What is BFM? – BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS?
What is BFM? How can it SAVE your LIFE in Combat!
What is BFM or Basic fighter maneuvers? Well its something fighter pilots have been learning since WW1 when they started to develop tactics in the wire & fabric fighters of the day. Basic fighter maneuvers includes in flight maneuvers like loops, barrel roles, Cuban eights and much more. Its how & when you employ a specific maneuver in BFM when fighting one or more adversaries in the close visual arena that will save your life and help you win an engagement. BFM has changed very little from those days of fabric & wooden aircraft powered by 100hp engines and held together by glue and wire all those years ago. In todays combat simulators like DCS World, using good BFM will help you survive against other pilots on the multi player servers and against the AI in game.
DCS Multiplayer Experience
The basic fighter maneuvers and mistakes I have seen on multiplayer servers recently has prompted me to white this to help other budding DCS and other combat flight simulators to not make the mistakes. In recent flights online I have met players of all skill levels and they often make the same mistakes leading to their demise. BFM mistakes can be made early at the merge so number one, know your aircraft and it characteristics! You need to know your strengths to take advantage of your aircrafts best features as well as knowing your adversaries aircrafts advantages to plan your fight to win.
One Circle or Two Circle BFM
One Circle BFM – What is it!
The concept or ONE CIRCLE or TWO CIRCLE fights is the first step in an engagement. A one circle fight starts when you turn towards your opponent becoming a nose to nose fight. Aircraft that love the one circle and have high AoA (Angle of Attack) capabilities are the Mig29, Mirage 2000, in fact any delta wing designs generally will be a one circle favorite. These aircraft get normally one very fast turn pointing their nose at you to deploy weapons. You need to be aware and make sure you keep out of their nose area. They will likely loose most of their airspeed in this initial maneuver and then start a downward spiral to maintain airspeed while trying to point at you intemittantly.
Two Circle BFM – The Rate Fighter
Two Circle BFM is where you turn and chase the opponent thus you are nose to tail in the engagement. You are both flying in that direction. There are some aircraft that excel at this with the F-16 Viper being one of the best if not the best rate fighter in the world today in 4th gen at least. This one circle fight requires patience and a strong will because it can take much more time to achieve the kill.
You need to know your aircrafts best sustained G speed and hold it while chasing your opponent! The F-15C I have been using in DCS as I learn to fight and survive loves 480 Knots. At 480 knots it will give me the most G’s and will maintain its speed! Its an incredible machine although one of the low fidelity aircraft its a BFM learning platform. In the future I will probably transition to the F-16 which I have had the opportunity to sit in for real many years back. Its just so important to understand your aircraft to get the maximum from the airframe.
The Merge in BFM.
What is the BFM and how does a merge happen? A merge can occur in many ways but often an aircraft can come into the visual arena from a long range and you cannot identify it or their are other aircraft in the area you cannot employ a long range missile safely. It maybe you could not identify it at distance and or neither has missiles to engage at distance. When you can see them your opponent you are in BFM territory. Fighter pilots train different scenarios and you should too! Not all engagements are expected and planned. You must be ready at all times.
Get onto a server with a friend and start with one behind the other and try to get on the rear aircrafts tail my maneuvering. You can start side by side known as a butterfly set where you fly away at 45 degrees then turn back and fights on. The classic is where you pass each other going opposite directions and begin to turn to attack your opponent. There are quite a few DCS servers for practicing BFM or dog fighting. A great place to learn and often die, but that’s part of the learning process.
To go ONE Circle or TWO Circle – Its Your Choice!
What should I do at the merge? If your in a F-16 Viper for example, as the opponent passes and starts to to commit to a turn its your best plan to turn so as to chase him from behind! You will be in a two circle merge which the Viper excels. Now your opponent may not want to go two circle with you so they may reverse their own turn to get back one circle. The ebb and flow is about creating problems for your opponent and making them solve them while your flying to your plan of action.
If committed to a one circle engagement initially ensure your not in their WEZ or Weapon employment zone. The WEZ is the area around your opponent that weapons will be effective. If you stay very close to your opponent they will be left with only the guns option because the missiles need room to guide and arm when launched. This is the proverbial knife fight in a telephone booth.
Be Patient and Maintain Speed Control in BFM
What is BFM and why you must not panic! BFM is as we know a series of maneuvers conducted to get yourself in a positive attacking position! This can also be in a position to escape the fight if the fight does not suit you, your out of weapons or fuel. Yes run away and fight another day is a genuine tactic. This is probably best executed if your not getting a winning position solution. An example of a great escape could be when your in a vertical scissors your opponent continues to climb. Here you could quickly roll over and head for the deck and extend fast enough but must be done strategically when he cannot see you. Time it so his underside is towards you to get a head start.
In my many recent dogfights on DCS Servers I have had some really great dogfights and where I have mostly won the battle with patience. I have great control of the F-15C and its ability to sit on its tail and let me rudder it around keeping the adversary on my lift line seems to be a scary thing because my opponents get frustrated fairly quickly. They then then often stall, which means they essentially become sitting ducks in the air, I rudder the aircraft and even at 100 knots I can get the nose to drop so I can point at the now still opponent and get an Aim-9 off or a guns kill. The ther big mistake is the reversal. Lets talk about that next because I have a lot of guns kill because of it.
BFM – The Reversal
The reversal is a death trap my friends and please just DONT DO IT! a reversal comes when a pilot gets frustrated with the big F-15C on his tail and they cannot shake it! The thought is to change the fight by turning back to the right or even just abruptly pulling up into the vertical. If you do this it will just get you killed! I have killed so many opponents recently that were doing fine and panicked and reversed their turn only to eat a 20mm or Aim 9. Lets look at what you need to do and maybe survive because not everything in BFM is a true solution.
When does it happen? Your fighting an opponent and he is stuck to your tail, your at max burner holding your corner speed well but everything seems to be neutral. Now its all about patience and nerve! If you lose your nerve and reverse your turn, to do something about the current situation you will DIE! What happens when you reverse your turn is essentially you stop in the air relative to your attacker. This will now allow them to get you in their HUD and kill you.
The reason they hadn’t got you yet is you were not in their WEZ (Weapons Employment Zone)! They could not shoot you otherwise they would have already so your doing a great job. You were safe but a bit frustrated by changing direction either up or rolling to dive as well as a lateral reversal makes you stop in the air and you drop into the HUD of your opponent and his weapons. This is a patience game and eventually yes you may run low on fuel or they may get distracted and not maintain the correct cornering speed then you will make your way around the circle and kill them. Maintain your speed and G at your optimum and let the other player make the mistake!
AOA and CORNER SPEED is your FRIEND in BFM
Your task is to know your aircrafts best sustained corner speed and go practice flying it will its instinctive. The sound of the aircraft as well as visual cues will make you a better and more effective BFM pilot. Hey real world pilots spend SIX MONTHS learning to fight a new jet and most DCS pilots want to know it all in 6 minutes. You will get much more by learning your speeds and max AOA of your aircraft and practice it. If your a Viper jock then speed is enough because the F-16 controls your AoA and wont let you get more than it will allow you. The Mig29 and F-18 will give you the world and some but at the cost of airspeed and remember, Airspeed is Life!
In Basic Fighter Maneuvers – Patience is Key! BFM is NOT a SPRINT!
In learning what is BFM you need to understand some other basic maneuvers. I would be confident if your reading this you would have some very basic flight aerobatics knowledge. If your looking for some more options to survive in combat then read on. I am going to presume you know what a loop, an aileron roll and barrel roll are for now. These maneuvers also make up some more complicated ones like a Cuban 8 allowing you to change directions quickly. We also need to know what a high & low speed yo yo are because I use them nearly daily when I fly. Its also worth noting all these can be done in any plain ie vertically, horizontally or in combination of both plains.
The High and Low speed Yo Yo are all about speed management, rate of overtake and repositioning behind the bandit. When your at a low speed but about to overtake the target you can dive while preventing you overtaking the bandit then pull up behind the target. The high speed Yo YO is much the same simply but your both carrying lots of speed to you pull up to bank some of that energy while again preventing an overshoot.
Lead – Lag and Pure Pursuit Geometry
The difference between Lag – Pure – Lead Pursuit in BFM is where you place your flight marker relative to the target generally in your HUD. If your looking to make ground then your going to pull enough lead to have your nose pointing in front of the target. This will give you the best closure rate. Pure Pursuit is still normally a quick rate of closure where you place the flight marker on the aircraft with lag pursuit being slower and managing where your flight path marker is behind the target aircraft. This concept will allow you to control your intercept and closure to the target and manage the speed in which it occurs. Its also worth noting that its best done when your in the same plain of movement as the bandit. I am super confident if I keep you in the same plane of movement and your between ma line from my nose to tail above my cockpit Ill get you out in front of me by using these techniques.
You Will DIE but You Will Gain Experience!
I would highly recommend understanding what is BFM, taking to the Mission Editor in DCS World or your sim of choice if it has one and make scenarios with the AI at lower then higher ability till your mostly killing them. Let them start behind you then in front of you and try and stay alive without killing them in the first few seconds. Practice your maneuvers then set up a head on pass and try different jets to fly against you. The will all do different things so be ready with your own game plan. This is what I did before going online on the DCS Servers.
I would recommend guns fights first them add missiles and practice your missile evasion and Decoy/Flare/Chaff employment. Its important not to lose sight of the opponent. Its often said Lose Sight Lose the Fight so keep your mark one eyeball on target at all times. The other old adage is if you can’t see him – He is behind you! So Do something NOW!
With this Basic Introduction to What is BFM! You will SURVIVE!
Author.
Brendon McAliece is a multi lingual expat who brings over three decades of flight simulator/PC building experience as well as over two decades of real world jet fighter experience as a weapons/egress technician. He holds a sport pilot certificate giving him real world flying experience. Hi travels have taken him from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and his home of Australia. He has a passion for travel, languages, flight simulation as well as guitaring and coffee. You can read more in his blogs below.
Learn more @ DreamingGuitar.com – DreamingCoffee.com – LetsFlyVFR.com
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