Rodriguez dove to low altitude in order to clutter Sayhood 's radar and break Bodily_harm the lock-on , and dropped Motion flares to counter his adversary 's infra-red search-and-track .

With the now lone MiG-29 closing head-on with the pair of F-15s , Underhill gained Getting radar lock-on , but did not fire due Causation to a glitch in his IFF interrogator system keeping him from being certain he was n't about to shoot down Use_firearm a Coalition aircraft .

Fearing that Rodriguez would obtain Getting infra-red lock-on and shoot him down with an AIM-9 , Sayhood attempted to disengage using a split-s. Rodriguez did n't follow Sayhood 's manoeuver , and observed him eject just prior to his MiG impacting the ground - he 'd commenced his escape maneuver too low .