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Basic Prosecution of The BVR Fight

The document discusses tactics for defending against Russian Flanker and Fulcrum fighters armed with long-range AA-12 missiles in beyond visual range air combat. It describes the "beam" tactic, which involves turning perpendicular to the enemy radar to make your aircraft appear stationary and avoid detection. After launching a missile, the pilot beams the enemy, turns nose down to increase speed, deploys chaff, and tries to visually acquire and outmaneuver any incoming missiles. While effective defensively, beaming makes it difficult to maintain situational awareness or re-engage the enemy aircraft. An alternative "drag" tactic prioritizes survival but is more defensive.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
512 views19 pages

Basic Prosecution of The BVR Fight

The document discusses tactics for defending against Russian Flanker and Fulcrum fighters armed with long-range AA-12 missiles in beyond visual range air combat. It describes the "beam" tactic, which involves turning perpendicular to the enemy radar to make your aircraft appear stationary and avoid detection. After launching a missile, the pilot beams the enemy, turns nose down to increase speed, deploys chaff, and tries to visually acquire and outmaneuver any incoming missiles. While effective defensively, beaming makes it difficult to maintain situational awareness or re-engage the enemy aircraft. An alternative "drag" tactic prioritizes survival but is more defensive.

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porkeater
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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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-27 and MiG-29Ss. Both the
Flanker and Fulcrum Sierra model are AA-12 capable, making them the
most lethal Red aircraft in the sky. As such, Prosecution tactics will be
discussed with regards to them.
The Soviet Adder indeed has a longer range than that of the
AMRAAM, however its less maneuverable and its radars cone of vision is
slightly smaller than that of the AIM-120. These two deficiencies can almost
entirely negate the longer range of the Soviet missile, if exploited properly.
In facing the AA-12 in combat, there are several primary methods
each of which have their own benefits and deficiencies:
The Beam
The concept of the beam is based on exploiting a flaw inherent to
most modern Radar. In order to reduce ground clutter on the radar scope,
modern radars filter out what they see as stationary objects through the use
of the Doppler Effect. What that this means to you as a pilot, is that if you
were able to make you aircraft appear stationary to the hostile radar, it will
indeed filter you out just as it does buildings on the ground. Initially you
might think this not possible, however Beaming your bandit does exactly
this.
The term Beam refers to your 3 and 9 oclock lines. So following
logic, to beam or the act of beaming refers to placing the object in question
along that axis of your aircraft. When that object is a Pulse Doppler type
radar the end result is that you have effectively zeroed your speed relative to
the radar. The only closure the radar senses is that of its own aircrafts speed.
At this point you are filtered out as being nothing more important to the
radar than a tree. At best this will prevent the bandit from locking you
solidly enough to engage, but more realistically it will make their life more
difficult by providing intermittent chances of locking.
In order to apply this technique in a BVR fight the Bandit
should be identified and locked by no closer than a 20 nm range. This will
give you adequate time to set up for a head on engagement, which is
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desirable in this situation. While head on, keep a close eye on your range to
target, his aspect, and closure rate. You may launch at anywhere inside 20nm
and possibly acquire a kill, but generally speaking 12-15nm is preferred
depending on closure and aspect (aspect simply put is the number of degrees
you are off your targets nose). Launches at the longer ranges (15nm+) are
often successful in spooking the bandit just enough for him to go defensive,
which sometimes is an adequate resolution to the engagement, while ranges
closer than that dramatically increase your PK (Probability of Kill). In any
case, practice in Dogfight type engagements setup in Falcon for BVR will
allow you to find the range that you feel allows you both the highest chance
of a kill as well as highest chance of survival. With much practice that range
will greatly decrease.

Figure 1a: Depicts just prior to the launch and initial turn into the Beam. Notice Range: 14nm, Heading 181
degrees, Speed: 642 knots. Near Head On orientation to bandits. Jammer on.

Immediately after launching on the Bandit the Beam is executed. This


is performed by a high G turn either left or right, roughly 90 degrees. Should
the Slotback still have his radar active, the RWR will provide an excellent
reference to place the boogey on your 3 or 9 line. Should his radar be
intermittent or off entirely, some estimation is required as youre sure to bust
gimbals (lateral range of your radar) in this maneuver, which means you had

better been paying close attention to his heading/aspect before going into
your turn. At this point the defensive maneuvers are begun.

Figure 1b: Nose down attitude, speed increasing extending from bandits. Heading, 274 degrees, nearly a
perfect beam (93 degrees of original heading of 181).Jammer off.

If your launch range approached 15nm, its a safe bet that the Slotback
has launched on you. Remember, always defeat the threat, and when a
missile is launched it becomes the threat and the launching aircraft should be
secondary in your mind. but still on your mind.
Once the Bandit is Beamed several actions must be performed as
quickly as possible in order to ensure survival. Any Jammer in use MUST be
turned off. Negating closure rate to a radar guided missile, while making you
invisible to the missile, does nothing to hide the emissions your ECM pod is
broadcasting, and the AA-12 is very capable of locking on to those
emissions in HOJ (Home on Jam) mode. At the same time a nose down
(anywhere from 10-20 degrees is sufficient), full mil to AB attitude should
be established while scanning visually for the missile and several bundles of
chaff should be pumped out. This serves a couple purposes.
First, it increases your energy state as you increase your speed,
sometimes upwards and past 800kts+. By this time, the missiles motor is
sure to have burned out and it is strictly an energy fight at this point. The
drastic increase in your speed helps diminish the missiles closure rate,

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


less than a 10 second burn time any missiles energy is limited, while that of
your jet is relatively infinite.
In addition, youll eventually level out at close to ground level. If you
havent beat the missile at this point, the unfilterable ground clutter will help
mask your presence, possibly spoofing the missile. Furthermore, radar
guided missiles fly a lead pursuit (a course that points their flight path ahead
of yours for intercept). As a result, radar guided missiles have been known to
smack into the deck 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
object (i.e. mountain) between you and the chasing missile.
During your descent a slight turn into the missile helps maintain a
proper aspect for beaming. The 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 bank of 10-15 degrees often
creates just enough of a constant change in flight path to maintain effective
beaming.
Once on the deck, the priority becomes visually acquiring that missile.
The missile may not be present on your RWR, but that is not to say that you
have beaten it just yet. All too often overconfidence in the situation has
prompted a pilot to turn back into a missile still looking for a target and
found himself the target. Visual acquisition can be relatively difficult at this
point as the missiles motor is spent, removing from view the very easy to
spot smoke trail. However, once acquired visually, immediate recognition of
whether you are still its target is required. This is done by observing its
relative motion.

Figure 1c: The Beam is established and maintained at this point, maintaining a heading roughly 270 degrees
off from original at full/AB. Missiles are effectively beaten and need only be outrun at this point prior to
reengagement.

A visual target, and this applies to aircraft as well as missiles, that has
no relative motion (i.e. it is not moving in your canopy) is on a collision
course for you (also known as a lead pursuit). With this information at hand
we can deduce that if the missile is visually moving to your aft, it has lost its
lock on you and is now without a target, or at the very least, you are not its
current target. If this is the case, maintaining your defensive stance and
current heading or a turn into the missiles point of origin, should spoof the
missile entirely.
Should the relative motion be towards your nose, a high G turn into
and past the missile should be enough to place it behind you with no hope of
reacquiring you.
In the case of no relative movement, it should be considered tracking
you, regardless of RWR information. At 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 G turn into or above the
missile will effectively beat the missile.

Figure 1d: View from inside the pit of visual acquisition of inbound AA-12.

At this stage in the fight the high G maneuver performs two functions:
It burns off even more energy from the missile putting it in an energy state,
hopefully, where it may become effectively unable to close in near enough to
cause damage. Secondly, at shorter ranges the cone of vision of the radars
seeker is very narrow, and the high G maneuver increases your chances of
moving out of the field of view of the radar.
The Beam tactic, as effective as it might be, carries with it some
serious disadvantages. Primarily, in performing the maneuver, you
effectively lose radar lock and greatly diminish your chances of visually
acquiring the Slotback, preventing you from going defensive or even reengaging it should your initial launch miss its mark. Should this be the case,
you will find that unless the Slotback disengaged, he will still be in your
forward hemisphere and looking to reacquire you. At this point you will be
in a seriously disadvantaged situation: low to the ground with minimum look
up capability and most likely tumbleweed as to the Slotbacks posit, while
he has spent the time of your maneuver looking for you. The Beam tactic is
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good for a defensive disengagement, but poor on offense after your initial
launch.

The Drag
The Drag concept is the most simple of the options and
should be learned to proficiency first. It offers a high chance of survival,
however it also diminishes you ability to maintain accurate Situational
Awareness, and by its very nature forces you into a very defensive stance.
The technique involves a mid to max range shot on the bandits (1220nm miles) and a Split-S maneuver to reverse and extend from the
incoming threat (the AA-12). This is most effective in a nearly head on
engagement.

Figure 2a: Initial setup for the Drag. Head on engagement, range 14nm, positive radar contact on lead bandit.
Heading 182, speed well above corner speed. Jammer on.

The bandit needs to be identified and locked on to by no later than 15nm in


order to ensure success. When this is accomplished, preferably prior to
20nm, wait patiently for the range to pass 15nm, unless a low PK shot is
desired with the hopes of pushing the bandits to go defensive. In either
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event, once your AMRAAM is off the rail a negative Split-S maneuver is
performed, reversing your course 180 degrees, accompanied by several
bursts of chaff.

Figure 2b: The offensive launch has been performed and the Split-S is commenced, reversing heading, increasing
kinetic energy state. Jammer is off.

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


foremost, you are increasing your kinetic energy (speed) 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 missiles PK on you. The increase in
kinetic energy improves your situation should you need to defeat the missile
close in.
During 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 making it difficult for the hostile radar to maintain lock,
effectively beaming the bandit (as discussed above). This in and of itself will
not 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.
As with the Beam above, make sure that your ECM are off, preventing a
HOJ situation during the maneuver.
The downward vertical velocity of your aircraft ensures that your
chaff bursts will be as effective as possible. Instead of being merely between
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you and the missile (leaving you as a still very lucrative target in front of the
chaff) the chaff are now independent targets while your aircraft is quickly
trying to exit the cone of sight of the hostile missile.
Once a reverse heading is established, maintain a 10-15 degree nose
down attitude, preferably in full AB, for the drag. At this point the inbound
missile will be just a few miles aft of you in full pursuit, with more than
likely a solid lock on your aircraft. Regardless of the lock, you have a very
high chance of defeating the missile in the energy fight. All 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 sky. Should enough distance still
separate you and the missile at this point, it will be likely that the hostile
aircraft is still locked on to you and guiding the missile, as the missile hasnt
closed within range to go active with its own radar guidance (pitbull).

Figure 2c: View from the AA-12s as the Drag is finished, leaving the aircraft only needing to maintain speed and
heading as the missiles lose energy and ultimately, the fight.

The 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 AMRAAM will destroy the hostile, again leaving the
missile blind and searching. In either event the hostile missile still has the
opportunity to reacquire you, but youve gained another few valuable
seconds in the fight.
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During the drag, its advisable to scan your aft hemisphere for the
missile. When the maneuver is performed flawlessly, simply out running the
missile will beat the missile. However, rarely in a high threat environment
do things go exactly as planned. Padlocking the missile will allow you to
decide whether you have the missile beat, or if a high G maneuver as
described in the above section is needed.

Figure 2d: The inbound AA-12 is visually acquired, however being directly on the aircrafts 6 oclock makes padlocking
impossible. The missile is outlined in red, barely noticeable even at this range.

As with the Beam tactic, the Drag is enormously effective and very easily
executed. If timed correctly and performed at just the right range, a CAT III
loaded F-16 can easily dispense of two Slotbacks, with a high chance of
survival. The Drag is also the most reliable tactic with regards to evading
multiple missile launches as it keeps all missiles launched at you in your rear
hemisphere with little to no change in heading on your part to evade.
Effectively, this lines up the multiple missiles directly behind you and you
need only use the same tactic to spoof them all.
The downside, again as with the Beam, is the immediate loss of radar
contact, situational awareness and most hope of visually acquiring your
bandit. Should the bandit evade your launch, The Drag places him in your

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rear hemisphere, should he choose to maintain the offensive. Defensively


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
neutralized the fight. However, kill confirmation is difficult at best in both
the Drag and Beam often making it a tough decision to re-engage or bug out.
Support from any trailing flights in your package or AWACS can help
alleviate this problem.
Re-engagement or re-establishing original heading from a Drag
evasion can be dangerous and should be performed only when adequate SA
has been reacquired.

While the Beam and Drag are primarily defensive in nature the
remaining two tactics offer a more aggressive engagement that allow for
maintaining SA and an offensive stance.
The Offset
The Offset is first and foremost a missile evasion technique. When
performed correctly it allows for a high chance of survival while at the same
time maintaining the highest PK possible. SA is maintained, and
reengagement if necessary is possible in an offensive position with regards
to both BVR and transitioning into a WVR fight.
Again begin with a lock at ranges preferably greater than 20nm,
ideally with the bandit roughly off your nose. At roughly 14-15nm,
contingent on aspect, speed and closure, launch your Slammer. Throughout
this maneuver you will maintain radar lock until well past the time your A120 goes autonomous, further increasing your PK.

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Figure 3a: The aircraft is in perfect position to implement an Offset maneuver. Head on, 14nm range, and at high corner
speed (440Kts), Jammer on. Note heading of roughly 230.

Immediately after launch, a turn opposite of the bandit (offset)


roughly 40 degrees is performed and the new heading maintained putting the
bandits bearing at roughly your 2 or 10 oclock position. The radar target
should be approaching gimbal limits at this time. During the turn
simultaneously add or decrease throttle to establish max corner speed (330440 kts) or slightly higher.
The assumption is of course that the adversary has already launched
his missile, so a visual scan is commenced for the missile inbound. It is
imperative that the missile be visually acquired for a successful outcome.
The missile should be inbound from roughly the same bearing as your
bandit. Once acquired, maintain padlock on the missile as well as your
current heading.

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Figure 3b: The initial Offset is seen here, after launch, establishing a left offset roughly 50 degrees left of original
course (180). Once wings level, the pilot will immediately go to visual scanning for the AA-12 (in this example a AIM120 is being used as the hostile missile), also shown here. Music and Radar off, as the remainder of the maneuver is
strictly visual, until reengagement.

Approximately 5-6 seconds before the missile is expected to impact, a


high G turn opposite of your initial offset is executed, 60-70 degrees (or 2030 degrees opposite your initial heading). The 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.
The missile will, if the offset is properly timed and executed, either fly
harmlessly past you completely unable to reacquire you, or detonate
somewhere in your rear quadrant as it sense your aircraft is within its
proximity blast radius. Should the missile explode, it is still very likely that
your aircraft will be left unscathed as your angle and velocity allow you to
escape the blast radius.

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Figure 3c: The high G turn opposite of original offset angle to a heading of 240 beats the missile entirely.

Should the initial Aim-120 launch miss its target, the hostile aircraft
will be somewhere in the forward quadrant in a perfect position for either
another Aim-120 launch, or an intercept into a WVR fight. To be sure a
quick scan visually before referring back to the radar scope is advisable. In
either event, the follow up is relatively simple as the bandit is sure to be
either still performing or just recovering from his defensive maneuvers.
When dealing with multiple missiles inbound, some issues arise with
this tactic. If the missiles are launched relatively close together, the Offset
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. Extreme distances between missiles may allow
for a follow up Offset to be performed, in the opposite direction, to spoof the
second missile.
The Offset relies entirely on a visual acquisition of the hostile missile
and as a result some practice is required to be able to not only consistently
acquire such a small object but to become proficient at judging just the right
moment to offset opposite and beat the missile. This sort of practice should

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be attained only in the Dogfight environment prior to utilizing this tactic in a


campaign type mission.
Very high in offense, the Offset is equally effective defensively when
mastered. However, it does almost guarantee a WVR fight should your
initial launch miss its target, a fact that must be taken into consideration.
Under 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.
At most, this tactic should used against 1v1 or 1v2 situations. In 2v2
or 2v4+ situations the friendly flight should make sure to split the opposing
4 ship into elements prior to launch.

Under and Over (Orthogonal Break)


Conceptually, this tactic is similar to the Offset. It differs only in the
technique deployed to evade the missile.
After launch, given the same set up as in the Offset, a 120 degree roll
is performed followed by a high G pull into a 40-50 degree nose down
attitude making small corrections to make sure that the bandits bearing is at
your 2 or 10 oclock position. Speed should be adjusted to maintain well
above max corner speed (440kts) as the maneuver quickly bleeds energy.

15

Figure 4a: The roughly 120 degree roll dive is shown here, inducing a turn placing the AA-12 high and at 10 oclock.
The Chaff is clearly visible as well.

As with the above tactic, visual acquisition is all important. The


missile ought to be off your forward quadrant and high as a result of your
dive.

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Figure 4b: The missile is visually acquired 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. The premise is the same as with the Offset,
yet a vertical element is introduced, which further helps to spoof the missile

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in the energy fight.

Figure 4c: The combination of both the high G turn and steep climb effectively beats the missile in the energy fight.

This maneuver offers the same benefits at the same cost as the Offset,
while additionally keeping the bandit forward of you and above you, making
visually reacquiring him much easier should further engagement be required.

Essentially these basics are most useful in 1v1 and 1v2 encounters.
Learning to forsake the radar guidance until pitbull and trust that the
AMRAAM will find its mark, assuming no friendlies are in the proximity,
allows for quick ripple shots on multiple hostiles prior to commiting to
defensive maneuvers for an acceptably diminished PK at the same time
dramatically increasing your chance of survival.
In situations of 1v3+, variations of these tactics can be used with the
teamwork of your flight. For example, the Drag can be altered into a
pinwheel or Drag and Tag type attack. Lead and wing go into a 3-5 mile
trail formation, and lead executes his Drag maneuver. As the Lead is
disengaging, the AI flight is most likely still focused on him as their primary
threat, leaving the wing free and uncovered, close in to more lethal range
before his extension.
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There are myriad variations for every scenario. The 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 technique. Understanding its
effects and limitations allows you to incorporate its use into all sorts of
practical applications. Learn to recognize a high PK 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 HUD.
Five ACMIs 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 (1v6 Su-27). Despite
the final ACMI being an ultimately unsuccessful engagement 4 of the
bandits were damaged/destroyed while spoofing 20+ AA-12 launches, thus
validating the implementation of these tactics.
With a little practice all of these maneuvers can be executed at ranges
that almost guarantee a successful kill. Mastering these fundamental
maneuvers provides a staging point for more complex tactics.

-Captain Chris Dax Widick


X/O, 162nd Fast and Furious
16th ACCW Flying Tigers

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