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