft should be

secondary in your mind& but still on your mind&

Cnce the Bandit is Beamed several actions must be performed as

5uic'ly as possible in order to ensure survival& *ny Dammer in use "GS be

turned off& >egating closure rate to a radar guided missile, while ma'ing you

invisible to the missile, does nothing to hide the emissions your 2H" pod is

broadcasting, and the **-+ is very capable of loc'ing on to those

emissions in @CD 9@ome on Dam: mode& *t the same time a nose down

9anywhere from +.-. degrees is sufficient:, full mil to *B attitude should

be established while scanning visually for the missile and several bundles of

chaff should be pumped out& his serves a couple purposes&

First, it increases your energy state as you increase your speed,

sometimes upwards and past A..'ts


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forcing it to continually lose ground in the energy fight& Remember, with

less than a +. second burn time any missile%s energy is limited, while that of

your 0et is relatively infinite&

n addition, you%ll eventually level out at close to ground level& f you

haven%t beat the missile at this point, the unfilterable ground clutter will help

mas' your presence, possibly spoofing the missile& Furthermore, radar

guided missiles fly a lead pursuit 9a course that points their flight path ahead

of yours for intercept:& *s a result, radar guided missiles have been 'nown to

smac' into the dec' while trying to maintain a lead pursuit on a lower level

aircraft& Finally, being at a low level often allows the option to place a large

ob0ect 9i&e& mountain: between you and the chasing missile&

1uring your descent a slight turn into the missile helps maintain a

proper aspect for beaming& he missile flying a lead pursuit already as an

inherent angle on you, small enough to negate the effect of beaming so in

order help remove this advantage, a slight ban' of +.-+8 degrees oftencreates 0ust enough of a constant change in flight path to maintain effective

beaming&

Cnce on the dec', the priority becomes visually ac5uiring that missile&

he missile may not be present on your R3R, but that is not to say that you

have beaten it 0ust yet& *ll too often overconfidence in the situation has

prompted a pilot to turn bac' into a missile still loo'ing for a target and

found himself the target& Visual ac5uisition can be relatively difficult at this

point as the missile%s motor is spent, removing from view the very easy to

spot smo'e trail& @owever, once ac5uired visually, immediate recognition of

whether you are still its target is re5uired& his is done by observing its

relative motion&

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Figure +c/ he Beam is established and maintained at this point, maintaining a heading roughly !. degrees

off from original at fullE*B& "issiles are effectively beaten and need only be outrun at this point prior to

reengagement&

* visual target, and this applies to aircraft as well as missiles, that has

no relative motion 9i&e& it is not moving in your canopy: is on a collision

course for you 9also 'nown as a lead pursuit:& 3ith this information at handwe can deduce that if the missile is visually moving to your aft, it has lost its

loc' on you and is now without a target, or at the very least, you are not its

current target& f this is the case, maintaining your defensive stance and

current heading or a turn into the missile%s point of origin, should spoof the

missile entirely&

Should the relative motion be towards your nose, a high # turn into

and past the missile should be enough to place it behind you with no hope of

reac5uiring you&

n the case of no relative movement, it should be considered trac'ing

you, regardless of R3R information& *t this point you are in a position of

considerable advantage as the missile has been nearly depleted entirely of

any sort of effective energy and a well timed high # turn into or above the

missile will effectively beat the missile&

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good for a defensive disengagement, but poor on offense after your initial

launch&

he 1rag

(he 1rag) concept is the most simple of the options and

should be learned to proficiency first& t offers a high chance of survival,

however it also diminishes you ability to maintain accurate Situational

*wareness, and by its very nature forces you into a very defensive stance&

he techni5ue involves a mid to max range shot on the bandits 9+-

.nm miles: and a Split-S maneuver to reverse and extend from the

incoming threat 9the **-+:& his is most effective in a nearly head on

engagement&

Figure a/ nitial setup for the 1rag& @ead on engagement, range +?nm, positive radar contact on lead bandit&@eading +A, speed well above corner speed& Dammer on&

he bandit needs to be identified and loc'ed on to by no later than +8nm in

order to ensure success& 3hen this is accomplished, preferably prior to

.nm, wait patiently for the range to pass +8nm, unless a low P= shot is

desired with the hopes of pushing the bandits to go defensive& n either

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event, once your *"R**" is off the rail a negative Split-S maneuver is

performed, reversing your course +A. degrees, accompanied by several

bursts of chaff&

Figure b/ he offensive launch has been performed and the Split-S is commenced, reversing heading, increasing

'inetic energy state& Dammer is off&

Several things are accomplished through the Split-S& First and

foremost, you are increasing your 'inetic energy 9speed: while establishing a

heading that is more or less directly away from the bandit and its missiles,

reducing the closure rate as well as the missile%s P= on you& he increase in

'inetic energy improves your situation should you need to defeat the missile

close in&

1uring the reversal, specifically during the vertically nose down

portion of it, you are essentially a target with no relative speed and for a

brief moment ma'ing it difficult for the hostile radar to maintain loc',

effectively beaming the bandit 9as discussed above:& his in and of itself willnot prove effective enough to spoof the missile entirely, however it may

provide you with a very few valuable seconds to add to your defensive time&

*s with the (Beam) above, ma'e sure that your 2H" are off, preventing a

@CD situation during the maneuver&

he downward vertical velocity of your aircraft ensures that your

chaff bursts will be as effective as possible& nstead of being merely between

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you and the missile 9leaving you as a still very lucrative target in front of the

chaff: the chaff are now independent targets while your aircraft is 5uic'ly

trying to exit the cone of sight of the hostile missile&

Cnce a reverse heading is established, maintain a +.-+8 degree nose

down attitude, preferably in full *B, for the drag& *t this point the inbound

missile will be 0ust a few miles aft of you in full pursuit, with more than

li'ely a solid loc' on your aircraft& Regardless of the loc', you have a very

high chance of defeating the missile in the energy fight& *ll that is left to do

ideally is to maintain best possible forward speed until the hostile missile

has lost all its energy and drops from the s'y& Should enough distance still

separate you and the missile at this point, it will be li'ely that the hostile

aircraft is still loc'ed on to you and guiding the missile, as the missile hasn%t

closed within range to go active with its own radar guidance 9pitbull:&

Figure c/ View from the **-+s as the 1rag is finished, leaving the aircraft only needing to maintain speed and

heading as the missiles lose energy and ultimately, the fight&

he benefit in this is that one of two things may happen, either the

launching bandit must go on the defensive leaving its missile blind and

searching, or your *"R**" will destroy the hostile, again leaving the

missile blind and searching& n either event the hostile missile still has the

opportunity to reac5uire you, but you%ve gained another few valuable

seconds in the fight&

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1uring the drag, it%s advisable to scan your aft hemisphere for the

missile& 3hen the maneuver is performed flawlessly, simply out running the

missile will beat the missile& @owever, rarely in a high threat environment

do things go exactly as planned& Padloc'ing the missile will allow you to

decide whether you have the missile beat, or if a high # maneuver as

described in the above section is needed&

Figure d/ he inbound **-+ is visually ac5uired, however being directly on the aircrafts o%cloc' ma'es padloc'ing

impossible& he missile is outlined in red, barely noticeable even at this range&

*s with the Beam tactic, the 1rag is enormously effective and very easily

executed& f timed correctly and performed at 0ust the right range, a H*

loaded F-+ can easily dispense of two Slotbac's, with a high chance of

survival& he 1rag is also the most reliable tactic with regards to evading

multiple missile launches as it 'eeps all missiles launched at you in your rear

hemisphere with little to no change in heading on your part to evade&

2ffectively, this lines up the multiple missiles directly behind you and you

need only use the same tactic to spoof them all&

he downside, again as with the Beam, is the immediate loss of radar

contact, situational awareness and most hope of visually ac5uiring your

bandit& Should the bandit evade your launch, he 1rag places him in your

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rear hemisphere, should he choose to maintain the offensive& 1efensively

you are in a safe position, high energy with good separation and the option

to completely disengage form the fight or drag into friendly controlled

airspace& Should your bandit go on the defensive and perform a similar

evasion tactic, the separation will be much greater at which point you have

the option to bug out or reengage& Should you reengage, the separation and

comparative energy states should be such that you have effectively

neutrali6ed the fight& @owever, 'ill confirmation is difficult at best in both

the 1rag and Beam often ma'ing it a tough decision to re-engage or bug out&

Support from any trailing flights in your pac'age or *3*HS can help

alleviate this problem&

Re-engagement or re-establishing original heading from a 1rag

evasion can be dangerous and should be performed only when ade5uate S*

has been reac5uired&

3hile the Beam and 1rag are primarily defensive in nature the

remaining two tactics offer a more aggressive engagement that allow for

maintaining S* and an offensive stance&

he Cffset

he Cffset is first and foremost a missile evasion techni5ue& 3hen

performed correctly it allows for a high chance of survival while at the same

time maintaining the highest P= possible& S* is maintained, and

reengagement if necessary is possible in an offensive position with regards

to both BVR and transitioning into a 3VR fight&

*gain begin with a loc' at ranges preferably greater than .nm,

ideally with the bandit roughly off your nose& *t roughly +?-+8nm,

contingent on aspect, speed and closure, launch your Slammer& hroughout

this maneuver you will maintain radar loc' until well past the time your *-+. goes autonomous, further increasing your P=&

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Figure 4a/ he aircraft is in perfect position to implement an Cffset maneuver& @ead on, +?nm range, and at high cornerspeed 9??.=ts:, Dammer on& >ote heading of roughly 4.&

mmediately after launch, a turn opposite of the bandit 9offset:

roughly ?. degrees is performed and the new heading maintained putting the

bandit%s bearing at roughly your or +. o%cloc' position& he radar targetshould be approaching gimbal limits at this time& 1uring the turn

simultaneously add or decrease throttle to establish max corner speed 944.-

??. 'ts: or slightly higher&

he assumption is of course that the adversary has already launched

his missile, so a visual scan is commenced for the missile inbound& t is

imperative that the missile be visually ac5uired for a successful outcome&

he missile should be inbound from roughly the same bearing as your

bandit& Cnce ac5uired, maintain padloc' on the missile as well as your

current heading&

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Figure 4b/ he initial Cffset is seen here, after launch, establishing a left offset roughly 8. degrees left of originalcourse 9+A.:& Cnce wings level, the pilot will immediately go to visual scanning for the **-+ 9in this example a *"-

+. is being used as the hostile missile:, also shown here& "usic and Radar off, as the remainder of the maneuver is

strictly visual, until reengagement&

*pproximately 8- seconds before the missile is expected to impact, a

high # turn opposite of your initial offset is executed, .-!. degrees 9or .-

4. degrees opposite your initial heading:& he end result should be that

inbound missile tries desperately to correct for and maintain a lead pursuit

but the angle and distance proves to be too much for its current energy state&

he missile will, if the offset is properly timed and executed, either fly

harmlessly past you completely unable to reac5uire you, or detonate

somewhere in your rear 5uadrant as it sense your aircraft is within its

proximity blast radius& Should the missile explode, it is still very li'ely that

your aircraft will be left unscathed as your angle and velocity allow you to

escape the blast radius&

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Figure 4c/ he high # turn opposite of original offset angle to a heading of ?. beats the missile entirely&

Should the initial *im-+. launch miss its target, the hostile aircraft

will be somewhere in the forward 5uadrant in a perfect position for either

another *im-+. launch, or an intercept into a 3VR fight& o be sure a

5uic' scan visually before referring bac' to the radar scope is advisable& neither event, the follow up is relatively simple as the bandit is sure to be

either still performing or 0ust recovering from his defensive maneuvers&

3hen dealing with multiple missiles inbound, some issues arise with

this tactic& f the missiles are launched relatively close together, the Cffset

should defeat them both& But as the distance between the lead and any

missiles in trail increases so does the trailing missiles ability to correct for

and maintain its lead pursuit& 2xtreme distances between missiles may allow

for a follow up Cffset to be performed, in the opposite direction, to spoof thesecond missile&

he Cffset relies entirely on a visual ac5uisition of the hostile missile

and as a result some practice is re5uired to be able to not only consistently

ac5uire such a small ob0ect but to become proficient at 0udging 0ust the right

moment to offset opposite and beat the missile& his sort of practice should

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be attained only in the 1ogfight environment prior to utili6ing this tactic in a

campaign type mission&

Very high in offense, the Cffset is e5ually effective defensively when

mastered& @owever, it does almost guarantee a 3VR fight should your

initial launch miss its target, a fact that must be ta'en into consideration&

Gnder ideal circumstances your initial launch will have forced the bandit

into a reversal placing you in his rear hemisphere in perfect position to

continue prosecution of the fight in the manner most suitable&

*t most, this tactic should used against +v+ or +v situations& n v

or v?< situations the friendly flight should ma'e sure to split the opposing

? ship into elements prior to launch&

Gnder and Cver 9Crthogonal Brea':

Honceptually, this tactic is similar to the Cffset& t differs only in the

techni5ue deployed to evade the missile&

*fter launch, given the same set up as in the Cffset, a +. degree roll

is performed followed by a high # pull into a ?.-8. degree nose down

attitude ma'ing small corrections to ma'e sure that the bandit%s bearing is at

your or +. o%cloc' position& Speed should be ad0usted to maintain well

above max corner speed 9??.'ts: as the maneuver 5uic'ly bleeds energy&

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Figure ?a/ he roughly +. degree roll dive is shown here, inducing a turn placing the **-+ high and at +. o%cloc'&

he Hhaff is clearly visible as well&

*s with the above tactic, visual ac5uisition is all important& he

missile ought to be off your forward 5uadrant and high as a result of your

dive&

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Figure ?b/ he missile is visually ac5uired by this point and the defensive (over-the-top) maneuver is commenced&

Shortly before impact, a climbing turn above and into the missile is

executed, defeating the missile& he premise is the same as with the Cffset,

yet a vertical element is introduced, which further helps to spoof the missile

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here are myriad variations for every scenario& he importance of

every maneuver is to understand its parts and how they constitute a whole&

Beaming as a BVR tactic is only one use of the techni5ue& Gnderstanding its

effects and limitations allows you to incorporate its use into all sorts of

practical applications& ;earn to recogni6e a high P= shot opportunity, as a

result of constant scanning of target aspect, speed and closure information

without a (Shoot) cue as in all the above mentioned tactics a (Shoot) cue

will never be displayed on the @G1&

Five *H"s are included as support to the above concepts& Four

outline the individual maneuvers while the fifth is a demonstration of these

tactics in a practical, if wholly unrealistic, application 9+v Su-!:& 1espite

the final *H" being an ultimately unsuccessful engagement ? of the

bandits were damagedEdestroyed while spoofing .< **-+ launches, thus

validating the implementation of these tactics&

3ith a little practice all of these maneuvers can be executed at rangesthat almost guarantee a successful 'ill& "astering these fundamental

maneuvers provides a staging point for more complex tactics&

-Haptain Hhris (1ax) 3idic'

JEC, +ndFast and Furious

+th*HH3 Flying igers

+$

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Basic Prosecution of the BVR Fight