Dog fight is a common term used to describe close-range aerial combat between military aircraft. The term originated during World War I, and probably derives from the preferred fighter tactic of positioning one's aircraft behind the enemy aircraft. From this position, a pilot could fire his guns on the enemy without having to lead the target, and the enemy aircraft could not effectively fire back. When two fighter aircraft circle each other trying to achieve this position, it resembles two dogs chasing each other's tails. Combat has been fought in the air since 1911. ... A Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400. ... Combatants Entente Powers Central Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties > 5 million military deaths > 3 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars, was a world... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ...

Air-to-air combat seldom degenerates into a dog fight. If so, guided missile attacks, often beyond visual range, sometimes by surprise, have failed. A fighter with a large wing can sometimes evade a supersonic missile (turn faster than the missile can follow) if the pilot has excellent situational awareness and is a master of angles and timing. Attempting to run away is the least effective survival choice. Supersonic head-on closure with the enemy while evading further missile flights may eventually achieve a tail-chase visual Gatling gun firing range less than one kilometer. A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... he Gatling gun was the first successful rapid-repeating fire arm. ...

Superiority in a Dog Fight depends mostly on the experience and skill of the pilot plus significantly on the agility of his fighter when flown at minimum air speeds approaching loss of control (stall); the winner maximizes the superiority of his own aircraft while forcing his adversary to fly at a design disadvantage. Typically, this is a contest about who can fly the slowest while maintaining violent acrobatic control. Note that Dog Fight itself has nothing to do with supersonic speed, but much to do with the engine power that makes supersonic possible. The $280M F-22 Raptor can stand on its steerable nozzles at less than 100K airspeed yet quickly manuever to bring its M61 Vulcan cannon to bear on a nearby evasive target. In aerodynamics, a stall is a condition in which an excessive angle of attack causes loss of lift due to disruption of airflow. ... F-22 Raptors over California The F-22 Raptor is a highly maneuverable stealth fighter aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. ... Unmounted M61 Vulcan The 20 mm M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barreled, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling gun with an extremely high rate of fire. ...

With modern air-to-air AMRAAM guided missiles greatly extending the general engagement range of jet fighters, some experts hypothesize that dogfighting may be headed toward extinction. Others criticize this view, citing as evidence the United States F-4 Phantom II. All versions but the last (E) of this fighter relied solely on missiles having no gun nor lead-computing Gyro Gunsight and were therefore very vulnerable in gun-range combat. The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range, Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM (pronounced am-ram), commonly known to air crews as the Slammer, is a new generation air-to-air missile, developed as the result of an agreement between the United States and other NATO countries (see below). ... A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... F-4 re-directs here; for alternate uses, see F4 The F-4 Phantom II (simply F-4 Phantom after 1990) is a two-place (tandem), supersonic, long-range, all-weather fighter-bomber built by (originally McDonnell Aircraft Corporation) McDonnell Douglas Corporation. ...

The continued importance of Dog Fighting was demonstrated during the Vietnam War. American pilots flew aircraft equipped with long-range missiles. However, aircrews were adamantly denied permission to fire AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at radar targets without having visually identified the target first, thus completely losing this technological advantage. Lightweight, short-endurance, point-defense fighters MiG-17, Mig-21 are far more agile than heavy, long-range, strike fighters F-105 Thunderchief. Still, surprise (the target did not see attack coming), the AIM-9 Sidewinder short range missile, and cannon fire gained significant US victories in the air over North Vietnam. A RIM-7 Sea Sparrow being launched from the USS Essex (LHD-2) The AIM-7 Sparrow is a medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the USAF, US Navy, and USMC as well as various allied air forces. ... MiG-17 at the Central Texas Airshow, USA, May 2003. ... Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name Fishbed) is a fighter aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. ... The Republic F-105 Thunderchief (commonly known as the Thud by its pilots) was a single-seat, supersonic fighter-bomber used by the United States Air Force. ... Sidewinder Missile The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft. ...

Advanced missile technology has not spelled the end of the dog fight, as missiles are a finite resource (perhaps only six) , and can be thwarted by countermeasures (chaff, flares, electronic deception jamming). The US Navy (TOPGUN) and Air Force (Red Flag) continue to teach postgraduate level classes in air combat maneuvering engagements. TOPGUN is the code name and common name of the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) course. ... RED FLAG is an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. ...

Fictional depiction

• In science fiction films, starfighters are typically depicted as dog fighting in the same manner as in a planet's atmosphere. However, more realistic models such as Babylon 5's Starfury have added a new twist to the combat idea with its ability to quickly pivot its bearing to bring weapons to bear against a tailing opponent.

Poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still, an archetypal science fiction film Science fiction has been a film genre since the earliest days of cinema. ... This article is about the class of fictional vehicles. ... Babylon 5 is an epic science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... The Starfury is the primary single-man starfighter of the Earth Alliance on the TV series Babylon 5. ...

See also

• Thach Weave