Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

ONE-VERSUS-ONE MANEUVERING, DISSIMILAR AIRCRAFT 189
rotor. Since the PD radar sees only moving objects, the real target will
appear to be surrounded by many other "targets," as each of the rotor
blades alternately increases and decreases its speed over the ground with
every revolution. A Doppler radar and missile normally will have great
difficulty maintaining a steady track on the helo itself with all this distraction,
which can result in erratic guidance, increasing miss distance, and
possibly missile-ground impact. This phenomenon also plays havoc with
most Doppler-rate fuzes, causing early fuzing and warhead detonation.
Active fuzes have problems in this environment, too, as they are susceptible
to detonation on ground return before detecting the target. When the
attacker's primary weapon is known to be a Doppler-type radar missile, the
helo pilot may choose to fly at roughly right angles to the bogey's approach,
which (as described in Chapter 1) should eliminate the primary radar
return completely, or at least hide it in the ground clutter. This tactic
leaves only the rotor blades as radar targets and further complicates the
missile's task. Hovering motionless would serve the same purpose, but
that tends to make the helo highly vulnerable to other weapons.
Flying toward the attacker has other benefits. The increased closure
reduces the bogey's firing time for either guns or missiles, and if the
attacker attempts to track the helo visually to fire a boresight weapon, the
moving target causes the shooter to steepen his dive angle rapidly. This is a
very uncomfortable maneuver for the pilot of a high-speed fighter close to
the ground, and it often causes the attacker to break off a firing pass before
reaching his most effective range. Pointing at the attacker also tends to
hide the helo's jet exhaust from a heat-seeking missile.
Low-level flying is the bread and butter of most helo drivers, and they
are very comfortable in this environment. Not so with the average fighter
jock, who is likely to be quite uncomfortable attempting to bring weapons
to bear against a moving, highly maneuverable, low-level target. This
factor is of great advantage to the helo. The helo pilot also should be aware
of the background he is presenting to his opponent and use any available
opportunity to make things as difficult as possible for the bogey. This can
be done by positioning over variegated terrain, which blends most closely
with the helo's color scheme. Dark camouflage over dark terrain works
best, since shadows may tend to highlight the low-flying helo on sunny
days over a light-colored surface. Mottled terrain is usually more effective
than uniform colors, unless the aircraft camouflage matches the terrain
very closely. Trees, shadows, and hills can also be very useful hiding
places. Water, tall grass, and dusty areas usually should be avoided because
of rotor effects on these surfaces. At best, low-flying aircraft are very
difficult to spot and track visually. With a little effort they can be made
almost invisible.
The helo pilot should also attempt IR masking when he is faced with a
heat-seeking missile threat. Visual masking and IR masking are often
mutually exclusive, however, since hot, usually light-colored desert backgrounds
offer the greatest problems for IR missiles. Such unlikely surfaces
as water and snow can also be quite effective reflectors of IR energy,
particularly if the bogey is attacking toward a bright sun.