		       	DEALING WITH (and avoiding) MIGS 
		         By General "Rammer" Jammer, CMH

This set of tips is for the "EXTREME" F15 III pilot.  If you fly your missions
with all your settings at the EXTREME difficulty defaults, you know that once
enemy air forces are alerted to your presence, MIGS (and F5s, Sukhois, OV10s 
and the kitchen sink) will swarm after you like hornets.  Get caught over
a high-threat area like suburban Baghdad by a couple of '29s and the best you
can hope for is your picture on CNN, broadcast from the Mother of All Bunkers.

If you're going to avoid this dismal outcome you must plan your mission to do
one of three things:
		1. Never be detected.
		2. Delay detection until you hit your
		   targets and can make a fast getaway.
		3. Shoot down ALL the aircraft the
		   enemy has available that day--then
		   proceed to your targets (my personal favorite).

  NUMBER ONE is the most nerve-wracking and requires the most careful flying.
If you're getting spiked before you ever get away from the tanker, skip to #3.
Assuming you can at least start out undetected, the idea is to stay that way.
If you ever hear the words "SPIKE MUD!" or see anti-aircraft fire, you've
blown it--you're about to have company.  Beware; sometimes you may wake up the
Gomers without having any clues that you've done it.  Flying too close to
ground forces or missile boats can do it, so keep checking for bad guys.  The
easiest way to know if any bandits are airborne is simply to toggle F10 while
in the air-to-air mode--if none show up, you're ok.
To stay off their radar	you must stay low, below 500' within 10 miles of any
radar site is safe--lower if you must get closer.  Use your ground radar as
you fly over enemy territory.  Identify and avoid! It's often easiest to go
the long way around rather than zig-zagging all the way to the target.  If
your target is a SAM or GCI radar, you probably can't bomb it with unguided
munitions without getting spiked, so take it out with a Maverick or GBU.

NUMBER TWO, the "smash and dash" method, is appropriate when A: you have a
target that will force you to get noticed, such as AAA downtown, AND B: you
can't get AMRAAMs. Take the easiest target first, even if it is the secondary.
Remember, you want to be heading for the fence at maximum warp as soon as the
last target is hit and the bad guys scramble.  Obviously, if you have a "bell
ringer" target way deep in Indian Country, "smash and dash" may not be an op-
tion.  Sometimes it's better to live to fight another day--just tell 'em your
Wizzo got lost.

NUMBER THREE is the way to go any time you can load AMRAAMS. Those beautiful
120s make you king of the world.  You can load eight of them, which is con-
venient since the most bandits you will encounter on one mission is eight!
The trick is DELIBERATELY to get yourself spiked, lure the bandits away from
their AAA, SAMs and mountain hideouts, and SMOKE 'EM!  Simple, right?  Well,
there are a couple of catches.  Deliberately getting yourself painted by
radar is a good way to get a SAM on your tail. You must do it too far away for
a SAM shot, yet still get their interceptors airborne. You must stay far out
and wait for them to come to you where you won't be surrounded as you deal
with them.  Also, you must blip their radar often enough to keep them intere-
sted, or they'll stop coming and you'll waste too much fuel coaxing them into
the killing zone again.  Once you've got them stirred up, it's a matter of
flying back and forth (towards and away from enemy territory) and picking
them off as they come.  Of course, this requires you to be fully qualified on
authentic mode air-to-air radar operation.  Updates from AWACS don't come
frequently enough to find all the threats in time.  You must stay aware of all
E/A in about a 270 degree arc towards the enemy, so you'd better be a hot shot
on the AN/APG-70.  You'll find that they tend to come in waves of 2, 3 or 4 at
a time.  Deal with each group, then turn and fly towards home at low speed,
waiting for the next bunch to make the fatal mistake of leaving their SAM
cover. You can watch them with Rev.Tac.view (F10) and tell about where they
are (especially over Korea, where you want to engage them near or over water).
Once F10 reveals no more bandits, you own their world!  Now you can loot and
pillage at your leisure! You can obliterate that pesky GCI that's been spiking
you every time you pull off the tanker.  You can take a dozen Mav's and clean
house around Baghdad. All this mindless, destructive fun without ever having
to check your 6!  Here are some tactical scenarios for various theater takeoff
points to give you the idea:


	Panama runway-- Climb due east to 7,500'until you get spiked. Most of
the Banditos will come from the east, but watch out for threats from Nicara-
gua. Fly an east-west race track pattern, keeping a sharp lookout to the south
for that one sneaky guy.

	Iraq tanker-- Fly due north above 10,000' as far as the lake.  You'll
be spiked well before you get there, but the bandits won't scramble until
you're at the lake.  At the lake, turn and fly an east-west pattern, watching
your radar.  Bandits will come from about 70 degrees all the way around left
to 280 degrees, but most will come from NNE.  If you stay near the lake, SAMs
won't shoot.

	Korea tanker-- Fly south, descending to just above 10,000', for about
35-45 miles at 60% throttle, then turn due west and check radar for Bandit-
sans.  If they're still way out, turn and fly east a while to let them get out
of the mountains, then turn back and engage. They'll all come from a generally
westerly direction.  Don't fly too far west with SAM radars on your TEWS or
you'll have a bad day.

	Korea west-- Trickier than most because you're already so close to
enemy territory.  Fly about a 310 heading immediately after takeoff and stay
under 2,000' until you're fence in.  Climb sharply until you get "Spike Mud",
then drop chaff, roll over and dive for the deck NOW!  Head due south at high
speed, watching the gomers get airborne with Rev.Tac. view.  When you see them
nearing the coast, get an AWACS update and engage the nearest threat (he'll be
about NNW).  Fire at maximum range and get your radar back on scan as quickly
as possible--there's plenty more coming hard!  Threats will come from about
330, around to the right to about 40 degrees.  Heads up!


Regards,
Rammer



















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