No matter what your skill level, regardless of your flying prowess, despite your best efforts and intentions, every Air Superiority pilot finds himself dodging a missile sooner or later. We all know that this is just pieces of cardboard being pushed around on a paper map, but I still get a little puff of adrenalin when someone lobs one off the rail at me. When that time comes, it's important to be able to reduce the danger and increase your chances of survival. Here are some tips that I hope will help you avoid making an unplanned and rapid egress from the aircraft. Clean Up Stores that remain attached to your aircraft as you auger in do you no good. It is infinitely preferable to bring your plane back in one piece having missed die target and wasted your bombs than it is to carry a full load into the ground. It is important to develop an sound instinct about jettisoning stores when you face a missile threat. This is not to say that you should always dump your load because I have held on to my iron on more than one occasion, but rather that you should be very confident in your ability to beat the missile (say 85% certain) before you try to perform defensive maneuvers loaded. Remember the follow-on missile! Sometimes you can beat the first one carrying your full load and lose so much energy in the process that the second one proves to be the killer. Break In It's obvious but it bears repeating: break into the threat. A missile launched from your left rear quarter should be countered with a sharp left turn. There are a number of good reasons for this. First you make the missile's job a lot tougher. It must turn more sharply to keep you in its seeker arc when you are a crossing target. You also generate fuzing problems for the missile warhead, represented by the "to-hit" modifier on the combat tables. You also are now closing the range between you and the missile firer (ground or air). This makes it easier to get inside minimum launch parameters before another missile volley can be fired. If worst comes to worst and you get toasted, you can possibly crash your plane into the missile's source (it's a thought, anyway). Avoid The Vertical Sacrelige, you say! Haven't I written of the importance of using the vertical in these very columns? Haven't I extolled the virtues of the pilot that uses all d= dimensions in a fight? Didn't the USAF develop the vertical diving roll tactics for beating SAMs in Vietnam? What gives? Pilots should (and good pilots must) learn to use the vertical in maneuvering to defeat other aircraft. Missiles are simply a hell of a lot better at using the vertical than you are. If you give a missile altitude separation, you give it a chance to tighten its turns and decrease the likelihood that your breaking into it will cause any difficulty. Missiles don't have to worry about energy considerations and dive/climb requirements. Most importantly, missles can never be outclimbed or outdived. You're playing into the missile's strong suit when you go vertical and you restrict your own maneuverability. I've seen a lot of talented pilots make this mistake and get pranged for it. Countermeasures This one is too easy, right? Like you would suffer a major brain hemorrhage and forget to dispense flares and chaff?. I've seen it done and by pilots who should know better. The new rules for decoys make it tougher to rely on them in a pinch and a lot easier to get rid of them in a panic. I'll admit that I haven't played with the new rules enough to have developed a good feel for the right quantity of decoys to dispense. It seems that question can only be answered after the missile has missed or hit. I do know that I've seen people run out a lot faster than previously and I have seen missiles hit more frequently than I recall seeing in the past. Just remember that going down with a belly full of flares is about the most ignominious way to die. Don't forget that proper throttle selection is part of your countermeasures suite. It's not always necessary (or even desirable) to go to Idle every time a heat-seeker gets fired at you, but it's usually suicidal to stay in 'burner. You should try your level best to beat a missile, but remember that you might be successful and if you kill all your energy in a heroic maneuver, you've just become a sitting duck. What good did it do you? In general the new rules make it a lot tougher to beat missiles. In fact, it used to be pretty easy once you got the hang of it. The secret was to wind up on a hex spine in the middle of a lag roll while in climbing or diving flight. No longer. Now those babies really whiz. It's best to avoid them entirely but the best pilots seem to find a way out anyway. Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 15 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com