What are the reasons for the end of the dogfight era? A lot of sources mention that a lot of modern era (5.Gen) fighter jet designs such as the F-35 are focussing on qualities and properties such as stealth, long-range attacks, and versatility just to name a few. It is often brought up that the era of dogfights is over. What was the reason for this shift of desirable qualities in air defense and combat?
Primarily this was driven by the invention of the guided missile which can be deployed far outside the range of bullets (making them a standoff weapon) and which can actively track the target autonomously (&quot;shoot and forget&quot;).
With these two features, it no longer became necessary to maneuver close enough to another plane to shoot it down with bullets and to accurately track the target aircraft with one's own aircraft while doing so- which made WWI and WWII dogfighting skills unnecessary.