F-16 Falcon vs F-14 Tomcat Dogfight

Dissimilar air combat training ( DACT ) was introduced as a formal US air combat training during the Vietnam war, following the 9 to 1 kill ratio of North Korean MiGs over US air assets. Thus Topgun was introduced. The idea of the DACT is to place pilots in simulated aerial combat using different types of aircraft ( rather then have them using the same type ) in order to understand the value of knowing the enemy’s weak points. Here is a video of Topgun DACT featuring the US Navy F-16 Falcon versus the F-14 Tomcat . The instructors, flying the Vipers, play the role of aggressors while the students fly the Tomcats. Seems the students still have something to learn.

9 thoughts on “F-16 Falcon vs F-14 Tomcat Dogfight”

  1. So it was established because the kill ration was 9:1 in favour of the US? Rubbish! The kill ratio was higher for the MiGs when flown by trained Russian pilots, obviously the Koren pilots were not as succesful. The MiG-15 was a far superior plane to the F-86 and hence the reason for the US offereing 100k and asylum to the first defector. DACT: Dissimilar Air Combat Training. Dissimilar meaning that the MiG was far more advanced an another level so the US had to come up with a training program to deal with it.

  2. No, the information is wrong. Half point for Tolip and none for John. The reason why TopGun was developed is because of the result of air superiority over Vietnam. The guided missile systems came to effect during this period in the next generation of fighter aircraft, in that the gun was deleted from many designs in this generation. So our pilots mainly dependended on the “easy kill scenario”, with missiles. At this time also, dogfighting skills were not instilled in these pilots because of the dependency of the new missiles. Kill ratios were becoming an issue that in close range, missiles would over shoot and otherwise. So our pilots were getting shot down, let alone gunned down, by our adversaries. That is why TopGun was formed.

  3. Sadly Igor goes down in a puff of smoke behind Ivan’s already burning SU35 craft. The once again victorious snoopy on his old faithful dog house can still out maneuver the latest Russian tech. In another scene the new antigravity machine (7th generation) flys close behind watching the episode as another cartoon for the still young pilot’s entertainment.

  4. Wow, the errors in the original article show little to no research was done. The Korean War had the F-86 with a 10-1 kill ratio over the MiG-15–the exact opposite of what was stated.

    TopGun was formed by the Navy post Vietnam, though they did have dogfight training during Vietnam. The Air Force had no formal dogifght training until well into Vietnam and after. The equivalent to TopGun school for the Air Force was Red Flag.

    The F-16 is an Air Force asset, not a Navy one. The F-14 is Navy. The video shows F-14s in DACT training as done at Red Flag against the infamous “Aggressor Squadron” of Red Flag instructors.

    Former Capt, USAF, 88-95 and former Viper driver here…..

  5. Faith:

    There were and are F16s used by the USN. The original models were called F16N which were super light with strong wings, the other batch from the defunct sales to the Pakistani AF. These had the “NAVY” designation on their fuselage. We use to see them stop by at NAS Oceana.

    Yes, the F14B/D are capable of beating the F16 and yes, as well as the F14A. The F16 is a tough adversary for any aircraft.

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