Pete Bonanni - The Art of the Kill

Well, another fine day at the office was near an end as we found the tanker and sucked down a couple of thousand pounds of gas. We could have made it back to Nellis without the extra gas, but it is always nice to have extra fuel when you know that there are 50 other guys heading for the same patch of concrete.

Red Air’s mission would have been a resounding success but for the fact that we didn’t have CAP far enough forward to get to the bombers before they dropped their bombs. The Varks and the Tornado did not get “tapped” until they were off the target, and Buzzsaw was a little slow communicating the presence of the second (and more important) gorilla.

From a BFM standpoint, a lot of F-15s got shot while doing a great job protecting the bombers. My element did well, getting several kills and surviving the engagement.

Art of the Kill has provided a solid introduction to Basic Fighter Maneuvers, following the normal progression of the air-to-air phase of fighter training:

► BFM Geometry

► Offensive BFM

► Defensive BFM

► Head-on BFM

It also provided a brief overview of the next two subjects taught in a fighter curriculum:

► Intercept Geometry

► Tactical Intercepts

Fighter pilot instructors use this “building block” approach to teach fundamental fighter pilot skills. Without BFM, a fighter pilot cannot master any other phase of air combat. Now that you have a solid BFM foundation, you should be ready to move on to the more advanced air combat subjects.

Until then, fly hard and shoot straight.

Art of the Kill and “Fighter Air Combat Trainer” provided a solid introduction to Basic Fighter Maneuvers. The next in the Art of the Kill series will expand the coverage of BVR combat tactics and maneuvering, and will include tactics for maneuvering “elements” and “flights” of two or more aircraft against multiple opponents.

The third in this series will take a unique perspective — that of the world-class “adversary” aircraft the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Flown by very few Western pilots, the MiG-29’s unique flight dynamics and weapons suite make flying and fighting from its cockpit a unique art.

Those of you who are interested in further reading on the subject of modern air combat may wish to read Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering by Robert Shaw (Naval Institute Press) and The Ace Factor: Air Combat and the Role of Situational Awareness by Mike Spick (Naval Institute Press).

This section outlines how to use Art of the Kill the same way a fighter pilot would use an Air Force workbook. Each chapter corresponds to a lesson, complete with lesson objectives and quizzes to test your understanding. The answer key for the quizzes is at the end of the section.

This lesson is designed to introduce you to the basic terms and definitions of air combat. Terms and definitions are important to understand because they will form the foundation of our discussion of Basic Fighter Maneuvers. In this section, we will describe the angular relationships between aircraft in a fight, the pursuit options, and the weapons envelope.

Once you’ve read Chapter 1, you should be able to do the following:

► Describe the geometry of 1V1 air combat

► Identify the angular relationship between two aircraft

► Understand aspect angle

► Describe the attack pursuit courses

► Understand what each pursuit course offers to the attacking aircraft

► Understand how out-of-plane maneuvering affects the pursuit course

► Describe the weapons envelope

► Define Rmax and Rmin

► Describe the factors that affect Rmax and Rmin

1. Which attack pursuit course is used most of the time to shoot a missile at an adversary? Holding your nose on this pursuit course for the entire attack will probably result in an overshoot.

a. Lag pursuit.

b. Pure pursuit.

c. Lead pursuit.

2. During an out-of-plane pull away from the bandit, which attack pursuit course are you are flying?

a. Lag pursuit.

b. Pure pursuit.

c. Lead pursuit.

3. If you place your HUD flight path marker directly on the bandit, which attack pursuit course are you flying?

a. Lag pursuit.

b. Pure pursuit.

c. Lead pursuit.

4. You are entering gun parameters. Which attack pursuit course is necessary for a gun shot?

a. Lag pursuit.

b. Pure pursuit.

c. Lead pursuit.

5. If you drive in on the bandit and he is able to out-turn you as you get in closer, which attack pursuit course will you more than likely get stuck in?

a. Lag pursuit.

b. Pure pursuit.

c. Lead pursuit.

6. In question 5, the bandit is out-turning you. If this happens, where would your HUD flight path marker end up?

a. Out in front of the bandit.

b. Directly on the bandit’s jet.

c. Behind the bandit.

7. Which positional geometry parameter do you get when you take the velocity vectors of two aircraft and measure the angle between them?

a. Aspect angle.

b. Angle-off.

c. Collision antenna train angle.

8. Which positional geometry parameter do you get when you take a measure in degrees from the tail of the target to your aircraft?

a. Aspect angle.

b. Angle-off.

c. Collision antenna train angle.

9. You are at 6 o’clock on a bandit, and he turns at high G into you. How will this hard turn by the bandit affect your missile shot?

a. R max(maximum range) will move out from the aircraft, and so will R min(minimum range). R minmoving out may jam your missile shot.

b. R minwill move in, and so will R max. R minmoving in will give you more time to take your shot.

c. The weapons envelope is unaffected by target G.

10. What is the effect of target G on the R minfor a gun shot?

a. Moves R minout.

b. Moves R maxin.

c. The gun is an all-aspect weapon that has no minimum range.

Lesson 2 is designed to teach you the fundamentals of modern air combat offensive BFM. Offensive BFM is used by fighter pilots to stay behind a turning bandit and employ weapons. At first glance, this seems like a rather simple objective to accomplish. Starting behind a bandit should be easier than starting with the bandit behind you. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Offensive BFM is more complex than defensive BFM, and proficiency in offensive BFM is more difficult to achieve than any other phase of 1V1 maneuvering. The good news is that once you understand maneuvering from the offensive position, you will have solved a big piece of the air combat puzzle.

After you’ve read Chapter 2, you should be able to do the following:

► Describe the mechanics of BFM

► Understand turn rate and radius

► Understand vertical turns

► Describe the concept of turning room

► Define the turn circle

► Describe lateral or horizontal turning room

► Describe vertical turning room

► Describe how to solve offensive BFM problems

► Determine whether a fighter is inside or outside a bandit’s turn circle