J-CATCH
J-CATCH, short for Joint Countering Attack Helicopter, was a joint US Army-US Air Force experiment in dissimilar air combat between jet fighters and attack helicopters, conducted in 1978/79. To the surprise of many involved in the program, the helicopters proved extremely dangerous to the fighters when they were properly employed, racking up a 5-to-1 kill ratio over the fighters when fighting at close ranges with guns. The tests were a response to the introduction of the Mil Mi-24 "Hind" helicopter in Warsaw Pact (WTO) forces. In earlier tests like Ansbach, anti-tank helicopters proved to be potent weapons and much of NATOs 1970s strategy was based on using helicopters to blunt a WTO attack. If the Soviets introduced their own helicopters, NATO might be at a disadvantage once again. Previously NATO had relied on having almost complete air supremacy during a war, so the obvious answer to the Hind problem was to shoot them down. J-CATCH was organized to provide doctrine to fighter pilots on how to best accomplish this task. Given the surprising results in close-range combat, the main lesson was that helicopters should only be engaged at long range using look-down weapons like the AIM-7 and AIM-9. Background Prior to J-CATCH, there had been little effort in the US to explore fighter-helicopter tactics. One of the earliest involved MASH Sikorsky H-19's, which the Army believed would be easy targets for enemy fighters. Many years later, in 1971 the new Combat Development Evaluation Center conducted an experiment with Army Bell AH-1 Cobras vs. US Navy F-4 Phantoms. The latter demonstrated that the Cobra was a fleeting target when employed over land, but worried about the Navy, whose search and rescue helicopters operated over water with no cover available. By the 1970s it was clear the Soviets were dramatically increasing their own helicopter force. The urgency of this threat grew as the west learned of the capabilities of the Hind and (later) the 9K114 Shturm (AT-6 Spiral) anti-tank missile. The platform represented a serious threat to NATO armour. The results of earlier experiments, and the lack of modern organic air-defence units in the Army, suggested that the Hind would run rampant over the battlefield. J-CATCH Starting in 1978 the situation was addressed with the organization of the J-CATCH program. Phase I This started with simulator efforts in the Differential Maneuvering Simulator (DMS) at NASA Langley in May 1978. The DMS was developed to simulate two spacecraft or aircraft maneuvering together, and was a natural fit for simulating one-on-one encounters between helicopters and other aircraft. Aircrew from the Army, Marines, Military Airlift Command and the Tactical Air Command participated in the tests, which involved the simulation of both armed and unarmed helicopters. Phase II Experience from the simulator tests led to a series of field studies in Phase II, studying helicopter vs. helicopter tactics, a field that had never been officially studied before. The tests took place at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Blue Force, representing a US Army anti-armour group, was taken from