Fighter Patrol

a flight of fighter planes (subunits) over a specific region with the goal of intercepting and destroying enemy airplanes and unpiloted means of enemy air attack on routes of approach to covered troops or objectives. Interception from fighter patrol position is the most reliable method of combat action, especially against fast, low-flying aerial targets; however, it requires the employment of a large number of fighter aircraft, since planes in a fighter patrol are echeloned in altitude and in depth. In the USSR and a number of other countries, a fighter patrol is more often called fighter plane air alert patrol.