Just before GW1 became hot, we developed a profile for the VC10K to avoid a fighter being able to achieve a successful weapon lock.
The VC10K had very limited manoeuvre potential, so the initial action was to change speed and height to beam the threat signal. Idle thrust, 20° nose up pitch, turn to beam the threat. Then overbank to 45° AoB and 10° nose down pitch, stabilising in a 240KIAS, 45° AoB idle thrust descent. Select slats out and reduce to 210KIAS, then select flap to T/O 20° and reduce to 170KIAS, still in the 45° AoB spiral aiming to level in haze, cloud or at low level to deny the fighter any firing solution. Not an easy exercise, but we flew it in the simulator and it worked fine.
Fortunately air dominance was achieved before anyone needed to put the profile to the test.
Flight envelope protection will ensure that an A330 or Voyager can be taken to the protected limits fairly easily, but will protect the aircraft from any danger of overstress or structural failure. Whereas the Pegasus doesn't have such benefits and extreme manoeuvre is far more difficult to achieve without causing serious damage.
Our profile was based on a 'leaker' being detected by AWACS at BVR, not as the response to a short range tally sighting, as was the case in ARA8.
the Board agreed that the Voyager’s crew had had very few options for avoiding action due to manoeuvrability of his aircraft and the tracks of the F15, one passing in front and one behind; the Board concluded that his right-turn manoeuvre was probably the best he could achieve.
Indeed - and the Voyager pilot had but a spilt second to make that decision!
I still cannot understand how 4 pairs of eyes and 2 radars in a brace of Uncle Sam's superb Mud Hens couldn't see an aircraft as large as a Voyager in 10km+ visibility though.