Basic Terms of BVR combat

The goal of beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air combat is to kill the enemy at long range—before he can harm you. For that purpose we need Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles.

Beyond visual range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAM) are long-range missiles used by fighters to knock out enemy fighters, bombers, tankers, drones and other aircraft from ranges beyond 37km.

Talking about its issues...One major issue with BVR is still unreliable IFF technology (Identification friend or foe).

A number of terms frequently crop up in discussions of air-to-air missile performance.

Terms 

Launch success zone

The Launch Success Zone is the range within which there is a high (defined) kill probability against a target that remains unaware of its engagement until the final moment. When alerted visually or by a warning system the target attempts a last-ditch-maneuver sequence.

F-Pole

This is the slant range between the launch aircraft and target, at the time of interception. The greater the F-Pole, the greater the confidence that the launch aircraft will achieve air superiority with that missile.

A-Pole

This is the slant range between the launch aircraft and target at the time that the missile begins active guidance or acquires the target with the missile's active seeker. The greater the A-Pole means less time and possibly greater distance that the launch aircraft needs to support the missile guidance until missile seeker acquisition.

No-Escape Zone

NEZ is not a zone where a hit is guaranteed; rather, it is a zone where enemy aircraft cannot outrun missile, waiting for it to run out of fuel, but rather has to outturn it

Kill Probability

The kill probability is determined by several factors, including aspect (head-on interception, side-on or tail-chase), altitude, the speed of the missile and the target, and how hard the target can turn. Typically, if the missile has sufficient energy during the terminal phase, which comes from being launched at close range to the target from an aircraft with an altitude and speed advantage, it will have a good chance of success. This chance drops as the missile is fired at longer ranges as it runs out of overtake speed at long ranges, and if the target can force the missile to turn it might bleed off enough speed that it can no longer chase the target. BVR missiles are never fired at maximum range due to meager Probability of kill against fighter aircraft.

Range
Range varies on altitude, with best range for missiles are in high-altitude rare-atmosphere conditions, where maneuverability is almost nonexistent; at sea level, range is not much more than visual. Velocity loss after burn-out also varies with altitude, with 25% of current velocity being lost every 150 s at 24 km, 25 s at 12 km and 5 s at sea level.

Range can be reduced even further if enemy uses jammers. Thus, large NEZ (no-escape zone) is far more important. Higher speed allows it to reduce time to target, and thus opponent’s reaction time, as well as to retain energy for longer after engine has burned out. . In fact, jamming and IFF issues mean that BVR missiles are far more likely to be used as a WVR weapon than in their intended purpose.

Maneuverability always helps with evading missiles, and BVR missile used against Mach 0.9 target would have to pull 10-20 times as many g’s as target to secure a kill. Suffice to say, no missile does it: AIM-120D can pull 40 g...PL 12 can pull overall 38G...whereas modern fighters can pull in excess of 10 g

from - http://fullafterburner.weebly.com/next-gen-weapons/top-10-bvr-missiles
info gathered by - exeter#3926 from defence matrix discord