Questions tagged [aerial-combat]
Combat between two or more aircraft in-flight, typically using guns, missiles, and/or electronic warfare. Some types of aerial combat are known as "dogfighting".
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Would it be practical to have missiles that can aim forward and backwards?
I have been researching recent air-to-air combat kills in some recent wars and in every case it seemed that the pilot who was in the back won. So I was wondering why they don't just design a missile ...
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Is it realistic for a WW2 aircraft to dive to extinguish an engine fire?
In the film "Memphis Belle" there is a scene in which the titular plane is successfully put into a steep dive in order to extinguish an engine fire.
This may have been the inspiration for a ...
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With the loss of a carrier, would American Navy aircraft consider landing on allied carriers in a major conflict? [closed]
Imagine a third world war or a major war involving significant use of carriers, something akin to a modern day variant of the battle of Midway involving carrier battles.
It isn't unthinkable that ...
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Why did the pilots in Top Gun: Maverick invert at the crest of the mountain before descending?
In Top Gun: Maverick, the pilots plan to perform a bombing run in the valley of a craterous mountain range in F/A-18s. At the crest of the first side of the crater, the pilots were instructed to roll ...
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What are the reasons for the end of the dogfight era? [duplicate]
A lot of sources mention that a lot of modern era (5.Gen) fighter jet designs such as the F-35 are focussing on qualities and properties such as stealth, long-range attacks, and versatility just to ...
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Are there any plans to make the QF-16 into a drone for actual combat missions, or a fully autonomous fighter?
It appears to a naive layman like myself that the QF-16 is an excellent platform to use for remote controlled missions akin to that of other drones. Except that the F-16 appears to have a broader ...
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Is it unprecedented for an F-16 to get hit by its own bullet(s)?
According to Dutch state broadcaster NOS, an F-16 was hit by its own bullet(s) in a training exercise:
De F-16 die in januari aanzienlijke schade opliep tijdens een oefening boven Vlieland blijkt ...
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What procedures are used for midair refueling without air supremacy?
One of the major themes of the answers to (and comments on) my earlier question about tankers not having ejection seats is that tankers are used only in environments where the threat from enemy ...
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Is it possible for a fighter jet to shoot itself down with an IR missile?
In this answer, it's mentioned that
However, IR missiles (AIM-9 Sidewinder, AA-11 Archer, MICA IR, ASRAAM) do not emit any EMR that indicates they're incoming; they use a passive FLIR sensor to ...
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