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AIR COMBAT COMMAND (ACC)MULTI-COMMAND HANDBOOK 11-F16AIR EDUCATION AND TRAINING COMMAND (AETC)VOLUME 5NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU (NGB)EFFECTIVE DATE: 10 MAY 1996PACIFIC AIR FORCES (PACAF)UNITED STATES AIR FORCES IN EUROPE (USAFE)Flying OperationsBefore printing this document, highlight the table ofcontents and hit F9 to update the page numbers.F-16 COMBAT AIRCRAFT FUNDAMENTALSThis handbook provides F-16 pilots a single-source, comprehensive document containing fundamentalemployment procedures and techniques that may be used to accomplish the various missions of the F-16.This handbook is the primary F-16 fighter fundamentals reference document for Air Combat Command(ACC), Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), Air Force Reserve(USAFR), Air National Guard (ANG), and Air Education and Training Command (AETC). Theprocedures and techniques are presented for pilot consideration in planning and are not for regulatorypurposes. Other procedures and techniques may be used if they are safe and effective. This handbookapplies to ANG units when published in ANGIND2.Designed to be used in conjunction with MCM 3–1 (S) and AFI/MCI 11-series directives, this handbookaddresses basic flying tasks and planning considerations for both the air-to-air and air-to-surface arenas.It presents a solid foundation on which effective tactics can be developed. This handbook is not designedto be used as a step-by-step checklist of how to successfully employ fighters, but rather providesinformation and guidelines on basic procedures and techniques.NOTE: Contact HQ ACC/DOT before releasing this document to a foreign government or contractor.Supersedes MCM 3-3 Volume 5, 1 September 1992Certified by:HQ ACC DOT (Col Thomas G. Sullivan)HQ AETC/XO (Maj Gen Donald L. Peterson)NGB/XO (Col John W. Gorman)HQ PACAF/DO (Maj Gen John M. McBroom)HQ USAFE/ADO (Col Victor E. Renuart, Jr.)OPR:HQ ACC/DOT (Maj Michael K. Updike)Pages: 295 / Distribution: FApproved by: HQ ACC/ADO (Col D. L. Johnson)Chapter One—INTRODUCTION81.1. OVERVIEW.81.2. PURPOSE.81.3. CHANGE PROCEDURES .8Chapter Two—PREPARATION82.1. INTRODUCTION .82.2. ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES.82.3. PRIORITIZING TASKS .92.4. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS .92.5. PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS .92.6. MISSION OBJECTIVES .102.7. MISPRIORITIZATION .112.8. SITUATION AWARENESS .112.9. FLIGHT LEADERSHIP .112.10. WINGMAN RESPONSIBILITIES .11

2MCH 11-F16 Vol 510 May 19962.11. MISSION PREPARATION .112.12. DEBRIEFING .13Chapter Three—FORMATION133.1. BASIC FORMATION .133.2. TACTICAL FORMATION .193.3. TWO-SHIP FORMATIONS .243.4. FOUR-SHIP FORMATIONS .273.5. THREE-SHIP FORMATIONS .313.6. TACTICAL TURNS .32Chapter Four—AIR–TO–AIR364.1. INTRODUCTION .364.2. PREPARATION .364.3. AIRCRAFT HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS (AHC).364.4. WEAPON SYSTEMS CHECK.364.5. FENCE CHECK .374.6. PRINCIPLES/CONCEPTS OF BASIC FIGHTER MANEUVERS (BFM).394.7. OFFENSIVE BFM.604.8. DEFENSIVE BFM.694.9. HIGH ASPECT BFM.774.10. AIR COMBAT MANEUVERS (ACM).824.11. 2 V 1 DEFENSIVE VISUAL MANEUVERING .944.12. HIGH-ASPECT ACM.1044.13. INTERCEPTS .1054.14. GUN EMPLOYMENT .110Chapter Five—AIR–TO–SURFACE1195.1. THE AIR–TO–SURFACE MISSION .1195.2. PREPARATION .1205.3. AIR-TO-GROUND MISSION PLANNING.1205.4. SURFACE ATTACK CHECKS .1235.5. INGRESS/EGRESS.1255.6. COMPUTED VISUAL BOMBING.1275.7. MANUAL WEAPONS DELIVERY .1355.8. TACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS .1465.9. STRAFE .1475.10. TAPE ASSESSMENT AND FOOT PRINT DATA .1505.11. NONVISUAL BOMBING .1505.12. SYSTEM ALTITUDE ERRORS .1595.13. CONTROLLED RANGE PATTERNS.1645.14. POP-UP DELIVERIES .1725.15. POP-UP PLANNING .1765.16. FLYING A TACTICAL POP-UP .1805.17. POP-UP FORMULAS .1865.18. FLYUP ATTACKS .1915.19. TWO SHIP EMPLOYMENT CONSIDERATIONS .1925.20. EGRESS .2025.21. RECOVERY.204Chapter Six—AIR REFUELING2056.1. INTRODUCTION .2056.2. MISSION PREPARATION .2056.3. GROUND OPERATIONS .205

MCH 11-F16 Vol 510 May 199636.4. EN ROUTE .2056.5. RENDEZVOUS .2056.6. RENDEZVOUS OVERRUN .2066.7. OBSERVATION POSITION .2076.8. PREREFUELING CHECKS.2076.9. PRECONTACT POSITION .2076.10. CONTACT POSITION .2076.11. MAINTAINING CONTACT .2076.12. DISCONNECT .2086.13. AIR REFUELING EMERGENCY PROCEDURES .2086.14. POST REFUELING.209Chapter Seven—LOW ALTITUDE OPERATIONS2147.1. INTRODUCTION .2147.2. LOW ALTITUDE MAPS .2147.3. LOW LEVEL ROUTE STUDY .2147.4. LOW ALTITUDE AWARENESS .2147.5. LOW ALTITUDE TASK PRIORITIZATION.2157.6. LOW ALTITUDE INTERCEPT CONSIDERATIONS .2157.7. LOW LEVEL NAVIGATION .2167.8. LOW ALTITUDE MANEUVERING .2197.9. EMERGENCIES/ABNORMAL OPERATIONS AT LOW ALTITUDE .2237.10. ROUTE ABORT PROCEDURES.2237.11. LOW ALTITUDE FORMATIONS .223Chapter Eight—NIGHT OPERATIONS2238.1. INTRODUCTION .2238.2. PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS .2238.3. NIGHT GROUND OPERATIONS .2248.4. NIGHT TAKEOFF .2248.5. NIGHT FORMATION .2248.6. NIGHT/WEATHER INTERCEPTS.2268.7. NIGHT SURFACE ATTACK .2278.8. NIGHT LANDING .2348.9. NIGHT REFUELING .2358.10. IN-FLIGHT DISTRESS SIGNALS--NIGHT VISUAL (AFI 11-205).235Chapter Nine—PROFICIENCY EXERCISES2359.1. INTRODUCTION .2359.2. G-AWARENESS .2359.3. ANTI-G STRAINING MANEUVER (AGSM) .2369.4. AIRCRAFT HANDLING EXERCISES AND MANEUVERS.2399.5. FIGHTER PROFICIENCY EXERCISES .2509.6. LOW ALTITUDE TRAINING .2589.7. FLAME-OUT APPROACH (FO) TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES .261Chapter Ten—LANTIRN26310.1. THE LANTIRN SYSTEM .26310.2. LANTIRN EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE .26310.3. ROUTE PLANNING .26410.4. TARGET AREA MISSION PLANNING .26710.5. GROUND OPERATIONS .27110.6. TFR IN-FLIGHT CHECK .27210.7. EN ROUTE CRUISE.273

4MCH 11-F16 Vol 510 May 199610.8. TFR MODES OF OPERATION.27310.9. LOW LEVEL OPERATIONS .27410.10. THREAT REACTION .27510.11. LOW ALTITUDE LANTIRN ATTACK OPTIONS .27610.12. ESCAPE MANEUVERS .28010.13. MEDIUM ALTITUDE INGRESS AND FLIR ATTACKS .28110.14. THE RETURN TO BASE (RTB) PHASE .28410.15. RADIO CALLS.284Attachment One—ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS, AND SYMBOLS285Attachment Two—GLOSSARY291Attachment Three—CODE AND BREVITY WORDS297Figure 3.1 F-16 Canopy Codes .20Figure 3.2 Six O’Clock Visual Coverage.21Figure 3.3 Aircraft References for Six O’Clock Look Angles.21Figure 3.4 Lookout Responsibilities.23Figure 3.5 Two-Ship Line Abreast .25Figure 3.6 Two-Ship Wedge.26Figure 3.7 Fighting Wing.27Figure 3.8 Four Ship Offset Box.28Figure 3.9 Arrowhead Formation .28Figure 3.10 Four Ship Wedge Formation.29Figure 3.11 Fluid Four Formation .30Figure 3.12 Spread Four Formation.31Figure 3.13 Three Ship Vic .31Figure 3.14 Delayed 90º and Hook Turns .34Figure 3.15 Delayed 45º/Crossturn/Check Turns .34Figure 3.16 Radio Silent Turns Into Wingman .35Figure 3.17 Radio Silent Turns Away From Wingman .35Figure 4.1 Angular Relationships.39Figure 4.2 Attack Pursuit Courses .40Figure 4.3 Insufficient Turn Rate To Maintain Lead (Resulting in Lag) .40Figure 4.4 Out-of-plane Maneuvering .41Figure 4.5 Outside/Inside The Turn Circle .42Figure 4.6 Lag Pursuit Outside/Inside the Turn Circle.43Figure 4.7 Fishhook Turn.44Figure 4.8 Recognizing Turn Circle .45Figure 4.9 Turn Rate and Velocity .46Figure 4.10 Overshoot/Reversal Situation.47Figure 4.11 Turning on Offset Turn Circles .48Figure 4.12 Lag to Entry Window .49Figure 4.13 Turning at Different Rates.50Figure 4.14 Missile LOS Rates.51Figure 4.15 Vertical Turning.52Figure 4.16 Vertical Overshoot .53Figure 4.17 Vertical Versus Oblique Turning.53Figure 4.18 Effect of Bank Angle on Separation.54Figure 4.19 Lead Turn .55Figure 4.20 Lead Turn to Weapons Parameters .56Figure 4.21 Lead Turn Without Turning Room .57Figure 4.22 Turning Away to Defeat Lead Turn .57

MCH 11-F16 Vol 510 May 19965Figure 4.23 Use of Vertical to Defeat Lead Turn .58Figure 4.24 Denying Lead Turn Versus Inferior Performer.59Figure 4.25 Denying the Lead Turn Versus Superior Performer .60Figure 4.26 Outside the Turn Circle .61Figure 4.27 Turn Circle Entry .63Figure 4.28 Check and Extend .64Figure 4.29 Continuous Turn .65Figure 4.30 Vertical Fight Entry .66Figure 4.31 Closing for Guns .66Figure 4.32 Bid to Lag .67Figure 4.33 Bandit Reversals.68Figure 4.34 Forcing the Bandit Forward.69Figure 4.35 Bandit Maneuvering Out-of-Plane .71Figure 4.36 Separating Bandit.72Figure 4.37 Bandit Bid to Lag .72Figure 4.38 Bandit Planform Views .73Figure 4.39 Continuous Turn Defense .74Figure 4.40 Guns Defense .75Figure 4.41 Guns Jink .75Figure 4.42 One Circle—Turn Rate/Radius Advantage .78Figure 4.43 One Circle—Turn Rate Advantage.79Figure 4.44 Two Circle—Turn Rate/Radius Advantage.80Figure 4.45 Two Circle—Sustained Turn Rate Advantage. (Energy advantage at this pass) .81Figure 4.46 Off-Boresight Capable Adversary .82Figure 4.47 Break Away.87Figure 4.48 Break Into (Turn Into).88Figure 4.49 Break Into (Turn Away) .88Figure 4.50 Straight Ahead Extension.89Figure 4.51 Co-Flow Entry.91Figure 4.52 Counter-Flow Entry.92Figure 4.53 Role Exchange .93Figure 4.54 Sandwich .97Figure 4.55 Early Switch.98Figure 4.56 Late Switch .98Figure 4.57 Uncommitted Bandit .99Figure 4.58 Break in Same Direction .100Figure 4.59 Cross-Turn/Hard-to-Six.101Figure 4.60 Cross-turn—Bandit Approaching/At Turn Circle .102Figure 4.61 Bandit Asymmetrically Positioned (Cross-Court).102Figure 4.62 Break in Same Direction (Asymmetric Bandit).103Figure 4.63 Cross-turn/Hard-to-six (Asymmetric Bandit) .104Figure 4.64 Intercept Basics .105Figure 4.65 CATA .107Figure 4.66 Cues for Offset Turn.108Figure 4.67 Level I Pipper.111Figure 4.68 Level II Pipper.112Figure 4.69 Level III Pipper .113Figure 4.70 Level IV Pipper .114Figure 4.71 Level V Pipper .

Before printing this document, highlight the table of contents and hit F9 to update the page numbers. AIR COMBAT COMMAND (ACC) MULTI-COMMAND HANDBOOK 11-F16