There are several ways you can get into a head-on BFM engagement. One way is to get 25 miles apart and then do an intercept to an engagement. The most fuel-efficient way of getting into a head-on fight is to do a butterfly entry. On a butterfly, the two fighters start line abreast and then turn 45° away from each other. When they get about four miles apart, they turn back into a head-on pass. They can make a “Fight’s on” call as they start to turn back into each other, or they can call “Fight’s on” as they pass head-on.
Appearances, though, can be deceiving. As we passed, I quickly rolled 180° and reversed my turn to the left changing the engagement to a one-circle fight. The lieutenant had done everything right up to this point. He had executed a good nose-low slice and had gained angles on a limited-thrust aircraft. He had maintained his energy as he entered what he thought was a two-circle fight and was attempting to lead turn at the pass. He expected the fight to stay two-circle (since most fights do), and he knew he had more airspeed and a better sustained turn rate with the use of the afterburner. So he passed my jet and kept turning right.
As he looked out of the right side of the cockpit, he was shocked to see my jet across the circle in a left-hand turn pulling toward him. I could tell he was surprised because he did what most inexperienced guys do in this situation. He just kept pulling toward me in a horizontal turn. This turn lasted a few seconds, long enough for him to start to fly out in front of me. His superior thrust and greater airspeed gave him a bigger turn radius, and I simply fit my smaller radius inside his, in this one-circle fight. I was in military power, so I was at least 100 knots slower at this point. He still had a big advantage, but he could not convert it into a kill. When you are new in the air combat game, you frequently reach down into your bag of tricks and pull out a handful of lint. That’s what happened here. The lieutenant just rode that big GE engine around a horizontal circle that was too big, with a great big question mark suspended over the his canopy. I quickly gained a 3/9 line advantage and got a chance to practice my gun tracking. It was over very fast.
What happened here? The main problem for my opponent was that he had not seen a move like this before, so he wasn’t sure what to do. When I took the fight one circle, he should have gone into the vertical. I had very poor energy relative to his jet at this point, and he could have gained turning room above me. He could have then converted this turning room into a 3/9 line advantage. Another thing he did wrong was to get overconfident. The moral here is that there are no predetermined outcomes in air combat. Even when you start with an advantage, you must fly smart to win, starting with the fundamentals of modern fighter head-on BFM, which you will learn in this chapter.
Introduction to Head-on BFM
A head-on BFM fight requires more maneuvering than any other fight we have discussed so far. As you approach an enemy fighter head-on, you have two options: you can separate or you can stay and fight. The biggest decision you must make when passing a bandit head-on is whether you should get anchored in a turning fight. If you enter a fight with a bandit from head-on, you will use up both energy and time. Energy is needed to maneuver, and time can be used against you by yet another bandit who may find your fight and get in on you for a shot. If you take too much time, you may be winning the fight you started with one bandit, but losing a fight with a second bandit you don’t see.
There are many good reasons to blow past the bandit and separate. There are also plenty of times when you will have to turn and fight. This chapter will provide the academic background to help you construct a game plan for fighting a bandit from head-on. Before plunging into head-on BFM, you need to understand the concept of the “escape window.”
The Escape Window
A fighter pilot enters a fight to shoot down the enemy and survive to fight another day. As you enter a fight, you must be aware of your position in regard to your escape window. The escape window represents your safe path out of the fight. Said another way, the window represents your chances of separating from the fight. The window expands and contracts based on both the geometry of fight and your energy. If you jump a single bandit that doesn’t have a tally, your escape window is huge. You can leave the fight at anytime. However, if the bandit picks up a tally and starts a defensive turn, your escape window starts to shrink. As the window shrinks, the probability of getting out of the fight goes down. At some point in a maneuvering fight, your escape window closes completely. Figure 4-la shows an offensive BFM setup with the attacking fighter inside the bandit’s turn circle at low angle-off. Is the escape window open or closed?
In this engagement, the escape window is closed. Figure 4-lb shows why. At low angle-off, inside the bandit’s turn circle, the attacker cannot get out of the fight. If he tries to leave the fight, the bandit will just reverse his turn and stick the attacker with a missile. The escape window for the bandit is definitely closed. Since neither fighter can get out of this engagement, somebody is going to the meat locker. The defensive fighter knows that he can’t get out of this fight. The offensive fighter may not know the window is closed. Lots of guys try to dive out of a closed escape window, only to get hosed in the attempt.
Figure 4-2a shows another offensive BFM setup. Is the offensive fighter’s escape window opened or closed in this engagement?
It is open. Figure 4-2b illustrates why. When you are outside the bandit’s turn circle, you can get your nose to lead pursuit early enough in the fight to pass the bandit with high angle-off and high speed. You also force the bandit to turn back 180° to put his nose on you after already turning 180° to meet you with high angles. Since the bandit will be slow, your escape window will be open throughout this engagement. What would happen if the attacker drove into lag pursuit and then turned aggressively to put his nose on the bandit? The escape window would close.
In Figure 4-3, two fighters have entered what we call a Lufbery. They are across the circle from each other, pulling to gain an advantage. Can either one of them get out of this fight? No. Again, the first one that tries to leave, dies.
Do not conclude from this discussion that the purpose of air combat is to fly around and keep your escape window open. If you want to be really safe, you should stay on the ground, holding hands with sweet Marie. If you are going to strap on a fighter, you will have to hang it out at some point, in order to kill the enemy. As you enter a fight, however, you should be aware of what your escape window is doing, so you won’t get caught trying to dive out a closed escape window.
Stay and Fight? Or Separate?
So what affects your escape window? Assuming everybody in the fight has a tally (an assumption that is seldom correct), the following factors drive the position of your escape window:
► Your range from the bandit: the greater the range, the more “open” the escape window.
► Your energy relative to the bandit: the greater your energy, the more “open” your escape window.