Air Combat Maneuvering
Background
BACKGROUND
The overall goal of ACM is twofold: 1) to gain a firing solution and destroy an aircraft, and 2) to deny a
firing solution from another aircraft. More explicitly in the Training Command, the goal is also twofold: 1) to
execute maneuvers and participate in practice engagements to reach a firing solution, and 2) to deny the
bogey a firing solution.
ACM ENVIRONMENT
Before discussing the type of maneuvers and
engagements and the procedures for executing
them, you should understand something about the
airspace in which ACM takes place, so that you can
exploit it to your best advantage. The ACM
environment (Figure 1), like any other arena, has
dimensions you can measure with rules and
limitations, beyond which you are severely
penalized. Even though the environment is larger
and more dynamic than a simple arena, it is a
three-dimensional environment through which you
will maneuver in an infinite number of planes,
ranging from the pure vertical, through the oblique,
to the pure horizontal. The limitations stem from a
combination of the effects of gravity, your energy
state and airspeed, your limitations of your aircraft,
and your individual situation given a “snapshot of
time” during an engagement; all of which we will
consider before we talk about specific procedures.
Why? Because the procedures are only a means to
an end. When you enter the three-dimensional
ACM environment in an aircraft like the T-45C that
does not have a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than
Figure 1: ACM ENVIRONMENT
one, your energy package is finite and ACM
becomes a series of tradeoffs—a continuous series of decisions based on what you know about your
aircraft and your situation. Because in the Training Command we will consider only rear-quarter weapons
as you engage a bogey, your basic strategy will be to bleed the bogey’s energy to the point where you can
maneuver to his six o’clock and employ your weapon within the appropriate weapons envelope before he
can do it to you.
In ACM, unlike previous blocks, your target will be maneuvering to reach your six in an attempt to employ
his weapons just as you are trying to maneuver against him. If you allow a bogey to force you into a
situation where you have spent your energy to the point where you can no longer counter his assault, you
have reached the point commonly referred to as being “out of airspeed and ideas.” In the Training
Command, this simply results in a “Knock it off” call. In the real world, you usually only reach that point
once.
To summarize, the following two concepts depend on each other: 1) energy is paramount (speed is life),
and 2) choosing the right maneuver at the right time and aggressively managing your energy as you out-fly
and out-think the bogey will prevent you from ever finding yourself “out of airspeed and ideas.” We will
first consider those elements that affect your turning performance with the concept of the “tactical egg.”
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T-45C Revision 1
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