Beyond Visual Range Air Combat Weapons

The Hollywood idea of air combat centres around dogfighting, with two aircraft manoeuvring hard to get on one another's tail with the aim of dispatching the enemy with a burst of gunfire, or sometimes with the firing of a close-range IR-homing missile. In peacetime, this kind of air combat is w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMilitary Technology Vol. 44; no. 2; p. 43
Main Author Lake, Jon
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bonn Monch Publications 01.01.2020
Subjects
Air combat
Aircraft maneuvers
Aircraft pilots
Armed forces
Combat aircraft
Gunfire
Homing
Maneuvers
Military aircraft
Military technology
Military weapons
Peacetime
Pilots
Skills
Target recognition
Weapons
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Summary:The Hollywood idea of air combat centres around dogfighting, with two aircraft manoeuvring hard to get on one another's tail with the aim of dispatching the enemy with a burst of gunfire, or sometimes with the firing of a close-range IR-homing missile. In peacetime, this kind of air combat is what fighter pilots live for, though they tend to refer to it as WVR [within visual range] air combat. Dogfighting is, according to a much-used fighter pilot adage, the 'Sport of Kings.' It represents a chance to hone and show off one's flying skills, appealing to a pilot's competitive instincts. And rules of engagement do sometimes require visual identification of the target, forcing pilots to close to within visual range, while complex multi-national coalition operations can sometimes make very long-range missile shots problematic. In real-world operations, however, WVR air combat will be avoided wherever possible. Close-range combat is inherently dangerous for participants, with too many factors that can make the results unpredictable. Over the course of air combat history, many pilots with superior skills, flying a superior aircraft, have been shot down by the wingman that they hadn't seen, for example. More importantly, the fighter pilot's aim should always be to destroy the enemy at the maximum possible range, before he has the chance to launch long-range stand-off weapons and before he can unleash a return missile shot. The unromantic reality is that the ideal scenario is for the fighter pilot to operate like an assassin or sniper, taking out the enemy at maximum range, at beyond visual range (BVR), before the enemy even knows that he has been targeted.
ISSN:0722-3226