Basic Fighter Maneuvers - Training

Training

Basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) are used by fighter pilots during a dogfight to gain a positional advantage over an opponent. Pilots must have keen knowledge of not only their own aircraft's performance characteristics, but also of the opponents, taking advantage of their own strengths while exploiting the enemy's weaknesses. Pilots need good eyesight, situational awareness, and the ability to maneuver against an opponent in three dimensions. BFM are generally grouped into two categories:

• Primary BFM
• Relative BFM

Primary maneuvers are those which are performed without respect to an enemy's position. These are often simple maneuvers, such as climbs, turns and rolls. Relative maneuvers are performed in relation to the motion of another aircraft. These are often more complex, including energy saving maneuvers, such as the high and low Yo-Yos, and repositioning maneuvers such as displacement rolls. It is easy to fall into the trap of considering BFM to be a series of set maneuvers providing a foolproof recipe for a dominant position. The reality is that BFM are a series of fluid and often improvised proactive and reactive actions, varying infinitely according to range, altitude, speed, aircraft type, weapons system type and any of an enormous range of other factors. An extremely successful tactic one day may yield unfortunate results if repeated the next day, and pilots often credit luck as a major factor.

BFM are normally considered to be individual maneuvers, where ACM is applied to the tactics behind dogfighting as a whole. In military training, BFM are often conducted against an adversary in the same type of aircraft. This allows the pilot to fly against a machine with known performance values and allows aircrew to build their awareness of important concepts such as sight picture, rates of closure and line of sight rates that are cues to being successful in the visual arena. This also allows pilots to build their BFM skills against one another, without either having a particular technological advantage.

Dissimilar air combat maneuvers are advanced maneuvers performed by aircraft of two separate types (such as F-16 vs F/A-18). This training is valuable in that both pilots are not as aware of the performance capabilities and characteristics of the other aircraft and, therefore, must rely on the fundamental BFM principles and evaluation/decision making skills to maneuver to an advantageous position versus their opponent. In this type of training, the advantages of one type of fighter may differ greatly from the advantages of the other, so pilots learn to refine their BFM skills to make use of the opponent's weaknesses. Using BFM as the building blocks for multiple aircraft maneuvers, such as the finger four, loose deuce, and Thach weave, pilots learn how to maneuver in situations involving one against one, one against two, or even one against many. This type of training, introduced during the last stages of flight school, is more like actual combat, and is the most beneficial for aircrew once basic BFM skills are mastered.