Offensive BFM 2 - Gaining an advantage

This series will cover the essentials of Defensive BFM that you need to survive a dogfight in DCS World. I'm not a fighter pilot. While these videos are based on real tactics, they are for context only and are only relevant in a game environment. This is based on my own understanding and is not professionally authoritative. Accordingly, the tenets in this video are the ones I apply, and not some official law that fighter pilots live by.
The link referenced in this mission is at www.digitalcombatsimulator.co...
When dealing with offensive BFM it makes sense to begin with the correct action to take to maintain the most offensive position you can find yourself in - directly behind the bandit. You can expect them to do their best to defend themselves, and even a simple break turn can be surprisingly effective against someone without a good understanding of the basic geometry and some fundamental principles. This video presents some of those principles.
Chapters
0:00 Intro and caveats
1:53 Aims of the video
2:36 The Attack Window
3:07 Geometry
5:20 Entry Mechanics
7:17 Assessing Entry
8:43 Entry Correction
10:44 How to practice
11:10 Conclusion
By the end of this video you will:
- Know the cues that indicate that you are entering the bandit’s bubble.
- Know how to assess your Attack Window Entry and the appropriate follow-on.
- Know how to judge when Misaligned Turn Circles will develop to your advantage.
Hopefully this video will help you improve your own technique, and develop your understanding of the reality of air combat.

[@RaduFunk]

This is the best DCS channel I've seen in years. No nonsense, just great information presented clearly and concisely. Thank you and keep it up!

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Wow, thank you! Blushing...cheers! For Tyro and Tekada, JUICE

[@immunetou2]

These videos should be required viewing for all new pilots in DCS. Not a bad refresher for some of the seasoned, non-experts out there as well. You provide a nice mix between academic, video and TacView into a nice package since one aspect alone gets difficult to follow. Very well done!

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thank you my friend, and thanks for watching.

[@reeky8244]

This is so good, literly like a textbook or highly reserched manual. It is profesional, conclusive, not to long while not beeing to short at the same time. Could not do it eny better and i will defenetly share this whole guide with my buds. Wish i would have found this faster, i now see why i kept losing. Truly, thank you and keep up the good work👍

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thank you for taking the time to watch, comment and share. It means a lot to us. ~Tyro

[@FJFuentesCO]

Just started with Dcs and have been struggling against AI planes in the F-18. You tutorials are a great find! Can't get the practice mission to show in my folders, but the concepts have helped me out a lot!

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hey there...JUICE here. So, should be an easy fix. Place the downloaded mission file in your Users/yourPCname/Saved Games/DCSversionFolder/Missions folder. And if you don't have one, create it as Missions with uppercase M. Once in the main DCS menu click on MISSION and select MY Missions tab and you should see the mission in the list.

[@FJFuentesCO]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP Thanks! I'll try that. But it might also be that I don't have the Nevada map yet? I'll go through a trial of it soon also if just taking another look at my file folders doesn't work.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Good point. It goes on sale every few months for $25

[@rensblok121]

I never realised the attack window entry is so important, this would definitely saved my life a couple times (or fuel :) ).

[@killarado3036]

Hey man just wanted to say I'm new to not only DCS but PC in general. After watching your BFM videos after getting frustrated by the bfm mission quali's it was a massive improvement over before your videos. The hardest part was resisting the urge to dump energy for firing angle and leaving myself vulnerable. Cheers mate.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Glad we could help!

[@immunetou2]

What Leland said!!!

[@btupalski]

Świetny film. Fajnie tłumaczysz zachowanie w powietrzu. Super dzięki. Będę ćwiczył! 🎉🎉🎉

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thank you. Subscribe for more and share the link.

[@apocalypticweasel9078]

Well that explains why i lose a lot of dog fights in correct entry, thank you learning a lot here.

[@purplepenguin43]

first dcs video i've actually understood, excellent job.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thanks for that Penguin! Feel free to share it with anyone else who you think might benefit, and maybe we will see you on the Tactical DCS discord some time soon? ~Tyro

[@shuntera]

Looking forward to the mission files

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

It’s up on the DCS User files - www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3309574/

[@Stefan.von.Bischhoffshausen]

Thanks for these awesome videos! They have been incredibly helpful. I have a question: What happens if my aircraft's turn rate is worse than my opponent's? Does this still apply?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hi Stefan, so as always ‘it depends’! You definitely want to try to force a fight that suits you, so if you’re at a distinct disadvantage in rate, a 1-circle fight might be a good tactic. That said, you don’t know what rate your opponent is capable of actually generating (loadout, fuel and skill level all play a part) and misaligned turn circles will favour you if you position well unless you are grossly outrated. Certainly the geometric factors here are true in any case because they’re physics-derived, but every fight is different. The bottom line though is to avoid neutral merges with aircraft that you feel outperform you.

[@Stefan.von.Bischhoffshausen]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP that makes sense. I'm apllying these lessons in the BFM campaigns for the f15c and the f5 in dcs, with great success. I've been doing 2 circle fights exclusively, now I'm going to try 1 circle fights and see what happens.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Let us know how you get on!

[@smelchionda]

These are great videos. Are you flying in VR? If so what are you using to capture the VR video stream? OBX?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hi Sean, these were captured from a Rift CV 1 using NVidia Shadowplay. I now use a Quest 2 and record tracks. Thank you for watching and commenting. ~Tyro

[@jasonleung6433]

Hi, I'm a little confused by what is said at 6:44: 'performing a max performance (instantons turn) pull, bleeding speed until you hit the rate band'; isn't the rate band (best sustained turn speed) above cornering (max instantaneous turn) speed?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hi Jason, depends on your type. Most won’t sustain corner so you need to find the best rate on the Ps=0 curve for the rate band. Mike Solyom has a great video on this over at the Ops Center. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqKVnWmQh9R1l6s Thanks for watching!

[@pablolopez9791]

Hello, which radio menu options do I have to request in order to start these maneuvers ? Thanks for this videos!

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

None needed. Team up with a friend on multiplayer and set up the training for each other to practice. ~JUICE

[@pablolopez9791]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP But in the case of wanting to practice and not having a friend at that moment... Let's see if I can understand the radio menu: there are 3 maneuvers: GST, Tailchae and Butterfly. I suppose that for this tutorial I must select Tailchse. May be the other two options are for maneuvers that we will see later? I guess Perch is the distance between the two planes? Thanks again.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hard to do without another person or two to train with.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

I’ll get back to you once I’ve had a look at the issue - it sounds like a recent update might have broken the code. Thanks for reaching out. ~Tyro

[@pablolopez9791]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP Thanks to you, of course.

[@PappyGunn]

OK nothing sucks the life out of a game dogfight video like a fucking legal disclaimer.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thanks for watching then, I assume we won’t see you in the comments again. ~Tyro