Beyond Visual Range (BVR)

Overview

The general flow of a BVR timeline is as follows:

1. Pre-Commit Picture Building
2. Commit
3. Label/Name
4. Target
5. Meld and Sort
6. Shoot (Employ)
7. Decide
8. Merge

Each stage is broken down and explained in a way that is relevant to DCS, not every intercept will always follow this exact order.

Pre-commit Picture Building

1. Pre-Commit Formation

Prior to the commit, the fighters will be on CAP in Combat Spread. Flight Lead will brief a CAP management plan including types of turns and CAP orientation. The CAP should be oriented to have sensors focus into the threat sector on “Hot” legs. In place turns (Hook turns) will be used unless otherwise briefed or called in flight. “Hot R/L” and “Cold R/L” imply in place turns within the CAP leg.

The fighters will CAP in combat spread at 250 KIAS or best endurance (whichever is greater) at briefed CAP altitude

*before turning onto the hot leg*
Merlin 1-1	"Merlin, Hot Left/Right"
*before turning onto the cold leg*
Merlin 1-1	"Merlin, Cold Left/Right"

2. Pre-Commit Sensor Employment

The fighters should sanitize airspace with AIR RADAR selected in RWS/140/6B/80NM. The fighters should mate their radars at 25 NM. This is done by placing the cursor at 25 NM, and adjusting the elevation so that no altitude gap in fighter coverage exists. 14th Top Hatters will use an AOR (area of responsibility) High and AOR Low setup.

AOR High	RWS/140/6B/80NM Radar cursor at 25nm scanning from 40k ft and down
AOR Low	RWS/140/6B/80NM Radar cursor at 25nm scanning from 0ft and up

Unless otherwise briefed, Lead scans high, Wing scans low.

Datalink allows for transfer of track files within the flight.

3. Pre-Commit Communications

The picture calls will continue in broadcast control, relative to bullseye. A typical call will be:

Merlin 1-1 (PRI)	“DARKSTAR, Merlin 1-1, picture”
DARKSTAR (PRI)	"Merlin 1-1, three groups: group bullseye 215, 25, 19 thousand, track south, hostile; group bullseye 270, 50, 22 thousand, track east, bandit; group bullseye 250, 60, 22 thousand, track east, bandit"

Once a group meets commit criteria, the fighters will commit and control will change to tactical control, relative to bullseye. A group is defined as two or more contacts within 5 NM range, 5 NM azimuth and within 5,000 feet in elevation

As a review of AIC communication control and formats:

a. Broadcast control will identify groups by their location in a way relevant to all listeners and is normally anchored to bullseye.

b. Tactical control adds a target aspect to each group, relevant to the fighter under tactical control with the addition of labels and names

c. Format anchored to bullseye references group positions from a designated geographical reference

d. The BRAA format anchors group locations to the fighter’s nose

.

Commit

1. COmmit Criteria

The decision to commit rests with the flight lead. The criteria below is a recommended guideline, not a hard rule. Lead needs to keep in mind that the group meeting commit criteria might be outside their own AOR. Wing should be ready to call for a commit if Lead doesn't recognize that a group in Wing's AOR has met commit criteria.

COMMIT CRITERIA
THREAT IDENTITY	Target must be positively identified as Bandit, or Hostile. Committing on a bogey is not recommend unless showing signs of hostility
THREAT ASPECT	The threat group must be heading toward a protected asset, lane, or the flight itself (Nose Hot or closing aspect)
Geographic Range	The threat group should be within approximately 80nm. Take into consideration the fuel burn required to reach the target before weapons employment
Flight status	The flight must have adequate fuel (Joker/Bingo status) and sufficient air-to-air weapons loadout for the gameplan.