Back in the day of bore-sight missiles, they held their own.

LJ The May 99 kill was an F16 AIM120 combo.

I think a lot depends on the maturity of the technology being used.

Back in the day when Courtney was a QWI and I was wandering around air-to-air engagements with little idea as to what was going on....the casting vote always used to go to the chap in the GCI site who would decide who fulfilled the criteria to be labelled a bandit. This changed to being a hostile at some point but I can't remember when or why.

This decision invariably got made based on where the track came from and what IFF they were using. Both bad meant 'have at', either or both good/ indeterminate meant 'better VID'.

The current state of technology where a warplane can, incredibly reliably, tell what a platform is based on engine type, who he is based on IFF and see on friendly link/net where he came from and what other assets think he is - changes the game a bit.

Essentially PID is a whole load more complex - but easier to achieve on your own these days.

However - I do agree that you need a back stop for when it all goes to rats and the CAOC dips in the long range screw driver and the war lord can't make a decision. That will always lead to VID and you'd better bring the right jet, weapon load and skill set to that arena!