When is the perfec moment to jettison external tanks?

When do you prefer to jettison your external tanks?

When your radar detects the first enemy or when you enter a certain area?

Is it too dangerous to start BVR combat and still keep external tanks?

depends on what you're flying, how many you have, if you're BVR or WVR or whatever. You dont need to drop your tanks if you're well outside WVR, and dont need to drop tanks to avoid missiles by F Pole or notching.

If you're flying WVR and you have one tank, unless its a capable opponent just keep it unless its empty. If you're flying a gas hungry aircraft like the Hornet, drop them when they're empty unless you're into a2a refueling. Keep them if you have a long mission unless you really love the a2a refueling stuff. Otherwise as soon as you go defensive, drop them.

What if you suddenly realize there's BVR missile coming to you? Would that be too late for jettison? You would have to make a high G maneuver to put the missile to the beam right?

Unless you're getting shot at by an active radar missle like an R-77 or AMRAAM, then yeah you'll be dropping those tanks. Not many aircraft use the R-77, so you have to anticipate that ahead of time. This method always works when trying to make the decision: if the enemy is in range, SO ARE YOU. Keep that in mind, youll do fine.

I drop them as soon as they're empty. In the Viper I set my fuel knob to whichever tanks I'm draining from, usually I just carry the center tank, and jettison it as soon as it's dry.

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