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Didn't Maverick pull this off in Top Gun?
I wasn't there, but IIRC it was a 5th gen fighter against Maverick and Rooster in an F-14 that pulled this off. Unfortunately for the 5th gen pilot it later came down to the pilot, not the plane, and he became splash 2.
Is this the maneuver John Boyd used to use? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p55LY30AIoc
Somewhat related: during the Falklands war it was common technique for Harriers to use their thrust vectoring nozzles to slow down quickly with a similar outcome.
Apparently yet another aviation myth according to Wikipedia: > Braking could cause a chasing aircraft to overshoot and present itself as a target for the Harrier, a technique formally developed by the USMC for the Harrier in the early 1970s.[33][34] This technique was much discussed in the media before the Falklands War in 1982, but ultimately not used by British pilots in that conflict.[35] https://en.wikipedia.org/…
Shoutout to all the Spaniards who thought "hacer la Cobra" [0] had gone international. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sJYDSR3ijw
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It was in 80's kids vocabulary when discussing fighter jets and which one is better - 'yeah, but can it do Cobra?!'
Unfortunately the circumstances where this is useful is very limited. You'd have to be in very close range and in a very bad disadvantage, which honestly doesn't last long (you'd blow up very fast) and when you start decelerating you become a very easy target to hit. And after your opponent overshoots--you just lost a ton of energy--and energy is everything in aerial combat. Energy is the currency you spend to maneuv…
"And after your opponent overshoots--you just lost a ton of energy--and energy is everything in aerial combat. " The idea is, to be able to make the kill, after you are now behind. Then it does not matter, if you are too slow. But wikipedia indeed says, this manoever has never been confirmed in real air combat, so yes, its usefullness is quite limited.
I get that it would be hard to aim - but can't computers do that?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"And after your opponent overshoots--you just lost a ton of energy--and energy is everything in aerial combat. " The idea is, to be able to make the kill, after you are now behind. Then it does not matter, if you are too slow. But wikipedia indeed says, this manoever has never been confirmed in real air combat, so yes, its usefullness is quite limited.
Dumb question - why can't planes shoot in reverse? It seems like this would be useful for these situations. I get that it would be hard to aim - but can't computers do that?
An AIM-9X can do this, but the kill probability drops rapidly as you move off boresight.