Radius of action
Radius of action, combat radius, or combat range in military terms, refers to the maximum distance a ship, aircraft, or vehicle can travel away from its base along a given course with average load and return without refueling, allowing for all safety and operating factors.
– A given aircraft's radius of action varies according to the altitude of its flight plan, the amount of weight (ordnance in a military context) it is carrying, and whether or not it carries external drop tanks full of fuel.
– An aircraft engaged in low-level (lo) flight will have a smaller radius of action than the same one engaged in a high-level (hi) mission due to higher fuel consumption at lower altitudes (higher atmospheric pressure/air density).
– An aircraft with and heavier load (ordnance in military terms) will have a smaller radius of action (combat radius in military terms) than the same one with less and lighter load due to higher fuel consumption at heavier weights.
– An aircraft with drop tanks will have a greater radius of action than the same one without.
The maximum distance a ship, aircraft, or vehicle can travel away from its base along a given course with average combat load and return without refueling, allowing for all safety and operating factors [Definitions.net].
Joint Chiefs of Staff (31 August 2005) [2001]. Joint Publication 1-02; Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; 12 April 2001 (as amended through 31 August 2005) (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Defense. p. 442 (PDF p.
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