The optimisation of manoeuvring strategies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in air combat has become a crucial concern as UAV technology continues to advance. This paper proposes an evolutionary game-based decision-making method to guide the manoeuvre behaviour of UAVs in air combat. Initially, a kinematic freedom UAV model and an air combat manoeuvre model are established. Subsequently, the evolutionary game process is described in terms of replicated factor dynamics, and the evolutionary stabilisation strategy in evolutionary game theory is employed to optimise the UAV’s manoeuvre strategy. Finally, through comparison with traditional methods, the effectiveness of this approach in enhancing both survivability and combat effectiveness of UAVs is verified. The experimental findings demonstrate that this proposed method significantly enhances the survivability and combat effectiveness of UAVs in air combat, which holds great practical significance.