Beyond Visual Range

**Beyond Visual Range (BVR)** or **Over the Horizon** tactics are a concept in which a military force is able to attack its enemy from beyond the capability of visual sight. This is made possible with the invention of long-range radar and advanced guidance systems. The primary weapon for this tactic is the guided missile.

## Overview

The ability to attack a target from beyond visual range is a huge advantage as the attacker does not have to immediately expose his own forces to enemy counterattack. Furthermore, this type of preemptive strike has great shock value as the enemy has no idea where the attack is coming from, thereby resulting in disarray of its own forces. Another advantage to using BVR weapons is the idea of **fire-and-forget**. Once the target is located and the weapon is fired, then the user can focus his attention on another target, while the weapon itself makes its own corrections to guide it towards its target. Example of this weapon is the Type 99 AAM-4 Air-to-Air Missile that uses active radar guidance system.

One of the main downsides to BVR is that it cannot distinguish between friend and foe. Therefore, it is normally utilized in scenarios where the user is certain that no friendly forces are in the same area as the enemy. For example, during the Japanese-Parpaldian War, Japan gave out a warning to the Topa Kingdom to avoid the air and sea lanes where the Parpaldia Empire's forces might be. This was to ensure that Topa merchant vessels were not hit by friendly fire. The JSDF is also making adjustments to their Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) list to their missiles so that they don't accidentally shoot down the Pal Chimera, should it accidentally wander into the firing zone.

## Service History

Beyond Visual Tactics and the guided missile has made a huge impact during the Japanese-Parpaldian War and the New World War. Just about all of the Dragon Carrier fleet of the Parpaldia Empire was sunk by anti-ship missiles from beyond the horizon, and the entire Wyvern corps didn't stand a chance against BVR missiles, let alone short-range heat-seekers and cannon fire.

During the Great Naval Battle of Japan, BVR tactics and guided weapons would claim their largest number of kills to date. The Gra Valkas Second Advanced Fleet would be ravaged by Harpoon missiles, Type 89 torpedoes and Type 93 Anti-ship missiles. The First Advanced Fleet would send out 92 Antares Fighters, but only one would come back. Half of the flight were shot down from beyond visual range, while the others fell victim to short-range heat-seekers and cannon fire. The First Advanced Fleet would suffer the same fate as the Second as their Jammer devices would fail to divert any of the anti-ship missiles, leaving only 9 destroyers left out of a battle group of 230 ships. The entire 44th Task Force was wiped out with 52 ships, in addition to 120 Guti Maun bombers and half the low-level bomber assault groups. The remainder also fell to short-range heat-seekers and cannon fire. The remaining ships of the Great Fleet would suffer the loss of all of its carriers and a drastic reduction to just over 300 ships.

Obtaining information from the Holy Milishial Empire, the JSDF is currently working to ensure the Pal Chimera that belongs to HME do not appear as a hostile unit when they arrive to assist Japan. As the military higher-ups are concerned that they may shot down Pal Chimera by accident, Japan has yet to take any direct action due to the flying battleship that has yet to arrive on the battlefield.