The crew contract is a mutual support agreement between flight members. A sound mutual support contract should provide position awareness of other flight members, early position awareness of the threat and the attack axis, communication of offensive and defensive information during an enegagement, solve decisions before targetting and weapons employment prior to vulnerability period of a sortie, and provide the flight with the best chances of being able to prosecute the attack and disengage safely.
A flight lead, or element lead operating detached from the flight element will adhere to the following maneuevering limits during the cruise portion of flight:
| Minimum Speed | 250kts |
| Maximum Cruise Speed | 350kts or Mach 0.85 |
| Standard Departure Speed | 350kts to 5000ft |
| Standard Bank Angle | 30° |
| Maximum Bank Angle \ Steep Turn | 45° |
| Maximum Maneuvering G | 3G |
| Standard Climb Profile | X ICU |
| Standard Climb Power Setting | Mil |
Note that these limits exit to ensure ease of rejoin and organized flight, but these limits should not be considered during combat engagements and leads should fly as required to maneuver for safety and advantage over a threat
In general, tacform is performed at Mil power with Gs adjusted to loosely maintain speed.
The target speed of any given maneuver should be roughly 350kts, however for the sake of time if you are deviated from 350kts, you should aim to start the maneuver at whatever speed you are at and roll out at that same speed. If the lead wishes to change the speed of the formation after the maneuver, they should make a directive call after completing the maneuver.
If a member is approaching Min Mach, they should correct with G to maintain minimum speed.
However, at higher altitudes, if it is not possible to maintain at least a 3G constant turn without significantly bleeding speed, AB should be selected, which should be called out by Lead.
During Tacform the following parameters will be used:
| Min Mach | M0.70 |
| Expected Speed | 350kts |
| Expected G | 2.5-3.5G |
| Power Setting | Mil |
Remember, the golden rule here is to never end a maneuver at a low energy state. Deviate as necessary, within reason, to prevent that while maintaining position in the formation.
Go indiciating the maneuver should start immediately.Go, the wingman will respond with # and initiate the maneuver.Go, turn <direction> and start the maneuver without wingman's acknowledgement.Normal combat spread shall be spaced 0.8-1.2 NM horizontally, +/- 3000ft trailing or leading, and within 3000ft vertically of each other.
Leads may call for a wider or closer spread as needed for the task at hand.
Within 10NM of a hostile aircraft, an element should split to bracket the hostile fighter. This does not need to be explicitly commanded. Reference the mutual support section for how the element should fight going to the merge.
| F | Firepower, Fuel |
| E | Emitters |
| T - TACAN | |
| R - Radar, RALT, Radios | |
| A - ALR/ALQ | |
| I - IFF | |
| L - Lights | |
| N | Navigation |
| C | Chaff / Flare |
| E | ECM |
The element lead bears the primary responsibility for navigation and radar mechanics. They must rapidly and confidently communicate course changes and identify any new radar contacts.
Additionally, the lead is responsible for creating and maintaining situational awareness for the rest of the flight/element.
To establish a predictable rhythm for radio transmissions, leads should aim to make one call every 5-10NM depending on the intercept timeline. This will create intervals of silence on the radio, which wingmen can anticipate and use to transmit their own messages with a low chance of being interrupted.
When operating as a four ship, flight lead should make their call, and wingmen should wait up to five seconds for the element lead to make any necessary call.
It is important for wingmen to remember that the element lead may not have a complete understanding of the threats in the area. If the lead does not call out a new track, wingmen should inform the lead of the new track.
As a general rule, wingmen should limit their radio transmissions and only speak when necessary. When speaking over the radio, wingmen should use concise language and provide clear situational awareness information.
Wingmen should also be proactive in addressing any concerns or any unclear intentions from their flight lead. However, they should limit suggestions and requests to change action before the flight has melded.
All members will report their weapon releases to the intraflight.
All members will report missile timeout on the intraflight.
From Commit, all non-operational conversation will stop.
Under normal circumstances, only the flight lead should communicate for the flight on the common frequency, with the element lead speaking by exception to amend critical information or unreported contacts from the flight lead.
Flight lead will 'roll-up' weapon release information as needed to the common frequency. Wingmen should never report their weapon releases over common frequency.
When employing long range missiles (LRM) or medium range missiles (MRM), all flight members will make the following structured call over the intraflight frequency:
When employing heat seeking missiles, all flight members will make the following structured call over the intraflight frequency. Target location is irrelevant as targets can be assumed anchored to the flight member who fired the FOX2.
The default radar sanitization profile for a flight is:
All members will scan in RWS ILV or HPRF as commanded | 6 Bar | 30° Azimuth.
NCTR as required.
FL scans left from approximately 35000ft and down
FW scans left from approximately 0ft and up
EL scans right from approximately 35000ft and down
EW scans right from approxatimately 0ft and up
Note that the scan azimuth of all aircraft should include space that the flight will fly through and there should be overlap in the center by all aircraft.
When operating as an element, the lead will scan 60° Azimuth, 35000ft and down, at their 12 O'Clock. The wingman will scan 60° Azimuth, 0ft and up, at their 12 O'Clock.
Unless otherwise stated in ROE or the ATO, 395th will adhere to the following targeting guidelines before committing to a picture:
Flight should ensure care is taken to not be dragged away from their AOR or CAP track.