This material provides some guidance relating to the basic principles of basic fighter manoeuvres (BFM) – dogfighting as its otherwise known. The material below is drawn almost exclusively from the Falcon 4.0 manual and is the words of F16 IP Pete ‘Boomer’ Bonanni with some editing by the author.
It is helpful to think of offensive BFM as a series of fluid rolls, turns and accelerations rather than a collection of set-piece moves. Some of the manoeuvres in offensive BFM have names, but the modern-day fighter pilot thinks in terms of driving his jet into the control position from an offensive setup rather than in terms of executing a series of named ‘moves’ to counter the bandit’s defensive manoeuvring. The great manoeuvrability of a modern fighters has made a ‘move-countermove’ discussion of offensive BFM obsolete.
Weapons Engagement Zone and the 3/9 line
In principle, BFM is ‘simple’, your job is to manoeuvre your aircraft in such a way that you place the bandit inside your weapons engagement zone (WEZ). As the WEZ for each weapon is different, this places certain requirements on the pilot in terms of where they need to manoeuvre to (and how). At the same time, the pilot is trying to stay outside the bandits WEZ, who is presumably trying to get your aircraft within their WEZ.
In order to help achieve this, you should always keep the bandit ahead of your 3/9 line and prevent the bandit from being behind your 3/9 (see image below). Never overshoot a bandit, this gifts positional advantage to the bandit and is called an ‘overshoot’.
BFM Head On Pass – engage or disengage?
When you pass a fighter head-on, you have the option to separate, stay in the fight, or stay and try to kill the bandit. In fact, the biggest decision you must make when passing a bandit head-on is whether you should get anchored in a turning fight. A lot of time and energy will be expended if you enter a turning fight with a bandit that starts from a head-on pass. Energy is, of course, what you need to manoeuvre and time can be used against you if a third bandit finds your fight. If you take too much time, you may be winning the fight you started with one bandit but losing a fight with a second bandit you don’t see. There are many reasons to try to separate from a fight - and just as many to stay and try to kill the bandit.
One-Circle And Two-Circle Fights
Most head on passes result in either a one-circle or two-circle fight. If both fighters start a lead turn, then the fight will go two-circle as shown in the image below, which means that two distinct turn circles are created.
If one of the pilots turns away, then the fight goes one-circle, as shown in the image below.
Keep in mind that either you or the bandit can force a one- or two-circle fight. The pilot should understand the characteristics of both of these fights. Most head-on passes result in two circle fights. The reason for this is straightforward. Usually, fighters lead turn into each other to use the turning room available in an attempt to reduce angle-off. A lead turn is a turn into the bandit prior to actually passing the bandit, as shown in the image below.
If you are offset from the bandit and turn away, you are not using the turning room available and, worse yet, you are letting the bandit use it. The image below illustrates why turning away from the bandit will cause you big problems.
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5: Basics Of BFM
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