Now, back to the fight. I made my turn to the left, and after about 50°, I noticed that Smitty was maneuvering slightly out of plane above me. Great. I rotated my lift vector to keep right on him. He countered by going even higher in the vertical.
Taking a 30,000-pound jet that does not like slow airspeeds in the vertical can be a very unforgiving maneuver. The F-16 flies slow very well as long as you’re careful not to assault the flight control computer limiters. The limiters keep you from putting the aircraft out of control. They work best, however, when the jet is fast and the nose is level or below the horizon. In fact, an F-16 adage is “When you are slow and nose high, don’t assault the limiters.” As you get nose high and slow, a pilot with “Armour Star” hands can fly the jet past the limiters and end up a passenger in a large mass of metal with the flight characteristics of a riding mower. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get slow and nose high in the F-16. It just means that when you do, you better do it right.
When Smitty drove his jet to a position at my high 6 o’clock, I had to make a decision. Should I continue a safe level turn or keep my lift vector on him and challenge him in the vertical? In truth, there was no choice. If I had stayed level, he would definitely have shot me.
The fight had now gone about 90°, and I had 320 knots of airspeed as I pulled straight up with my lift vector right on Smitty. He was now in the hurt locker because he had 100 knots more airspeed on his jet than I did. This gave him a good turn rate (although not much better than mine) but a very large turn radius. Fighter pilots have a saying that “Radius overshoots,” and this is what happened to Smitty. As we both went in the vertical, my smaller turn radius fit inside his bigger turn radius, and he simply flew out in front of me. The only problem I had at this point was controlling the nose of the jet at 130 knots, but luckily for me, Smitty panicked when he saw that I was behind him. He rolled off and went nose low for airspeed. This gave me the chance to pull back down and regain some smash myself. It took about 15 seconds for me to go from a defensive perch setup to a gun kill.
Smitty’s primary mistake was getting turning room in the vertical. Turning room, as you know, is used to solve angle-off and aspect problems. It’s usually best to get your turning room in the horizontal against a high performance fighter. When Smitty went into the vertical, he gained turning room that both pilots could use. Since we had roughly equal turn rates, and since I had a tighter turn radius, I could use the turning room better than he could and gained the advantage.
The point of this story is that even against a good pilot, you can survive if you force him to make a mistake. In order to do this, however, you must know what to do and then execute it flawlessly.
Introduction to Defensive BFM
The stakes are high when you find yourself on the defensive. Defensive BFM is characterized by difficult, high-G combat, flown while you look out the back of the jet. Since most fighter pilots don’t do their best creative thinking twisted around in the cockpit under high Gs, it is best to have a game plan in mind before finding a bandit at your 6 o’clock. We mentioned in Chapter 2 that offensive BFM is not a set of specific moves but rather a series of fluid maneuvers. The same is true when you start with a bandit behind you^There are no magic moves that will move a bandit from your 6 o’clock to your 12 o’clock. In fact, if you fly perfect defensive BFM and the bandit flies perfect offensive BFM, you will get shot down. This statement speaks volumes about defensive BFM.
Defensive BFM is very simple: create BFM problems for the bandit, and when he BFMs, try to counter his BFM to buy time and survive a little longer. By forcing the bandit to BFM, you may force him to make a BFM error that you can capitalize on. If he doesn’t make a mistake, he will drive into gun parameters. When this happens, you must be ready to defeat the gun shot.
Detecting the Attack
Before you can defend against an attack, you must detect that you are under attack. Most air-to-air kills are against targets that have no idea that they are about to be stuck. There are three primary methods used to detect an attack:
Radar
Your air-to-air radar is the best way to detect an attack because it can look out past 40 nm. All airborne intercept (AI) radars are limited in azimuth and elevation coverage, so radar will not always warn you that bandits are in your area.
Threat Warning System (TWS)
Your threat warning system can detect if any radars are looking at your jet. Again, TWS threat reactions will be covered during the discussion of the engaged two-ship element in the next book.
Visual
No matter how else you detect an attacking bandit, eventually you will have to get a tally to fight him effectively. This chapter will discuss what to do when you see an attacking bandit.
Defending Against a Missile
Whether you see an attacking bandit or not, you must adhere to a fundamental rule of air combat: “Fight the most immediate threat.” You will face a lot of confusing situations as a fighter pilot. To increase your chances of survival, fight the threat that is in the best position to kill you. For example, take a MiG-29 at 6 o’clock that has fired an AA-11 Archer IR missile at you. When that missile leaves the rail and starts guiding on you, the MiG is no longer the biggest threat to your jet. The missile becomes the primary threat, so you must fight the missile.
Here’s another fighter pilot axiom to keep in mind: “Fight missiles with aspect.” When a missile is fired at your jet in the aft quadrant, the best way to defeat it is with a maximum rate turn to put the missile on the beam (along your 3/9 line). You will give a missile the most guidance problems if you put the missile at your 3 or 9 o’clock position. In this position, you will be at 90° of aspect with respect to the missile, and it will have the worst possible line-of-sight rate problem to solve. Missiles fly lead pursuit courses to the target in order to achieve maximum range. If you hold the missile somewhere on your 3/9 line, you will make the missile pull the maximum amount of lead. You will also be moving across the missile field-of-view at the fastest rate. Figure 3-1 shows this position.
In Chapter 2, we discussed max G turns at corner velocity. It is critical that you generate your best turn rate to drive the missile to the beam quickly. Don’t think in terms of trying to force the missile to overshoot with a tight turn radius. Missiles are designed to explode as they overshoot you. If they fly past you inside the lethal radius of the warhead, you will be turned into a cloud of body parts. Also, while making a defensive turn to put the missile on the beam, always remember to dispense chaff and flares.
Creating BFM Problems for the Bandit
A bandit shows up at your 6 o’clock. What do you do?
If he fires a missile, fight the missile! But before a missile is fired, you must turn and create BFM problems for the bandit. The defensive turn should be the quickest, tightest turn you can make. There are obvious BFM reasons for doing a high-G turn, but there are psychological reasons as well. An 8 G turn into the bandit will make a clear statement of your intent to remain alive and fight this guy with everything you’ve got. An 8 G turn says to the bandit, “It is me against you for all the wine and women in world.” A 4 to 5 G turn says that you are Little Bo Peep and have somehow managed to take off in a fighter. You will invite slaughter (and deserve it) with a weak turn.