Lead pursuit
Encyclopedia
Lead pursuit is the basis of all the dogfight
s since the World War II
era. It describes when a chasing pilot has to gun down the bandit (or the target) it is following. It is the most common way of air-to-air dogfight where many a times pilots feel it to be the most natural way to hit a target.
As air to air manoeuvres take the relative motion into play, many times gun shots fired directly at the target miss it due to the constant movement of the target and the chasing pilot feels that the shot is late to reach the target meanwhile target has moved from that location.
The most common way to correct this issue is to anticipate in which direction the target is moving and try to shoot in the future path of the target anticipating that if target follows the same path in future then there would be a higher probability of hitting the target.
To counter this, the target has to constantly alter the trajectory
of flight and keep changing the direction of the flight, best captured in any air combat games and flight simulator
s.
Dogfight
A dogfight, or dog fight, is a form of aerial combat between fighter aircraft; in particular, combat of maneuver at short range, where each side is aware of the other's presence. Dogfighting first appeared during World War I, shortly after the invention of the airplane...
s since the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era. It describes when a chasing pilot has to gun down the bandit (or the target) it is following. It is the most common way of air-to-air dogfight where many a times pilots feel it to be the most natural way to hit a target.
As air to air manoeuvres take the relative motion into play, many times gun shots fired directly at the target miss it due to the constant movement of the target and the chasing pilot feels that the shot is late to reach the target meanwhile target has moved from that location.
The most common way to correct this issue is to anticipate in which direction the target is moving and try to shoot in the future path of the target anticipating that if target follows the same path in future then there would be a higher probability of hitting the target.
To counter this, the target has to constantly alter the trajectory
Trajectory
A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...
of flight and keep changing the direction of the flight, best captured in any air combat games and flight simulator
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
s.