Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

64 BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS
the combination of its position at high AOT and lead pursuit allows it to
close the range continuously, even with inferior airspeed. In general, a
fighter cannot maintain a lead-collision course from a position near the
target's beam without equal or superior speed, but lead pursuit can provide
closure at a reduced rate.
Two other points are worth mentioning about this example. It illustrates
that, in using lead pursuit, the attacker must turn with a decreasing
radius and increasing rate as he closes the range. Eventually he may have to
turn much tighter and faster than the target in order to maintain lead pursuit.
Also note that lead pursuit results in increasing AOT, thereby reducing
the attacker's angular position advantage in the target's rear hemisphere.
Figure 2-2 depicts two possible defenses against a lead-pursuit maneuver
performed by an attacker still out of firing parameters, one appropriate
for a defender with a speed advantage (solid path), the other for a defender
with a speed disadvantage (broken path). In the first case the defender turns
away from the attacker to decrease AOT as much as practical, and then
uses his superior speed to increase range by an extension maneuver as
described earlier. This may allow him to disengage, or it may provide
enough separation eventually to enable him to come back at the attacking
fighter and meet it head-on, negating the attacker's angular position
advantage. This option may not be appropriate against a missle-equipped
attacker, since the turn-away could place the opponent within his firing
envelope.
In the second case slower speed enables the defender to turn tightly
enough to prevent the detrimental effects of arcing, and he meets the
Figure 2-2. Defenses against Lead Pursuit