FJ v Helicopter
 

Discussion in Work...What is the most effective way for a FJ to tackle both support and attack helicopters? Obviously without giving too much away..:confused:

Put a jet jockey in the RHS and let him hover it for up to 30 seconds !

fly underneath em and eject the nav.

NC,

You must have the old Tac Manual - procedure now is to fly OVER the helo inverted and eject the nav (this covers the lower altitude cases).

MT

Judging by the small numbers of SH/AH brought down by FJ, you are probably better off getting them on the ground with an FGB, or, in the case of AH, with a rifle!:E

IIRC the USAF combat proven technique is a 1000lb LGB. The only official F15E air-to-air kill as far as I am aware. :cool:

The Typhoon could use its cannon, I suppose :E :E

Hunt in pairs. While heli avoiding one the other takes it out!

Gaz ED, from the point of view of the evading helicopter, it's difficult to see how a fast-mover is going to visually acquire, track and engage a slow, but moving target. One evasive manouevre is to run at max chat towards the attacking aircraft, staying low down so he has to continually lower his nose to keep sight of you. This would hopefully result in his CFIT behind you.

Slow jet (A10) or prop (Pucara) OTH........
Hunt and engage as pair, as was demonstrated against a couple of Scouts during Op Corporate.

Done exercises against A10 and AH with pairs of fighters. AH with chain gun and Stinger, both operating in pairs. Fighters spent as much pulling high G to get out of the sight line of the wingman as they did trying to get into a firing position on the target. Also rarely managed it as the target was more manoeuvrable and close to the ground.

Best advise? If you get a cheap shot, gun/IR/radar against one that hasn´t seen you, it´s worth a shot. If he sees you and starting turning, leave it for another day. You´re going down to fight in his sandbox and there´s too much chance of being hit by something else less small arms or manpad to make it worthwhile.

Anyway, how can you tell zoomy hand combat stories about a fight with a chopper. No street cred whatsoever, particularly if you didn´t get a kill.... :cool:

Some quality responses there!:}

Surely a big fat wobbly Chinook couldn't get out of the way that quick! ;)

You sure??? a chinook is quite fast and can turn rather quick

Last I heard our Typhoons didn't have cannons... isn't that still the case?

What does this symbol mean?;) :confused:

Back when we had Lynx/TOW, one of my Flight Commanders did advocate lobbing a TOW in the general direction of the incoming FJ, his theory being that anyone seeing a humungous cloud of smoke emanating from his intended target might have been dissuaded from pursuing the engagement. The fact that he was on attachment from an allied army with far more missiles than us may have some bearing on his philosophy.

We'd have much rather bugged out and kept evading until FJ mate either got bored or ran out of fuel. Hiding in fire-breaks in forestry doesn't always work against A10s - they just about fit between the trees.

If you were a true anorak you'd know that HMG decided to do away with the cannon, then discovered that the cannon fit was critical to the weight/balance set up, and so UK Typhoons now have the cannon, but the RAF does not train on them, nor stock the ammunition, or so I understand.

Hence my ironic post - I just can't see the point of having a weapon and not be ing able to use it, but maybe that's because in my days in green I never carried anything I didn't really need:ok:

I always thought that story was an urban myth! :\

All too true, but if you weren't aware that the tube heading your way ran out of puff at a little over three-and-a-half km, it could put you off your aim.

M1.1 min sep pass over the top and let the power of Mach do your bidding!

This is often weather dependent. Did a number of techniques in Bos and FI - best plan is to sit high above and drop the nose to loose off a 9L or Asraam from 6k'. Next best is to strafe using the same profile. Radar missiles require a bit more work to be successful, due to the way they acquire the target.

If the weather is bad, then the old 'racetrack' technique will always provide one FJ visual with said helo but you run the risk of collecting a bunch of lead from the side door of the target or from the nose cannon of an AH :\

Visually acquiring helos is tricky, but actually not prohibitively difficult. Radars work too - they don't all just look at the vector of the target and some modes can take into account the rotor blades travelling at a great range of speeds from the centre to the tip ....

ps. Max chat in most helos is prob somewhere around 150kts .. that means you move 2.5nm per min. Given the fact that most FJ intercepts take place at 20nm/min, a helos travel is hardly unpredictable. And they tend to stick to valleys too.

pps. Despite all the above, they're not the easiest of targets to engage successfully, but it is a matter of coordination and discipline. And occasionally some godlike radar work.