air-to-air combat
Pilots fighting aloft
Combat between aircraft while in flight, as opposed to attacks on ground targets.
The term applies to engagements involving fighter jets, missiles, or historically, dogfights between propeller planes: The pilot had logged dozens of air-to-air combat missions.
In military contexts, air-to-air describes weapons designed specifically for this purpose: air-to-air missiles.
- Immelmann turnAerobatic direction-reversing climb
- tally hoFox-sighting exclamation
- missile lockWeapons system tracking confirmation
- kill shotStrike that terminates target
- Operation Desert Storm1991 allied Iraq offensive
Top Gun · Battle of Britain · evasive maneuvers · barrel roll · fighter jet · wingman · Red Baron · sortie
- Air Combatair strike, airstrikes, fighter pilot, bombing run, bomb run
- fighter pilot termsfighter jets, interceptors, dogfighting, scramble, target lock
air-to-air combatground combat
Fighting on terrain
ground assault · infantry combat · naval combat · tank warfare · trench warfare
air-to-air combatground attack
Assault on land targets
close air support · strategic bombing · strafing · bombing · interdiction
air-to-air combatreconnaissance
Information-gathering before action
aerial refueling · humanitarian airlift · search and rescue · ceasefire · demilitarization
airily, airiness, airing, airborne, aircraft, airline, airplane, airport, airway