A LOMAC Mission Report: Quit Toying With Him, Sacha! Page 5

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My target reefs into a hard left bank, crossing my nose to my right in an effort to foil my lock. He fails at this, I am close enough now that his jammer will not help him, for I can see him even when I lose the lock.

	I am in visual combat range, and when my first R-27 misses I shift quickly into BVB close-combat mode, which allows me to paint the sky in a thin, vertical range for circle dogfighting. I will not waste an R-73 on this target.“One, missile away!
	I fire my remaining R-27 at less then five kilometers distance. When I instructed the Ethiopians in their civil war, I tried to get them to use this tactic; the R-27R and T are best when fired close, like the American Sparrow. What the German, Hartmann, said in the Great Patriotic War about getting close, then closer still, applies today! Unless one is firing R-77s, or the American AIM-120, and even they are not a golden bullet.
	This Turk is the beneficiary of the lesson, and explodes in a satisfying fireball.
	A muffled curse from Vasily. “Missed!”The second Turk is less than ten kilometers from me, and trying to run. The Turks must not think that Comrade Akhbar is worth their lives after all, despite what their leaders may believe. I will not risk a Sparrow in the back from him, however. The C-130 can wait.
	“I see him, Vasily. Cover me! One, shooter.”“Copy. Take him, Sacha, you are closer than I.”
	I close with him, as he flees into the cloud tops. I am supersonic, the F-4 runs now in full panic at nearly 1400 kilometers per hour. I am buffeted by the turbulence as I shift over to DVB-Ob3 and find his trace, and lock him as he disappears into the muck.“Do this fast, Sacha, before the target escapes!”
	I close with the F-4, and nail him with an R-73, pulling up out of the cloud tops and scanning for our target.

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