¶ Purpose
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.
¶ Lead Navigation Limits
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 |
| Minimum Cruise Power Setting | 650° FTIT |
| Standard Cruise Power Setting | 750° FTIT |
| Maximum Cruise Power Setting | 800° FTIT |
| Standard Bank Angle | 30° |
| Maximum Bank Angle \ Steep Turn | 60° |
| Maximum Maneuvering G | 3G |
| Standard Climb Profile | 5° of AoA |
| Standard Climb Power Setting | 850° FTIT or 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
¶ Cruise
Flights will transit to their assigned area of responsibility (AOR) at their designated deconfliction altitude or between FL220 and FL320. After takeoff, wingmen should rejoin with the flight lead for the cruise portion of the flight. To accomplish the rejoin, wingmen may use up to military power if necessary.
Wingmen are considered rejoined when they are within 0.25 nautical miles of the flight lead. Unless otherwise specified by the flight lead, wingmen should maintain an open formation, positioning themselves between 300 and 1,000 feet from the lead aircraft.
¶ Tacform Manuevering
All TACFORM turns will be executed with mil power and 3G of pull. Lead can adjust the turn intensity by commanding a HARD turn, which requires the flight to maintain on-speed angle of attack as indicated by the green circle on the AoA indexer. After rolling out of the turn, aircraft will return to either 350 knots or the formation speed before the maneuver, whichever is higher, then resume the previous power setting.
Remember, the key rule is to never end a maneuver in a low energy state. Deviate as necessary, within reason, to avoid this while maintaining formation position.
¶ Tacform Sequencing
- Lead will call the type of maneuver, the direction, the rollout heading or fix if applicable.
- Lead will call
Goindiciating the maneuver should start immediately. - Wingmen will “double pop” on the radio by keying the radio and releasing immediately twice to indicate they understand the command and begin the manuever in sequence.
¶ Tacform Distancing
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.
¶ Maneuvering to Intercept
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.
¶ FENCE-in
| 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 |
¶ Communications
¶ Lead Responsibilities
- Call turns
leftorrightbefore initiating turns - Call out desired heading during turns
- Call out speed at end of turns and
rolled out.#1 Rolled Out {heading} {IT} - Initiate FENCE IN before reaching AOR
- Initiate status checks at 10000lb Fuel, 5000lb Fuel, at Bingo, and during cold legs
- Calling out new groups
- Ensure that flight is monitoring correct broad frequency on COMM 1
- Space out intraflight transmissions every 5NM during intercepts
¶ Wingmen Responsibilities
- Call out factor contacts that lead does not appear to be aware of
- Speak only when necessary during intercepts
- Talk in order. #2, then #3, then #4 for status checks, FENCE INs, and any call from #1 that needs a response from the whole flight
- Call out their weapon employments and timeouts on the correct broad channel
¶ Tactical Radio Calls
¶ A2A Weapon Employment Calls
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.
¶ Radar Sanitization
The default radar sanitization profile for a flight is:
All members will scan in RWS | 4 Bar | 30° Azimuth.
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.
¶ Visual Sanitization
¶ Intercept
¶ Targeting
Unless otherwise stated in ROE or the ATO, 93rd will adhere to the following targeting guidelines before committing to a picture:
- Within 60NM Hot
- Within 40NM Cold or Beaming
- In defense of friendly targets
- If commit is recommended by AIC and you have zero reservations about committing.
Flight should ensure care is taken to not be dragged away from their AOR or CAP track.