Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, SIMILAR AIRCRAFT 117
"8") before AOT increases beyond limits. Should the attacker begin his
pull-down too early, he will have insufficient nose-tail separation and
probably will induce a defensive spiral. If the pull-down is performed too
late, the target may generate enough AOT in its pull-out to preclude a valid
shot.
Timing is very critical to this end-game, and the shot opportunity will
be missed quite often. When timing the pull-down at point "7," it is
usually preferable to err on the late side, rather than be early. Too much
nose-tail separation resulting from a late vertical pull normally allows the
angles fighter to maintain an offensive position; but too little separation
often results in a defensive spiral, from which either fighter may gain
advantage.
If it is obvious at about time "7" that a shot will not be forthcoming, the
attacker has the option of disengaging or continuing the fight. Disengagement
may be accomplished by rolling opposite to the direction shown in
Figure 3-8 and extending away from the bogey. When a pilot is separating
from a missile fighter, however, it is imperative that it be kept in sight
until maximum firing range has been exceeded. Accelerating to maximum
speed and diving to low altitude usually aid disengagement by reducing the
maximum firing range of a hostile missile.
If the angles tactician chooses to pursue the bogey after a missed shot, he
can expect his opponent either to extend for separation or to come back in a
nose-high maneuver, which often results in a rolling scissors. Therefore
the attacker should be careful to attain his vertical-maneuvering airspeed
before pulling out of his dive, even if this requires overshooting the bogey
vertically. The threat of the angles fighter deep in his rear hemisphere may
induce the bogey pilot to pull out at too slow an airspeed, giving the angles
fighter an advantage in the ensuing rolling scissors.
The Energy Fight
The energy tactics described in the guns-only section are almost entirely
relevant to the RQ missile scenario. Although this scenario eliminates the
threat of a forward-hemisphere gun shot with each pass, there are other
dangers inherent in the use of energy tactics with these weapons. For
instance, although these missiles are termed "rear quarter," a very slow
target with little G capability is unable to present a high LOS rate to the
missile in its terminal phase and therefore may be vulnerable at much
greater AOT than a highly maneuverable target would be. The energy
fighter will be slow and vulnerable at the top of its vertical maneuvers.
Going vertical without sufficient energy advantage, allowing the bogey to
gain more than 90° of position advantage, or pulling-up substantially
before the bogey crosses six o'clock may allow the opponent to get his nose
on the energy fighter for a beautiful look-up shot. Although these errors
can also cause trouble in the guns-only scenario, they are even more deadly
here since increased range of the missile can offset a considerable target
height advantage over the shooter.
It can be expected that more turns in the rolling scissors will be required
to satisfy RQ missile parameters than to reach the gun snapshot envelope.