Tactics for Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Fixed-wing aircraft are all kinds of aircraft that are powered by jet or turbofan engines and use lift generated by wings extending out from the vehicle's sides to fly, as opposed to helicopters which use lift created by the main rotor blades and airships which use lightweight gases to create lift.

They can have straight wings (most older-model aircraft and some newer ground-attack aircraft such as the A-10 Thunderbolt), swept wings (virtually all fighter and most bomber aircraft), variable-sweep wings (a few kinds of fighters, such as the F-14 Tomcat) or even tiltrotors (combining the features of a helicopter and fixed-wing plane, such as the V-22 Osprey).

Fixed-wing aircraft are used for a variety of roles, including air superiority, ground-attack, area-saturation bombing, electronic warfare, surveilance, and transport. Some are even capable of close support, similar to a helicopter.

They all have a few things in common, however- they are all very expensive to produce and they are very easily shot down and destroyed. As a result, without proper knowledge, using aircraft can actually just lead to more problems for a commander instead of solving problems.

Air-Superiority Fighters and Interceptors
Interceptors are generally the cheapest kind of aircraft, excluding transports. They are designed to shoot down other aircraft from long range using radar-guided missiles. They tend to be very fast, but also very flimsy and may or may not be very agile. They are effective against bombers and transports, and decent against other interceptors. Some interceptors mount a cannon and heat-seeking missiles for closer-ranged engagements, but many do not. They should never be flown within range of hostile anti-aircraft defenses and they shouldn't be used anywhere near a more advanced air-superiority fighter. They can sometimes be outfitted with bombs for ground-attack missions, but they do poorly at this role. The F-4 Phantom and the F-14 Tomcat are examples of interceptor aircraft.

Air-Superiority Fighters (ASFs for short) are highly advanced interceptors that mount a variety of weapons for a variety of ranges. They are usually extremely agile, very fast, and very expensive, with the most advanced engines, missiles, and radars available. A few kinds of ASFs are capable ground-attack aircraft but using the majority of them in that role is a complete waste of resources. Some of them are also stealth aircraft. The F-22 Raptor is an example of an advanced stealthed air-superiority fighter while the F-15 Eagle is a less advanced one.

Ground-Attack Aircraft and Bombers
Ground-Attack aircraft represents a very broad category of aircraft designed to attack stuff on the ground instead of things in the air. Most GA aircraft mount heavy cannons and anti-armor missiles, and they are used to take out armored vehicles or to destroy hardened buildings. Some GA aircraft are minimally armored, but others are very heavily armored, and they are all quite slow. Some, such as the A-10 Thunderbolt, use turbofan engines instead of jet engines, reducing their top speed and taking away the ability to use afterburners in exchange for greatly increased manuerverability. They are designed to flow low and slow. Some GA aircraft have minimal air-to-air capabilities, but for most their only defense against interceptors is to get in close and try to shoot them down with their guns. The AV-8 Harrier is another example of a ground attack aircraft, which even has the ability to hover and provide true close air support for allies on the ground, just like a helicopter.

Bombers, on the other hand, fly up very high and somewhat faster than a GA aircraft, and use a mix of long-range anti-armor missiles, guided and unguided bombs, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, and even nuclear weapons. Their role is (depending on the plane itself) either area saturation with regular/cluster bombs, precision bombing with guided weapons, or simple domination with cruise missiles and nuclear weapons. They usually have no self-defense abilities and horrible agility, so they can't dodge any incoming attacks. They do, however, carry massive loads of flares to decoy heat-seeking missiles. A few bombers are also stealth aircraft. The B-52 Stratofortress is an example of an area-saturation bomber, while the B-2 Spirit is a stealthed multi-purpose bomber and the B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep-wing area-saturation bomber. There is also a variant of the B-1, the B-1R, which can also perform as a mid-range interceptor.

There is one last kind of ground-attack aircraft, which is more properly classified as a gunship. The only member of this class of aircraft (that I know of) is the AC-130. It is a modified C-130 transport, with the cargo space removed and replaced with various weapons systems- the AC-130U Spooky II gets a 30mm rotary autocannon, a 40mm autocannon, and a 105mm howitzer, while the newer AC-130W Stinger IIs and AC-130J get a single 30mm autocannon, along with a specialized anti-armor missile launch system where the cargo bay used to be and wing hardpoints for more missiles or bombs. All three variants are designed to circle the targets at moderate altitudes outside of the ranges of smaller anti-air weapons, while dropping loads of pain on enemies.

Electronic Support Aircraft
These are non-combat support aircraft, designed to assist combat aircraft in various ways.

Electronic warfare aircraft such as the EF-111 Raven are used to jam the guidance systems of ground-based anti-aircraft defenses. The presence of one means that radar-guided SAMs are virtually useless, making the area much safer for allied aircraft. They have standard armor, but are usually unarmed.

Airborne Early Warning aircraft, also known as AWACS aircraft, are refitted transport aircraft that have the transport space taken up by electronics, and they have a large radar dome mounted to the top of the aircraft. These slow, unarmed, and usually unarmored planes fly well away from enemy defenses and provide long-range radar support, command support, air traffic control, and in some cases limited electronic warfare. The E-3 Sentry is an example of an AWACS aircraft.

Multirole Aircraft
Multirole aircraft are designed to be able to do anything. They usually make decent interceptors, and they are often decent ground-attack aircraft or bombers as well. They can also generally mount electronic warfare equipment. However, despite being able to do so many things, they are generally masters of none of them, and they will easily be beaten by another aircraft performing the same role. The F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35 Lightning II are examples of multirole aircraft.

Transport Aircraft
Transport aircraft pick things up and fly them to another location, oftentimes very far away. Some planes can carry only troops, while others can carry multiple main battle tanks. Examples include the C-130 Hercules and the C-5 Galaxy. The C-130 has many variants (firefighting, search and rescue, refueling, and the previously mentioned gunship variant just to name a few) while the C-5 is a massive vehicle transporter.

Things a pilot should and should not do
Things combat pilots should always do (or not do)-
 * 1) Fly with a wingman. Noncombat electronic aircraft and transports don't need wingman, and bombers can sometimes do without, but all other aircraft should fly with a wingman. Having an allied plane not only means you have double the firepower, but it means you have an extra set of eyes to look for trouble, and the enemy has to split up their attacks to get both planes. Fighter pilots who break this rule will die very quickly. If your wingman gets shot down and you are outnumbered by enemy aircraft, you should do your best to disengage and flee. If you lose a wingman to ground fire and the nearby airspace is safe otherwise, then it is acceptble to stay without a wingman for a short period of time to support your previous ally on the ground, but keep an eye on the radar.
 * 2) Stay far, far away from known anti-aircraft defenses. This should be a given. Nothing will take down an expensive Raptor faster than flying right over a couple of anti-air autocannons (well, nothing except the object in rule 8). The only exception to this rule is when you are specifically trying to disable the AA defenses or when a priority target is protected by known AA weapons.
 * 3) Don't fly a simple, obvious route over and over (such as patrolling in a circle around an allied airbase). By repeating your actions over and over, you give an enemy the advantage, because he knows where you are and how fast you are flying and when you will be at a specific location next, and thus can easily intercept or avoid you.
 * 4) Avoid unneeded encounters with enemy aircraft. Believe it or not, just because there is an interceptor flying around doesn't mean he's looking for someone to shoot down. Don't take unnecesary risks, because if you get shot down (and live) you may not be able to replace your aircraft.
 * 5) Don't fight over a major city. While major cities are rather nice places to eject into, your destroyed plane and any aircraft you shoot down have to land somewhere, and chances are it will be right on top of a building. Combine that with the fire caused by the jet fuel and the possibility of any unused bombs or missiles exploding in that fire, and you have a major problem (and there's the possibility of actually running into a tall building......). As a continuation of this rule, don't patrol over a city if you don't want to fight there!
 * 6) If you must go over a city at low altitude, do not break the sound barrier if you can possibly do so. Nothing makes a city hate you more than you breaking all the glass on their skyscrapers by flying close to them and hitting them with a sonic boom.
 * 7) Always keep your plane properly maintained. Don't trust someone else to fix it for you, unless they happen to be some kind of genius mechanic- always either do it yourself, or at least help out so that you know what they did to your plane. Even if the plane belongs to the squadron as a whole, if you damaged it, you should fix it!
 * 8) Stay away from mountains, especially in an air-superiority fighter. Dogfights between aircraft may drop down very close to the ground, and the quickest way to lose any fight is by flying into the side of a mountain. It's much easier to do than you think.
 * 9) Never shoot at an enemy plane that has already been destroyed in an attempt to kill the pilot, and no shooting at the pilot once he or she has ejected. That's just common courtesy and its a rule of dogfighting. The pilot only becomes fair game for an airstrike once he or she has landed on the ground  and attacked some of your allies.
 * 10) Never follow right behind an allied aircraft. If you have to follow an ally, stay well above them and off to the side, never directly behind them. Why, you might ask? Well, this is why...... Youtube video of a Hornet bombing an allied Skyhawk. That thing that comes off the F-18 Hornet and flies into the A-2 Skyhawk following behind it? That's a dummy bomb full of concrete. Imagine if it had been an actual bomb.

Weapon Countermeasures, and what to do if you do get shot down
Every (modern) plane carries a load of countermeasures to cut down on the chances of being struck by enemy fire. A few planes even have a stealth coating on their armor, making it almost immpossible to lock on to them with radar-guided missiles and radar-aimed ground-based autocannons. Almost every plane also carries either infrared flares to decoy heat-seeking missiles or chaff seeds to distract radar-guided missiles, and some planes (especially ASFs) carry both. Decoy flares will work fairly well regardless of how far away the incoming missile is, but chaff can be rather hard to use, as it must be deployed directly into the radar beam guiding the missile, which usually means there is an aircraft already behind you and the missile is being fired from close range. Some planes also carry a small electronics countermeasures pod in place of a missile, which reduces the chances of an enemy radar-guided weapon locking on even more. Electronic Warfare aircraft perform the same job over a wide area.

A note on stealth aircraft- the stealth coating does not work properly when weapon bay doors are open, meaning that a Raptor that is getting ready to fire a missile will show up on radar for as long as the missile bay's door is open. F-35B's that are in hover mode are also visable on radar, although they will often be low enough to the ground that the radar will not pick them up regardless.

Sometimes, however, luck will run against you, and even the best pilot will get shot down. There are two different ways to get shot down- 1, your plane takes critical damage and either becomes uncontrollable or simply breaks apart, and 2, your plane takes heavy damage and is marked as a combat loss but is actually still flyable, at least for a short distance.

Most of the time, critical damage will cause the plane to spiral downwards in a barely-controllable fashion, possibly exploding partway down to the ground. In these cases, the only way to live is by ejecting. And that's painful- the force of the rockets in the seat may break some of your ribs, or even break your back. Most of the time, however, you will eject safely, assuming the cockpit of the plane wasn't damaged.

On occasion, critical damage will simply cause the plane to explode at the moment of damage. Not much you can do for the pilot in these instances, sadly, but it doesn't happen very often.

Sometimes the plane will taken damage and will other continue to be flyable or the pilot will manage to regain control of the plane. In these cases, you can either eject or try to crash-land. Depending on your location, altitude, and the plane's damage, one may be better than the other. Heavily damaged but controllable planes shouldn't be crash-landed- just get the plane as close to allies as you can and eject at low altitude. Crash-landing is very difficult, and should be done at minimum speeds on the flatest area you can find. Roads make good crash-landing sites.

Very rarely, a plane will take damage and actually be landable. Usually, these planes will be marked as a "combat loss" and scraped for parts, because even moderate repairs on a plane decrease the strength of the airframe and potentially cause weaknesses they may cause the plane to rip itself apart before it ever even sees combat again.

Now for what can actually cause damage......

Single cannon rounds, whether they are 12.7mm or 57mm (the smallest and largest cannons generally used against aircraft- the smallest is actually the .50-caliber heavy machine gun), generally do little damage, even if they are incendiary shells. Multiple hits, especially to the fuel lines near the engine, however, will quickly destroy any aircraft- and seeing as many anti-air guns fire at upwards of 600 rounds per minute (10 shells per second), it may only take one second for a plane to be turned into wreckage. Man-portable anti-air missiles are heat seeking and thus easily distracted, but despite their small size a direst hit will destroy most aircraft (luckily they aren't real accurate and don't have a large area of effect). Larger heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles fired from vehicles, warships, and other aircraft, however, have tremendous stopping power and a near-miss will still destroy most aircraft. Some of these weapons are inaccurate as well, but others are very accurate. All of these weapons are rather common, and they result in the world being a very dangerous place for aircraft.

Last but not least, the most damaging thing to any aircraft is a collision, wether it is with another plane or with the ground. Even a simple scrape against another plane, one that on a car would only cause minor damage, is enough to rip off chunks of armor and penetrate fuel tanks for heavy damage (not to mention possibly ripping off the wing of the plane that did the scraping). Scraping the ground causes even more damage, and a full-out collision with another plane or the ground ends very badly for the planes involved.

So why use aircraft if they are so easy to destroy?
Simply because they can cause more damage than anything else out there. Air-launched cruise missiles are extremely devastating, 1000-pound bombs can take out most structures, and anti-tank missiles launched from planes can take out tanks much more safely than those launched from helicopters. Commanders simply must weight the risks of losing a 30 or 40 million dollar plane (or a 200 million dollar one) to the benefits of whatever damage it might cause.

Notes on flying with a Wingman for both Pilots and Commanders
The biggest mistake any squad leader or base commander can make is sending out a lone interceptor, air superiority fighter, or multirole fighter to take on enemy aircraft. Even one lone enemy aircraft, while seemingly a fair fight, can actually turn into a trap for fighter pilots.

However, the general rule of "Always fly with a wingman" causes a great deal of problems.

For instance, what do you do when you have a small squadron (for example, 10 Eeveelutions) and either only one pilot or only one operational plane? You'd probably be best off keeping the plane grounded entirely, so that if an emergency situation comes up you have it to use.

Another big problem is the rather common "lone wolf" Eeveelutions- those individuals who like to go off on their own and fight their own way. Umbreon and Glaceon in particular often have problems with wandering off on their own without permission. This causes problems, because then you will have either two lone aircraft flying around without wingman (one of whom is probably panicking, looking for their lone wolf ally) or you have a messed up formation (aircraft usually fly in pairs or multiples of 4, so you might have three aircraft grouped together and one lone plane).

Assuming a commander or other ally can find the offending lone wolf aircraft on radar and contact them through the radio (these individuals are also often the ones who turn off their radios), the best course of action would be to make them return to base or regroup. If that doesn't work, simply ground their planes once they do return, until they agree to work as a team. Or better yet, don't let lone wolves fly in the first place!

Now, pilots are generally very well trained, and even the lone wolves generally don't stray far from their allies. The problem with using aircraft in a squadron is usually the squadron leader or local commanding Eeveelution not knowing how to properly use an aircraft. Commanders must learn when to use what kind of plane, how many aircraft to use, and when to not use aircraft at all. Inexperienced commanders and commanders-in-training should generally stick to either commanding ground forces only or using multirole aircraft that are carrying a mix of all kinds of weapons.