Wingmen Tactics
Wingman - Pilots Best Friend
Most people think of combat as simply trading shots with an enemy, but the actual process involves much more than that. First, you must travel safely to the sphere of action. Then, you must detect the enemy and assess the situation. What kind of aircraft is he flying? What are his weapons capabilities? Performance characteristics? Will this be a speed fight, a turning fight, or should you save combat for another day and return to base? All things considered, you must then maneuver into the most advantageous position possible before actually firing your weapons. Combat has several distinct phases. These phases do not necessary occur linearly. In fact, combat is most often an ever-changing mix of the five:
1. Detecting an enemy
2. Positioning for an attack
3. Maneuvering during combat
4. Firing weapons
5. Defending during an attack
Oswald Boeleke, an outstanding WWI fighter pilot and perhaps the best unit leader of the war, neatly summarized the fundamental tactical rules for dogfighting. His eight commandments for fighter pilots, known as Boeicke's Dicta, are rephrased here:
-Take any advantages you can before you start an attack.
-Gain altitude and keep the sun behind you to blind your target.
-After you commit to starting an attack, make sure you finish it.
-Stick to close-range shots, and don't fire until you have the enemy well-lined upon your sights.
-Constantly know where your opponent is. Don't glance away and let him fool you with his maneuvers.
-Make your attack from behind if you can.
-If an enemy is making a diving attack on you, don't evade it. Instead, try climbing up to meet him.
-When flying over enemy territory, remain aware of your escape route toward friendly lines.
-Attack in numbers. If all pilots separate into individual battles, communicate and make sure no one is making a duplicate attack.
DETECTING THE ENEMY
Before you can fire on a foe, you must use all the methods at your disposal to detect him. Conversely, you don't want him to detect you first. It's much harder to keep an eye on all 360 degrees when you're flying alone, so keep your wingman close by until it's time to break formation and enter combat.
Successful fighter pilots all have two traits in common—good eyesight and a keen sense of awareness of the combat environment. Before the advent of modern radar, the only real tool that a pilot had to work with was his own eyesight. Nowdays in an encounter, eyesight also plays an important role in tracking a target with your guns and in training bullets so that they cross your enemy's flight path. The detection phase is perhaps the most critical element of combat. If you exercise every means of detection and find the enemy before the enemy finds you, you'll have the element of surprise on your side.
The best way to find enemy is to constantly alter your flight path so you have a full view of your surroundings. Use different radar modes as you scan the area. If you suspect the enemy is lurking in the area, try weaving left to right. Check the area over your left shoulder as you weave left, over the right shoulder and you weave right. Then, invert your aircraft by rolling over and flying upside momentarily to scan the lower hemisphere of your view.
You can use these tactics while flying alone, or while flying with a wingman. In an ideal situation, you'll have at least one additional body in the air. You can use the buddy system to watch out for one another.
Although these methods may not always prevent an attack on your aircraft, they can help keep you aware of the combat environment. The basic practice of a wingman evolved in WWI and continues to this day as a highly successful way to add longevity to pilots in combat.
"Pilots best friend is his wingman" - Maj. Kevin Grumbler, USAF 59 kills, WWII
Simple stated the purpose of a wingman is to look out for his wingman and provide an extra set of eyes to detect enemy aircraft. Once again the best thing that can be accomplished in Jane's F/A-18 is for you and your wingman to practice practice practice. Nothing can replace the ability of your wingman knowing without asking what you will do in a given situation.
Use Your Wingman In combat expeditions, your wingman is an invaluable resource. By sharing the duty of scanning the skies, you both are able to watch out for one another. During multiplayer play, one of the best sky watching methods you can use is for you and your wingman to both occasionally fly an alternate weave patterns—just avoid colliding with him. The advantage of this system is that you can constantly cover each other's blind spots.
"If you come back from an operation with a kill but without your wingman, you lost your battle" - Lt. Colonel Dietrich Hrabak, Luftwaffe ,125 kills, WWII
COMBAT POSITIONING
Four tenets of combat should be ingrained so thoroughly in your mind that you can recite them instantaneously and under any condition:
-Surprise is your supreme advantage. If your enemy hasn't seen you, you can carefully maneuver into a good firing position.
-Altitude is energy. The higher you are, the more energy (and speed) you have to work with.
-Approach High. Altitude takes advantage of the fundamental rules of energy. Potential energy (stored in the form of altitude) can easily be converted into kinetic energy (airspeed) by diving. Whichever pilot has the most speed holds the initiative. He can choose to press the attack or break it off it the situation is unfavorable.
-Attack from the Rear. Whether or not you've been spotted, if you're behind the aircraft you're attacking, you have a positional advantage. The pilot in front of you must look forward while flying and rely on quick, rearward glances to keep track of your approach. He'll likely spend most of his time trying to evade your fire. Meanwhile, your tailing position allows you to keep a keen eye on your target.
Formation Selection
The basic combat formation employed by tactical fighters is the four-ship flight. The two-ship element is the basic fighting unit. The wingman's main duty is to fly formation on his leader and to support him at all times. He is to clear the area and perform his portion of the briefed mission. A four-ship flight consists of two elements directed by the four-ship flight lead, increasing the mutual support of all. Considering the variety of air and surface threats, terrain, weather, target arrays, and mission objectives that will be encountered in carrying out a wide range of wartime taskings, there is a need for both line abreast(combat spread) and wedge/echelon formations.
Each of these two tactical formations has unique strengths. Conversely, each has weaknesses that restrict their utility and flexibility. For example, line abreast has several strengths. Where the major threat is from enemy fighters, it provides optimum visual cross coverage and good position for rapid maneuvering and mutual support to counter attack. Also, it diminishes the opportunity for a ground threat to be alerted by the leader's overflight and carry out a successful engagement on the wingman. (At ingress airspeeds gunners have an additional 2 to 4 seconds reaction time on a wedge wingman.) Line abreast makes it easy for the leader to check on the position and status of his wingman. It also lends itself well to simultaneous attacks by the leader and wingman against known enemy targets with distance deconfliction and turning room. On the other hand, line abreast formation has certain disadvantages. It is not practical to fly at extremely low altitude with random maneuvering. Moreover, line abreast is difficult for the wingman to achieve spacing on the leader for a sequenced attack, particularly where target location is not precisely known. In this same regard, wedge formation has its own set of strengths and weaknesses.
Wedge provides less 6 o'clock threat lookout coverage and has less flexibility in initial maneuvering to counter air-to-air attacks behind the 3/9 line. On the strength side, wedge formation can be flown successfully at lower altitude, especially in mountainous terrain, because the wingman can keep both the leader in sight and adequately scan approaching terrain. In certain threat scenarios, extremely low altitude flight can be a critically important advantage. Wedge formation also allows for good offensive air capability against a forward quarter threat and allows good maneuvering potential. Wedge also provides much greater maneuvering flexibility as the wingman handles turns of any magnitude by maneuvers in the cone on either side of the leader. Such maneuvering often is required to pinpoint targets at the last minute, and also to evade pop-up ground threats such as automatic weapons fire. Finally, wedge also has advantages for multiple attacks against the same target or target array (not all threat scenarios call for single pass tactics).
Formation Responsibilities
The flight lead assigns responsibilities for each flight member. Dividing responsibilities ensures each
pilot has a manageable number of tasks to perform. Flight member normal responsibilities are:
- Number One: Primary planner and decision maker, primary navigation and radar lookout, visual lookout for mutual support of #2, and primary engaged fighter, if practical.
- Number Two: Maintain formation position, visual lookout, mutual support of number one. Navigation position awareness, and radar awareness as other responsibilities allow.
- Number Three: Support number one. Secondary planner and alternate decision maker, maintain support position for lead element, secondary navigation and radar monitor, visual lookout for number four, mutual support of the entire flight, and secondary engaged fighter, if practical.
- Number Four: Maintain formation position, visual lookout for the flight, mutual support of number three. Navigation position awareness, and radar awareness as other responsibilities allow.
ECHELON (2 ship formation), WEDGE (4 ship formation)
This is the formation most of us think of when we picture wings of aircraft in our minds. The typical echelon formation will have a leader and a wing flying with the wing at a 45 degree position behind the leader. In a echelon formation the wingman's job is strictly to follow his leader, look for enemy aircraft, and make sure his leaders 6 is cleared in combat. A wingman in an echelon formation should never break from his leader without orders from the leader or unless he is attacked at which time he should communicate this to his leader with a breaking command of some type to let the leader know what is going on. The typical distance a wingman will want to be from the leader is 500-6000 ft depending on the speed of the lead aircraft and altitude since turn radius increase with altitude. It is recommends that the wing pilot not fix himself to the lead aircraft as well but drift from the left side to the right side every once in a while to ensure that you clear all your blind spots and are not surprised by enemy fighters. The wingman should also be stepped down in altitude from the leader a few feet in case the leader turns sharply into the wing that a collision will not occur. The echelon formation is a good formation for the novice pilot to fly as it gives him insightful information on what to do in combat situation.
Wedge formation also known as a " Mirror Echelon" formation, is a logical derives of echelon formation. Wedge is defined as the wingman positioned from 30º to 60º aft of the leader's 3/9 line, 4000' to 6,000' back . The advantages of wedge are that the leader is well protected in the 6 o'clock area and is free to maneuver aggressively. The wingman may switch sides as required during turns. He may also switch sides as required to avoid terrain, obstacles or weather but must return to the original side unless cleared by the leader. The flight lead may extend the formation spacing to 12,000' to meet particular situations or requirements. The most significant disadvantage of the wedge is that it provides little to no six o'clock protection for the wingman. Lead changes, if required, are difficult to execute.
COMBAT SPREAD(Line Abreast)
In Jane's F/A-18 this will probably be the formation best used in air to air duels. Line abreast (combat spread) formation is a position 0º - 20º aft, 4000 - 12,000 ft spacing, with altitude separation. At low altitude, the wingman should fly no lower than lead. Unless further defined by the flight lead, wingmen will fly in the 6000' - 9000' range and strive for the 0º line The 6000' - 9000' position provides optimum visual and firepower mutual support for threats from the beam and six o'clock positions. The flight lead may tailor the parameters of this formation to meet particular situations or requirements. For example, in poor visibility conditions at low altitude, the wingman may be briefed to fly 4000' - 6000' lateral spacing. For certain air-to-air scenarios, the briefed lateral spacing may be 9000' - 12,000' to enhance six o'clock visual coverage while complicating the enemy's visual acquisition of all aircraft in the formation. The wingman needs to maintain a formation position which allows him to perform his other responsibilities and not spend all his time flying formation. Each pilot must be in a position to detect an adversary converting on the wingman's stern prior to that adversary reaching firing parameters. Against an all-aspect, all-weather adversary this may not be possible. F/A-18 rearward visibility field-of-view (FOV) is not a limiting factor, as it is in most other aircraft. This formation allows element members to be in position to quickly bring ordnance to bear when a threat is detected. A vertical stack of 2000 to 6000 feet, when applicable, minimizes the chance of simultaneous detection by a bandit.
Knowing what your wingman will do is critical to making a combat spread (line abreast) formation work properly. Usually a predetermined plan of action will already have been developed between each pilot in advance to cover any situation they might run into and a abbreviated set of codes made up to put them into action.
WINGMAN POSITION
There are two basic combat positions wingman can take in formation: High/Low Split and Loose Duce.
High or Low Split: This basic combat position in formation is used in 2 vs 2 engagements. The primary consideration in a combat spread is not to merge into each other and for this reason the hi-low split is a good tactic to use to make sure this doesn't happen. Wingman flies a predetermined altitude higher/lower than the wing leader. This gives the advantage again of better being able to see around each of you and lessen the risk of collision after merging on enemy aircraft.
Loose Duce: This is more of a tactic used in any combat formation when you engage only one fighter at a time. The leader will engage the enemy aircraft while the wing will orbit at a higher altitude and watch for other enemy aircraft coming in and to see if the wing leader loses the tactical advantage. If this happens it's the wings job to drop in and allow the leader to disengage by attacking the enemy aircraft. The lead pulls up and circles to watch over the wing at this point and this procedure is maintained till the bogey is destroyed.
This usually results in downing of the enemy aircraft faster and allows both wings to exit the danger zone quicker. This tactic should not be used unless it is known that no others fighters are around to bounce you. (for example this tactic can be used when one enemy fighter has already been engaged and shot down and you know that there is no danger of another enemy attack)
COMMUNICATIONS
Learning communication and there shortcuts will aid in the coordination of formation flying and combat missions. Knowing where and what your teammate is up to is vital to survival and effective offensive and defensive maneuvers. Here are some of communications used by real-life pilots and description of what they mean. Abbreviation of this command are not official and are only for internal use, so you are free to make your own personal abbreviations. The porpoise of aberration is to make it easier and faster for typing this commands.
If you use Real Time -Voice communicator like Roger Wilco or other programs like that then use full command instead of abbreviation. In a heat of battle every second is valuable and its not good to be killed while you are giving command or other communications to your wingman. Please commit the following communication chat messages to memory.
Position communication:
command
ALPHA CHECK (to selected point)
abbreviation
ALC
description
Request for/confirmation of bearing
and range to described point.
ANCHOR
ANH
Orbit about a specific point;
refueling track own by a tanker.
ANGELS
ALT
Height of aircraft in thousands of feet
(i.e. ALT5 - Angels 5,000ft - Altitude 5,000ft)
BEARING (in degrees)
BER (in degrees)
Bearing direction in degrees.
(i.e. BER 90 - bearing 90 deg(east))
BRAA
BRA
Tactical control format providing target
bearing, range, altitude, and aspect
relative to a friendly aircraft.(i.e. BRA 90, 25nm, ALT5, Hot
- bearing 90 deg. 25 Nautical miles, Low, head on)
BULLSEYE
EYE
An established reference point from
which the position of an object can be referenced.
May be cardinal/range or digital format.
HIGH
HI
Altitude between 25,000 ft and 40,000 ft baro.
LOW
LO
Altitude below 10,000 ft baro.
MEDIUM
MED
Altitude between 10,000and 25,000 ft baro.
MOTHER
MOTHER
Parent ship-Carrier
VERY HIGH
VHI
Altitude above 40,000 ft baro.
Combat communications:
command
ABORT
abbreviation
ABORT
description
directive to cease action/attack/event/mission.
ALAMO
ALA
Enemy all-aspect radar missile.
ARCHER
ARC
Enemy heat-seeking missile.
ATTACKING
ATG
Indicates air-to-surface attack on
a specific ground target.
(i.e. ATG - Attack Ground Target)
BACKFIRE
T22
Tu-22M Bomber
BINGO
BINGO
Fuel state needed for recovery.
BIRD
BIRD
Friendly SAM
BLIND
BLND
No visual contact with friendly
aircraft/ground position.
Opposite of Visual.
BOGEY DOPE
BOGD
Request for information as briefed/available.
BOGEY (whit direction)
BOGEY
A radar or visual contact whose identity is unknown.
BRACKET (left/right)
BRACKET (left/right)
Directive call to maneuver to a position
on opposing sides, either laterally or
vertically from the target.
(i.e. BRACKET right/left)
BRAKE (left/right)
BRAKE
Directive to perform immediate maximum
performance turn in the indicated direction.
Assumes a defensive situation.
(i.e. BRAKE right/left/high/low)
BUSTER
AB
Directive call to fly at max. continuous speed mil power.
CHICKS (whit direction)
CHIK
Friendly aircraft.
CLEARED HOT
CLRHOT
Air to ground ordnance release is authorized.
DECLARE (whit direction)
DECLR
Inquiry as to the identification of a specific
track(s). target(s), or correlated group.
DEFENSIVE
DEF
Aircraft is in a defensive position and
maneuvering with reference totted
condition (Spike/Missile/SAM/Mud/AAA).
Opposite of OFFENSIVE
ENGAGED
ENG
Maneuvering with the intent to kill. Implies
visual/radar acquisition of target.
FAST
FAST
Target speed is estimated to be 600 knots
ground speed or greater.
FENCER
Su24
Su-24 Fighter/Bomber
FISHBED
Mig21
Mig-21 Fighter
FLANKER
Su27
Su-27/33/35 Fighter
FOX ONE
FOX1
Simulated or actual launch of semi-active
radar-guided missile.
FOX TWO
FOX2
Simulated or actual launch of IR-guided missile.
FOX THREE
FOX3
Simulated or actual launch of active
radar-guided missile.
FOXBAT
Mig25
Mig-25 Fighter
FOXHOUND
Mig31
Mig-31 Fighter
FRIENDLY
FRND
A positively identified friendly contact.
FULCRUM
Mig29
Mig-29 Fighter
GROUP (whit direction)
GRUP
Radar target(s) within approximately
3 NM of each other.
HIND
Mi24
Mi-24 Helicopter
HOSTILE
HOST
A contact identified as an enemy upon
which clearance to fire is authorized in
accordance with the theater rules of
engagement (ROE).
MAGNUM
MAG
Launch of friendly anti-radiation missile.
MUSIC (on/off)
JAM
Electronic radar jamming
(electronic deception jamming).
NO JOY
NJOY
Aircrew does not have visual contact with
the target/bandit/landmark.
Opposite to Tally.
OFFENSIVE
OFE
Aircraft is in a offensive position
and going after a kill.
RANGE
RANGE
Two or more groups primarily separated
in distance along the same bearing.
RIFLE
RIFLE
AGM-65 (Maverick) launch
SAM (whit direction)
SAM
(with direction) Visual acquisition of a SAM
or SAM launch.
SANITISE (left/right)
SANI (left/right)
A directive call to clear an assigned area
with the radar . Searching for additional threats.
SPIKE (whit direction)
SPIKE (whit direction)
(with direction) RWR indication of a radar
threat in track and launch. Include
bearing/clock position/azimuth and threat
type if known.
SPLASH
SPLASH
A/A target destroyed.
TALLY (whit direction)
TALY
Sighting of a target, bandit,
bogey or enemy position.
Opposite of NoJoy.
UNABLE TO COMPLY
UNABLE
Can not comply as requested or directed.
VISUAL (whit direction)
VISU
Sighting of a friendly aircraft or ground
position. Opposite of BLIND
WILCO
WILCO
Will comply whit received instructions
WINCHESTER
WINCHES
No ordnance remaining
