Air Combat Maneuvering, AKA Dogfighting

Fight AND Flight!

In my last post, I noted that during my time as an F-16 pilot, about two-thirds of the flights were air-to-ground missions. Most of the remaining third was spent on air-to-air combat training. And since I typically flew 4 to 6 sorties a week, I flew plenty of “dogfighting” missions.

We flew several types of air combat training missions.

Basic Fighter Maneuvers –BFM—missions were two ship flights to work on one-v-one flight skills. BFM missions provided the building block skills for successful air-to-air combat maneuvering. These missions typically consisted of an instructor pilot training the second pilot.

Air Combat Maneuvers –ACM—were typically in-squadron, two-v-two missions. We would take off as a four-ship and then split into twos to opposite ends of the flight space, putting the two flights 20 to 30 miles apart. Once both flights of two were positioned, we flew towards each other in a head-on attack.

The fight got seriously underway at the merge, with the pilots of each flight maneuvering to get in position for valid missile or cannon shots and also supporting the other flight member.

These missions were very challenging, with hard maneuvering, keeping track of three other jets in three dimensions, and dealing with heavy G loads. The flights were also tremendous fun, and since we were flying against squadron mates, plenty of bragging rights were involved.

Dissimilar Air Combat Maneuvers – DACM—ratcheted up the challenges another notch. On these missions, we would go two-v-two against other types of fighter aircraft. The Fighter Weapons School and Aggressor Squadrons were stationed at Nellis. Also, fighter squadrons from all over the U.S. came to participate in Red Flag exercises. As local pilots, we had many opportunities to set up DACM missions. I fought F-15s, F-18s, and F-5s of the Aggressors.

I was lucky to have spent my F-16 flying days at Nellis AFB. Fighter pilots from the Air Force, Navy, and Marines came to Nellis to participate in various large-scale exercises. We participated in some exercises in an air-to-air role and would often set up dedicated flights to fight visiting fighters.

Also, at Nellis, at the other end of the airfield, operated the Fighter Weapons School, flying F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s, and the Aggressor squadron, flying F-5s. We would regularly get tasked to fly missions against these units, often as aggressor/bad-guy forces, or to provide training missions for the Aggressors. As one of the top qualified pilots in the squadron, I got to fly more than my share of these missions. Some provide tales for other posts.

I will close with one story. I was flying in an exercise, the details of which I don’t remember. I do remember that I was tasked with air-to-air support. In the distance, I spotted a jet, which did the same, and we met in a high-speed head-on pass. It was an F-14 on the opposite side of the war games. I learned that an F-14 has one good turn before running out of maneuvering energy. That turn wasn’t enough, and I quickly maneuvered to a kill shot position.

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