Air Combat 4 How to Live and Die in the Virtual Sky by Dan "Crash" Crenshaw, www.deltahawks.org
	CHAPTER 4: DEFENSIVE BFM The call comes over the virtual radio, "I’ve been hit!". You execute a Wingman Padlock only to see "2" rolling into a spiraling dive, flames and smoke belching from the aircraft. You think to yourself, "Where did that come from" as you frantically do a search for bandits … you spot him. The MIG that just took out "2" is moving into position on your "6" to take his next ATOLL shot … at you. Welcome to Defensive BFM. You are in the worst position a fighter pilot can be in … on the defensive. In Chapter 3 we learned the basic Offensive maneuvers to get into and stay in control long enough to take a "Killing" shot. In this lesson, we will learn what to do to keep the bandit out of the "Kill Zone". If that fails, what to do to avoid getting hit by the "Killing" shot. When you think of Defensive BFM, think of High G, difficult maneuvers that are executed while straining your neck to watch what the bandit behind you is doing. There is no magic move … no, you can not "Just hit the brakes and he will fly right by" like Tom Cruise did (Unless you are flying the Pre-TACTCOM or Pre-Version 2.O versions of EF2000 ... then it works like a charm). To avoid getting killed by the bandit, you’re going to have to work pretty darn hard. As in Offensive BFM, you want to keep your movements smooth and fluid, no sudden maneuvers. Keep in mind, if you fly perfect Defensive BFM and the bandit flies perfect Offensive BFM … "your gonna die". What you want to do is cause BFM problems for the bandit and force him to make a mistake. If he does not, all you can do is make him work for the kill and force him to close to gun parameters, then you must work to defeat his gun shot. Detection Most kills are on a target that had no idea he was about to get hit. Before you can execute Defensive BFM, you need to know there is a threat. There are 3 basic ways to detect a threat. RADAR: RADAR is probably the best way for detection. It has good range (usually 60 or more miles), allows you to lock weapons onto your target, can allow you to track his movements … pretty much, if you get a bandit on RADAR, you can keep him there and know what he is doing. The problem is, RADAR is limited in scan area. You can not always pick up a bandit and you have a rather large blind area to deal with. You may need to use one of the other resources to get a general bearing on the bandit in order to use RADAR. You can also do frequent "sweeps" to search you area. The 209th usually uses a leapfrog method for sweeping, one aircraft will perform a sweep while the rest of the flight moves along the flight path. If the sweep is negative, he moves back towards the flight. About the time he rejoins the flight, it is time for another sweep. The job gets handed off to the next plane in the wing. TWS: TWS (Threat Warning System, DASS also falls into this category, sort of.) will react if RADAR is looking at you. It will pick up airborne as well as ground threats. It does not pickup Electro-Optical targeting devices or threats not using RADAR. So, again we have some limitations. I am going to lump JSTARS and AWACS into this ategory as well. Some of the newer sims are modeling these systems. Most JSTAR type systems will give you a gods eye view of EVERTHING in the air. This is regardless of whether or not they are a threat, emitting RADAR, 300+ miles away, etc. They tend to work a bit too well in the gaming environment. But if the game has it as a resource … use it. AWACS has been modeled in various forms, some similar to a JSTARS type system while others just offer up digital heading calls. SU-27 has an AWACS view that lends itself extremely well to multi-player use. This system allows a person to actually perform the AWACS function and give out calls for bearing and prioritization. There are several examples of this on the 209th VFS Delta Hawks web site at http://www.deltahawks.org on the RADIO COMMS page. F-16 inverted © Neville Dawson VISUAL: Your eyeballs … probably the best detection device ever. Regardless of how you first detect the bandit, when you get into a furball … you are going to have to rely on the old glassies to keep tabs on him. THREAT IDENTIFICATION We know how to find the threat … now how do we identify the threat? I do not mean, is it a MIG-29 or and SU-27, I mean which item in the air RIGHT NOW should you be most concerned with. Probably the most common mistake I see anyone make, and even veterans will get caught in this trap now and again, is not defending against the most immediate threat. Click to continue ...		The missile lock klaxon is going off in your cockpit … you KNOW you have a missile inbound, but if you hold this line just a couple more seconds, you can kill this bandit you are tracking. STOP! If you are certain a missile is tracking you, do nothing else but GET OUT OF ITS WAY! As soon as you know you have a missile tracking you, find it using your aircraft’s sensors and your eyes and begin evasive tactics. CRASH'S RULE NUMBER 2: If you have someone or something shooting at you, get out of it's way before you even think about attacking a target. How do you evade a missile? There are several techniques, some of which are better and more reliable than others are. They all use the same basic root principal … "Fight Missiles with Aspect". What this means is you want to give the missile the most difficult guidance solutions possible by making it maneuver. The first thing you want to do is put the missile on your 3/9 line and "Beam" it.   Your 3/9 line is the imaginary line that goes across your aircraft from left to right. If you look down at the top of your aircraft, and imagine it sitting on a clock face nose pointing to 12 o'clock, you will be able to visualize the "3/9" line. Missiles fly in Lead Pursuit to increase their range, so by putting the missile on your 3/9 line you will cause it to pull maximum lead. As you do this, drop chaff and flares. This may confuse the missile as it tries to create guidance calculations. Do not try and let the missile close in and expect to pull a high G turn to force the missile to over shoot you.   Missiles are designed to explode if they over shoot, (Now you know why you keep getting hit even though the missile went past you) your attempt to pull around the missile will bring you close enough to it that on explosion, you will take damage. (Note: missile damage is frequently collateral damage, direct hits are not required to kill you. A common missile design throws steel bars in a wide ball shaped area when it explodes). You need to judge timing for a break away from the missile as you drop chaff and flares. Near the end of the missile’s flight (after the motor has burned out) you want to pull a high G turn causing the missile to try and pull a turn with you. The chaff and flares may confuse the missile as it tries to track you and it may lock onto that leaving you a get away. Don’t wait too long or, once again, you will be in the blast radius of the missile. I mentioned motor burn out, once a missile motor is burned out, it loses maneuvering and any high G turn it is forced to make becomes unrecoverable energy that causes it to slow down. Most simulators do not do a very good job of this, but these types of maneuvers will still work. Extra Added Bonus: In the EF2000 family of games you can put a missile at your 12 o’clock and do wide barrel rolls. This will spoof a missile just about every time. Problem is in EF, you usually have more than one coming at you at a time. DEFENSIVE BFM Remember I told you that the first turn, BFM maneuver, in a fight is the most important? There are a couple of reasons I say that. Pete Bonanni makes an excellent point in "Art of the Kill", when you pull that first high G maneuver, not only are you creating BFM problems for the bandit to resolve, you are making a clear statement that "I am going to stay alive. If you are going to kill me … your gonna have to work hard for it." (Pete said it with a little more flamboyance … "It’s you and me for all the wine and women in the world".) A mid or low level G turn is almost a surrender ... at this point you might as well just fly straight and level and let him shoot you. The other reason, as we mentioned, is to create BFM problems for your new friend back there. We know we want to get to corner velocity. If you are not there yet, start your maneuver anyway and try to get there. Slowing down is easy, cut the throttle – pull your G’s and make your speed. Speeding up is not so easy … good argument for cruising at or above corner velocity. (I know of no one that flies slower on purpose, but you should pay attention). Pull your turn, put your velocity vector ON THE BANDIT. If you do not, you will create additional turning room for the bandit when you are trying to take it away. Figure 4-1 shows a defending aircraft creating turning room for his attacker. Figure 4-1 OUTSIDE THE TURN CIRCLE You want to begin your BFM turn as soon as possible. If you spot the bandit early enough and can begin your BFM while he is still out side of your Turn Circle, you can turn a defensive position into at least a Head On Pass, or even an offensive position. So there is no missile and you have a bandit on your six, you begin Defensive BFM. How do you know what to do next? How do you know what you are doing is working? If your turn is moving the bandit away from your 6 o’clock position and up towards your 3/9 line, it is working. You want to get the bandit forward of your 3/9 line. If you start your turn while the bandit is outside your turn circle, and you put your lift vector on him and execute the turn correctly, you should force the bandit in front of your 3/9 line. Here is where it gets a little tricky.   If the bandit pulls a Lead Pursuit while you are executing the turn that is forcing him in front of your 3/9 line, he will get the opportunity for a gun shot as he over shoots. Watch out for this. If he starts to pull Lead Pursuit the best way to defend for this is to quickly pull out of plane. At this point, you have to judge when to make your "jink" out of plane. Don’t wait too long, if you’re too late ... your dead, if your too early, you just need to "jink" again. Better too early that too late. F-15 Eagle pilot © Neville Dawson Go to Part II Back to MENU
This material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted in any form without permission of the publisher. Last Updated November 16th, 1998 This article was originally published at the Combat Simulations site

 

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