A differential game in three dimensions: The aerial dogfight scenario (Q1200582)

The article contains a qualitative analysis of an aircraft dogfight model in 3-dimensional space. There are two mutually hostile identical fighter aircraft armed with omni-directional air-to-air missile systems. Each aircraft possesses an airstrip equipped with a ground-to-air defense system. The authors use a superimposed pair of two-target antisymmetric semigames. Sufficient conditions for the games obtained by W. M. Getz and G. Leitman and the technique of alternating two configurations are applied in order to determine the various regions of possible outcomes in the air combat and to determine winning strategies for the games. Properties of the boundaries of these winning regions are studied. The concept of posthumous strategies for a mutual kill region is introduced.