Is dogfighting still a tactic of war?

RekonDog

Not in the conventional sense of dogfighting...it is still taught at flight school though. Technology exceed the nature of dogfighting.

Battleship is still very vital....Marine must need them for naval gunfire support (NGFS) when treading around maritime and coastal environments during conflicts...plus, the newer cruiser warships can lob high explosive rounds 100-miles away (I'm not accurate on distance).

USAF are not the only aerial support out there, you have the navy and the Marines that operate aircraft...but it will be the USAF and Navy doing most of the dogfighting...Marines mostly use the aircraft for close air support or armed escort to a platoon of Marines in helicopters or ground.

Although we have no enemy in the Middle East except the insurgency...but Iran [not an enemy...as of yet, or never] has the largest military manpower in the world, which is Active, Reserve, Paramilitary. It is their paramilitary that makes up the largest substantial number.

Captain Falcon

We haven't had a real dog fight in a really long while.

We no longer use battleships

Yes they do a lot of bombing and reconnaissance runs but no dog fights, unless you consider shooting down helicopters dog fights but plane vs plane didn't happen they were too afraid to take off.

Nope, the next strongest Air Force in the middle east would be Israel and they are our allies. Iran would be the 3rd and they are using planes that are from the 70's

21st century warfare is no longer about fire power its all about precision and mobility now. The time of front lines and battlefields are over. Now war is more indirect and is basically small skirmishes happening over a vast amount of space.

The Real

I don't really think Battleships are really vital during this time. Missiles could take out ships without even having to engage with a battleship. Dog fights most likely wouldn't occur since most middle eastern countries don't even have an air force that could touch ours.

Victory Soldier

The battleship, as a Naval asset, died with the advent of the airplane. The last great encounter of those monsters occurred in world war one at a place called Jutland. The powers that be (as is often the case) refused to understand that the BB was dead and kept it alive and kicking in world war two.

Since the carrier displaced the battleship, circa 1942, some battleships have been used as very well equipped artillery platforms. To this day, the US Navy un-moth-balls Iowa class battleships for that purpose, as needed.

The days of 'dogfighting' are long gone. The air to air missile and jet engine speeds pretty much make it impossible to do the acrobatic dog fights of yore.

YouAgain

I think that right now, at this very moment, dogfighting isn't a tactic because we're not fighting anyone with a viable Air Force.

I think that battleships are still a vital weapon because they allow a quick air strike or deployment of troops should they be needed. Just because we don't dogfight, doesn't mean we don't still use our air craft, especially for air strikes, crew and equipment shuttling, med evacs, etc.

And yes, US air forces still play a vital role, for the reasons I've previously explained. Not to mention the advances that have been made with UAV's.

While the countries that we're currently in conflict with do not have air forces, countries that we're are on the "border" with do - Iran, Korea, China, etc.

jbarn_1999

A: There is still training in dogfighting tactics because there are always short range interceptors (see MIG-15 in Vietnam) but it is not the main focus anymore. There were dogfights in both Persian Gulf conflicts.

Dogfights of Desert Storm: An EF-111 Raven is attacked by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 jet and American fighter pilots pit F-15 Eagles against Iraqi MiG-25s and advanced MiG-29s as part of Operation Desert Storm.

A: US Air Forces play an extremely vital role in close air support (Helicopters and fixed wing), command and control (E-2 and AWACS), and deterrence. The reason why you do not see more air-to-air confrontations is that the US enjoys a air superiority in the area.

The main key of the middle eastern air forces are the restrictions of ROE on US forces and Air launched anti-ship cruise missiles. In a dogfight our F-15 and F-16 will have no problem much less the F-22!

The history channel has a series called "Dogfights" which a season 2 episode addresses this. The episode is entitled "Dogfights of Desert Storm" (12/05/07). It is a really great series, I highly recommend it!

A: The battleship is not even a weapon anymore. All are decommed. In the days before WWII the battleship was considered "vital" because that was the tactics of the time. After Pearl Harbor the Battleship was not only obsolete, but not a viable weapon for ship-to-ship combat. That was taken over by the Aircraft Carrier and its air wing.

In the Reagan 600 ship navy vision the Iowas were recommissioned to support shore bombardment roles. The cost was too high to keep them going in only that role (BB's do not have sonar, AEGIS or SAM capability).

Cost effectiveness is the key today. The role is still being considered with the DDG 1000/Zumwalt class, the move to the 5"/62 and the railgun project. The Arleigh Burke DDG's and the Ticonderoga CG's have multi role capability that takes 75-80% of the BB capability for shore bombardment with guns. The rest is taken by their Tomahawk capability. This combined with close air support with the F/A-18E-F covers the realm quite well at about 1/3 of the cost.

Cliff C

Battleships are history.

Dog-fighting? Which would you rather do? Get in close & personal with a knife fight or Let the other guy pull out his knife and you take two steps back, draw a pistol and shoot him?

There is a reason they have developed beyond visual range weapons.

Will there ever be dog fighting in the future? Yes, but it will not involve the Air Force or the Navy. However the Army and Marine Helicopter Crews will experience Air Combat Maneuvering.

Do middle Eastern Air Forces have more/better aircraft? That depends. Right now almost every nation in the world operates aircraft developed and built by the USA, Russia, France-England-Germany, and to a lesser extent China. There are a few "home-grown' types out there but most of these are on par with advanced trainers from the "big Three (USA, Russia, France-England-Germany).

Juan

Dogfights are no longer plausible because the nations with planes are too expensive now to lose them. Now, war is about taking out as many people possible. Killing a single pilot isn't as important anymore because the nations who could have successful dogfights, as in not one technologically advance plane destroying and another older WW2 plane miles away, have used that technology for Intelligence purposes. The US produces more billion dollar spy planes than billion dollar fighters.

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