Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

3
One-versus-One
Maneuvering,
Similar Aircraft
Fight to fly, fly to fight, fight to win.
Motto, U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN)
For purposes of this work, similar aircraft denotes fighters having essentially
equal performance capabilities in all areas. Because of the human
influence on the performance of manned fighters, similar aircraft are not
necessarily exactly equivalent in performance, since on any given day,
even with the same pilot, an aircraft is unlikely to duplicate consistently a
given maneuver so that all parameters are within tolerances much closer
than 5 or 10 percent. For this reason it is logical to consider performance
within 10 percent to be similar in most cases. However, considering the
multitude of possible design variations and the influences of each variation
on the many performance parameters, obtaining similarity in all
performance areas almost requires that the aircraft be of the same type.
Even among fighters of the same type, fuel loads and ordnance loads and
configurations can alter weight and drag enough to create performance
variations well in excess of 10 percent.
In most cases combat endurance plays an important role in the significance
of performance variations. The longer the combat endurance of the
opposing fighters, the more telling a small performance differential can be.
Available combat time for many modern fighters is on the order of five
minutes or even less, so larger performance variations may be considered
within the bounds of similarity.
In the present world, which contains a limited number of large arms
exporters and constantly shifting political loyalties, combat between similar
fighters is very likely. The fact is, performance similarity enhances the
importance of soundly conceived and executed tactics for a quick and
decisive victory. For this reason alone the study of ACM between similar
aircraft is exceedingly valuable.
In this, and in most of the following chapters, the discussion of ACM