IICptMillerII

MSR LIBERTY 3rd platoon, A Company commanded by 2LT Branch is the lead platoon making its way towards the US consulate. They just turned onto MSR Liberty when the BMPs movement was spotted. CPT Amato informs 2LT Branch of the newly developing situation and the increased urgency to get to the consulate. As if on cue, one of the squads of 3rd platoon takes fire from point blank range. It’s a single soldier who wildly mag dumps. No one is hit by the fire and the soldier is quickly killed by a Marine, but this is another close call of many that has also halted all forward movement towards the consulate. If this keeps up its only a matter of time before casualties are suffered, or worse the relief force is so delayed that the consulate is overrun. Mere seconds later, a BMP comes screaming down a side street and into an intersection just 60 meters away from 3rd platoon. It appears to be trying to get close to the US consulate and is oblivious to the Marines. One of the Marines quickly shoulders and fires his LAW rocket and hits the BMP in the rear, stopping it and setting it on fire. Disoriented Regime infantry begin spilling out of the back and into a hail of fire from the Marines. Not all goes in favor of the Marines. Just to the left of where the BMP was taken out is a two story building occupied by Regime soldiers. They open fire on 3rd platoon caught in the open in the middle of the street with at least one PKM machine gun and cause two casualties. The building is too close to the Marines location to call in an airstrike, so the building will have to be taken down the old fashion way. 3rd squad moves into an adjacent building and engages the enemy at very close range. At the same moment that 3rd squad moves into the adjacent building, a team of Regime soldiers who apparently have a similar idea come face to face. A violent, point blank range firefight develops. The team of Regime soldiers is killed, but so is a Marine. Casualties are starting to mount for the Marine Landing Party. A second BMP appears at the corner of the intersection, but before it can fire a Marine with a LAW hits it in the lower front chassis. The BMP driver panics and tries to reverse but instead spins in a circle. In a last desperate act, it pops its smoke dispensers, but the effort is futile. Another Marine fires a second LAW into the side of the BMP, destroying it. 3rd platoon has had a hell of a time on MSR Liberty, and the consulate is still half a kilometer away.

H2H. Programming the AI would have taken far too long and required testing to make sure everything was working correctly. In SF2 both the AT-4 and Javelin can safely be fired from indoors. With the Javelin, as Ian said, there is no initial backblast. The missile is ejected from the launcher tube via a small burst of propellant. This is known as a "soft launch mechanism." Once the rocket itself has cleared the tube/building/soldiers, the actual propellant ignites. This all allows the javelin to be safely fired from inside enclosed spaces including buildings. The AT-4 in SF2 (Black Sea as well) is the urban conversion model, which incorporates a small mechanism at the back containing water designed to absorb the back blast allowing the rocket to be fired indoors without the damaging effects.

B COMPANY ARRIVES The AAVs carrying B Company begin rumbling ashore. However due to the attrition of AAV’s, the loading was less than organized. It will take a few minutes for the Marines of B Company to organize themselves on the beach before they make their way towards the Canadian consulate. On MSR Coyote the scouts and engineers who arrived in the first wave nearly 40 minutes ago have secured initial positions that will allow B Company to quickly move down the MSR and get to their objectives faster. The Global Hawk UAV circling above the city has spotted what appears to be an operational T-62 tank sitting outside the Canadian consulate on MSR Maple. A team of scouts splits off and clears a large 4 story building complex and gets eyes on the T-62. One of the javelin teams from B Company’s command element is brought up ASAP to deal with the tank. Though tired from the run to the rooftop, the javelin team is able to target and engage the enemy T-62, destroying it. The javelin team then displaces off the roof. A second T-62 is spotted at the intersection of blocking position Bunny. It also appears to be operational, and so the javelin team is redirected to a new firing position to engage the other T-62. A minute or so later, the javelin team is in position and engages and destroys the second T-62. As the javelin team displaces, they draw fire from across the street. There are Regime infantry in platoon (-) strength in a building complex along MSR Market, directly in the way of the proposed route to the Canadian consulate. Word of the new situation reaches B Company’s CO, CPT Pulido. He takes a minute or so to consolidate his thoughts and weigh his options, then decides on a new plan of action. B Company will divert from MSR Market to an alternate route to get to the Canadian consulate and will request a danger close airstrike on the building complex housing the Regime infantry. The alternate route is approved, but the danger close airstrike is denied. Even with plenty of hard cover around, the target is within 150 meters of friendly positions. 500 meters is danger close, and 200 meters is considered too close unless the situation is dire. This situation is deemed ‘not dire enough’ by higher headquarters. The enemy strongpoint is noted and passed up the chain of command as a possible opportunity target once the Marines have left the area, and CPT Pulido begins to brief his platoon leaders on the new plan of movement. With the platoon leaders briefed, they begin moving down the alternate route. 1st platoon is in the lead and takes up a position that has eyes on the edge of the western consulate wall. A patrol of Regime MP’s are spotted and engaged. After a brief firefight, some of the MP’s have had enough and surrender. The firefight begins to die off. One of the MP’s takes advantage of this and, using the surrendering MP’s as a shield, aims and fires an RPG at the Marines. The RPG flies left, missing the Marines who quickly pour fire into the men in response, neutralizing the MP’s. After seeing the RPG gunner and human shields cut down, the rest of the survivors decide to properly surrender. The Marines, now wary, keep rifles trained on the surrendering personnel and do not approach. The surrendering men do not try anything further. The situation back at the US consulate becomes dynamic. Its probed a few more times by dismounted Regime infantry. Each time the probe is repulsed by Marine security. Initially it is difficult to determine what the enemy is trying to do. Neither the Global Hawk nor U-2 see an enemy force massing for an attack against the consulate. In fact, the neighborhood surrounding the consulate seems to be rather barren. This situation quickly changes when the Global Hawks sensors detect BMPs moving in the general direction of the consulate. Armed personnel are also seen slowly making their way through neighborhoods in the direction of the consulate. This is bad news.

Here is what I don't understand about starving people? Get more food. Eat. Repeat. Problem solved. Duh.

I think its worth noting that toggling the trees is a quality of life thing for the player. The soldiers cannot see through the trees when they're toggled, so it really doesn't affect gameplay at all. All it really does is allow the player to see his units and give commands to them easier, especially because trees can get in the way of giving orders and can sometimes hide unit icons. Plus, sometimes on maps with a ton of foliage, toggling the trees to just be trunks can give a significant improvement to framerate. I suppose there is an argument for being forced to play "in the saddle" as it were, at eye level the entire time. This too would be player preference though. Would be an interesting way to play the game, especially if it was enforced by some difficulty setting higher than "Iron."

Just wanted to drop by and compliment those working on this on their mapping ability. The maps for this look pretty fantastic to my eye. As someone who constantly feels held back by my lack of ability with the map editor I have to say I'm very impressed, and only a touch jealous!

I like the two perspectives, the comic book style for the up close and personal shots, and the broad overview shots detailing the battlefield as a whole. Can we expect to see any new artwork for the Germans in this AAR? Stuff like infantry clothing, tank camo, etc. That town looks like a real pain to take. Ian has his work cut out for him.

Good stuff so far. I always like seeing the new models/artwork in these beta AARs. With any luck the module will be out before the AAR is finished

Apologies for the delay. I'm hoping to pump out the next few updates over the course of the coming week. Glad to see there is continued interest!

LANDFALL The Marines make landfall and as promised, its with a bang. Timed to coincide with the first wave hitting the beach, a host of Maverick AGM armed Hornets and Harriers are unleashed against Regime forces. In just one minute, the city is continuously rocked by consecutive explosions as Maverick missiles and JDAMs connect with targets throughout the city. The Marines of the first wave pour out of their AAVs and onto the beach. Luckily they take no direct fire, and the engineers are quick to begin their work of screening the beach for obstacles and making sure there is sufficient access to the MSRs leading off the beach. Things proceed smoothly for the most part. One of the AAVs throws a track as it tries to return to the ocean. This is a headache and a nuisance, but not a game changer. Worst case scenario, the vehicle will have to be abandoned and destroyed in place. A quick firefight ends as quickly as it began when two Regime MP’s poke their heads around the corner at the intersection of MSR Wiley and Market. The MP’s quickly lose their heads for their curiosity. Besides that, the beach is quiet. No obstacles are found by the engineers, and both breach points are found to be clear as well. The way is open for the Marines to advance into the city itself. Loading A Company into the AAV’s took a little longer than expected, but the company is finally ready to go and steps off into the water. Unfortunately, another AAV becomes immobilized as it steps off. I’m hoping that this does not become a consistent problem. As the AAV’s swim to shore, the Hornet that missed with its JDAM on the first pass of the enemy assembly area comes back around and drops another JDAM. This time, its on target and the Marines at breach point Elmer get a tooth rattling firework show. After the dust settles from the blast, a few shellshocked MP’s are seen running away through the rubble and are engaged by the Marines. Hopefully this indicates this possible enemy assembly area as being thoroughly neutralized. With the MP’s killed or fleeing, the Marines of A Company begin moving down MSR Wiley. As this is occurring, movement is spotted near the US consulate by Marine security. A few moments later, a group of Regime MPs are seen advancing down a side street towards the consulate. The Marines open fire. This is a dangerous situation. The consulate can hold its own against the current threat, but won’t last long against a large determined attack. A Company must make all possible speed to reach the consulate and reinforce it before it is overrun. Captain Amato, A Company’s commander is informed of the attack on the consulate and the new urgency to get to the consulate. A few moments later as his Marines are moving down MSR Wiley, they take fire from an RPG followed by small arms fire, and a firefight breaks out halting forward movement. The situation gets more tense when Marines from 2nd platoon take a barrage of fire from a side street and suffer a casualty. Regime MP’s fire at the Marines from intact buildings part of the Police Headquarters. The Marines take two more casualties, both wounded, before returning fire with small arms. Two LAW disposable anti-tank rockets are fired into the buildings, suppressing and hopefully destroying the MP position there. The short but sharp firefight ends moments later. The Regime MP’s hold up in the Police Headquarters break under the immense small arms return fire from the Marines and flee their fighting position. With the enemy fleeing, the Marines move up. They establish initial positions along blocking position Bugs and screen the Police Headquarters before attempting to clear it. Sporadic sniper fire is still coming from inside the Police complex which manages to wound another Marine. The snipers location is found and suppressive fire is poured into the position. More potshots are taken at the Marines, including another RPG round which slams into the wall just over the heads of an M240 team. Miraculously none of the Marines are wounded, or even hit. It all goes to show that even though the Regime MPs appear to be retreating, it is more orderly than not and they certainly have some fight in them. With the firefight decidedly one sided in favor of the Marines, and the enemy fleeing or dying, elements of 1st platoon begin the treacherous task of clearing out the Police Headquarters complex. Though initially tense, it is soon apparent that the only occupants of the headquarters are corpses. 1st platoon clears the rest of the complex without incident and blocking position Bugs is officially secured and established. Back at the beach, the AAVs carrying B Company are nearing the beach.

MARINES At 1011 hours local time (0911 zulu) Task Force Wasp arrives off the coast of Al Mout and begins preparing for disembarkation. To support the Marines, a large number of aircraft from both the Wasp and Enterprise are launched and settle into their on call air stations. By 1022 local, all aircraft are at their stations and the Marines are ready to disembark. Regime forces have not been able to detect my ships, until now. Task Force Wasp is within visual range of the city, and both the U-2 and Global Hawk UAV are showing a lot of increased military activity in the city. The good news is it appears the Regime has been taken by surprise. Most of their armed forces in the city appear to be trying to secure and triage targets stuck by the Tomahawk strikes or are centered around the Canadian consulate. There do not appear to be many Regime forces near the US consulate, though that is likely to change quickly. Having the city under complete surveillance like this gives me a definite advantage. As Marine AAVs begin to hit the water, air controllers aboard the Wasp coordinate with the U-2 and Global Hawk feeds to begin directing airstrikes in the city. The Marines are entering Al Mout with a bang. At 1025 local time, the first wave of Marines hit the water. Four AAVs carry the reconnaissance platoon, scout sniper platoon, and the engineer platoon. In the distance smoke columns can be seen rising into the sky, marking the locations of the Tomahawk strike targets. Flying overhead are a pair of Super Cobra’s. They are initially tasked with scanning the beach for any hostile presence and engaging it if it exists. For now however it appears that the beach is completely undefended. That could quickly change. It is only a matter of time until someone in the city realizes there are amphibious vehicles on their way to shore. It will take roughly 5 minutes for the AAVs to make a one-way trip. That means that the first wave of Marines, a relatively small group, will be alone for at least 10 minutes. This initial landing will be one of the most vulnerable instances the Marines will have to face. They are not completely helpless though. In addition to the two Super Cobra’s, much of the city is under active surveillance. If Regime forces make a move for the beachhead they will be quickly spotted, and orbiting CAS aircraft can be vectored in to interdict them. The Cobra’s spot and engage a few enemy vehicles on MSR Market just inland from the beachhead as the Marines approach. If the Regime didn’t know we were coming, they do now. As if to confirm it, a flurry of activity is seen. Armed personnel are seen pouring out of a large building complex in multiple directions. This situation quickly becomes a serious problem. Based on what is being observed, it appears that the building complex is some kind of assembly area for a large contingent of dismounted Regime infantry. This building complex sits at the intersection of MSR Wiley and Market and is directly next to blocking position Bugs. A Company’s blocking position and route of advance into the city to the US consulate appears to have an enemy assembly area smack in the middle of it. Before Marines have even put boots down on hostile soil, the fog of war rears its ugly head. Intelligence failed to identify this concentration of enemy forces at a critical spot. The solution is simple, an old but true tactical maxim. Most any problem can be solved with the proper application of firepower. And firepower is something the Marines have in spades. Two Hornets loaded with 2000lb JDAMs are ordered to strike the building complex. The first JDAM misses its target by about 8 meters, slamming into the dirt road next to the complex. The second JDAM is dead on target. While this goes a long way to mitigating this potentially serious issue, it does not solve it outright. The remains of the complex will have to be swept by elements of A Company in addition to establishing blocking position Bugs. This will add a time delay to the plan, prolonging the time both the Marines and consulate personnel are exposed to danger, increasing the chance of taking casualties.

Great screenshots, especially now that you have the old woodlands chemical suits. Really sets the mood. I love seeing small mods change/add immersion. The map looks pretty great too. Something you've created?

If that's the case then there isn't a problem, which would be ideal. Completely agree. Communication has been much better recently. Credit to where it is due, BFC are making a conscious effort to improve here and in my opinion they are succeeding.

I definitely can appreciate this. R2V feels like it has "dragged," both its own development and development of other CM projects over the past few years. I also think that more packs is a good idea. I really like the two battlepacks that have been released thus far. More maps, scenario's and campaigns is always a good thing. Very much hoping to see (a lot) more of these in the near future. I also liked the vehicle pack for CMBN, and I really hope we see more vehicle and general packs like this in the future as well. Fore example, an engineering vehicle pack for the modern titles, even if it was just an M1 and T-72 with mine plows. Or a slightly larger pack that adds in a new formation, such as unconventional fighters for CMBS as an example. That said, the main issue I see with switching from larger modules to smaller packs is content getting spread out and piecemealed, which could fragment the multiplayer community. Perhaps the packs adding content would be better if it was more niche, out of the way content that isn't necessary for most people to enjoy the game, but still there for those who want it. A ready example in my mind is partisans in the WWII titles. Some really want to see them, but I think most are fine playing CMBN for its conventional warfare and wouldn't care about the lack of the French Resistance. I'm sure the guys at BFC who have to make these decisions for real have a pretty good idea of how to move forward. At the end of the day, as long as we are getting more CM content I'll be happy, and if that content comes out at shorter time intervals all the better.

Pretty much everything. The menu's are rather obnoxious, both in their layouts and in their effects, such as changing various graphics settings or gameplay variables. The in-game UI is abysmal regardless of learning curve, and giving orders is a consistent exercise in frustration. The TacAI is the definition of clunky. Yes, you can give a move order to a company across a 3km map and it will execute it based on a movement SOP, which cuts down on micromanagement. However, the TacAI almost universally struggles along the way. Vehicles dogpile, crash and flip, or bunch up on a bridge and ram each other off. Infantry stretches out and takes long routes through complex terrain such as villages. All of these things can be present in CM too. The difference is that in CM I can directly intervene and unjam a traffic jam by giving new orders to vehicles, or to tweak the orders of infantry, etc. In graviteam, you have no such control and you just have to watch everything shake itself out, for good or bad. I have around 25 hours in Mius Front. I have found that the AI in graviteam follows specific SOP regardless of the map/scenario. For example, if you are defending, simply never put your men directly on a marked objective because the attacking AI will always shell the objective. I just put my defenders in a position offset from the objective but still along the obvious axis of advance and cut down the enemy as they bumble their way through the open. Similarly, while on the attack I've found that as long as I set up my formation in a sensible manner that has good fields of fire, I can generally cut down the enemy defenders and then walk onto the objectives. In my case, most of the difficulty of the game comes from your lack of control over your men. Infantry who come into contact while on the move have terrible responses. I can't tell you how many times I've seen two opposing formations run at each other in the open, firing at point blank range blindly, running past each other and every now and then kicking one another to death. Its as if all the soldiers are blindfolded, or at least vision impaired to some degree. Additionally and conversely, key supporting weapons such as MG-42s or anti-tank guns seem to attract deadly accurate small arms fire in ranges of 700-1000m. In the first mission of the "Raid" DLC (I believe that is what it is called) playing as the Germans, I had to defend against a Soviet infantry attack coming across a large open snowy field. I set up my MGs in good positions, but watched them all get sniped from 700+ meters away, while the accompanying infantry had to wait to kick the Soviet soldiers to death as they stumbled into the trenches and seemingly did not notice my infantry. Same story for the anti-tank guns. Granted, all of this is anecdotal evidence. And anecdotal evidence, isn't. But you asked for examples so I figured I would tell you some of what I have seen while playing the game. Again, I agree that graviteam involves less micro managing and that sometimes that is a great thing, but many other times individual units struggle and there is no good way to intervene and help them, like you can do in CM. I agree for the most part. I too would like to see a more robust overall AI in CM, and I think (as the developers have stated in the manuals for the games) that the best way to experience everything CM has to offer is to play against another human who is competent. I understand and appreciate what the overall goal of simulation is, I just have not seen it pan out nearly as smoothly as others have. I'm all for simulating the friction and fog of war, and I do think in certain regards graviteam does a good job of simulating that. Its just in my experience the majority of the time it isn't working that way and when it becomes clear that there is a "glitch" occurring (such as vehicles ramming each other off a bridge they're trying to cross) there is no way to intervene. CM putting you in every leadership position in the formation, from team leader all the way to battalion commander and more has pros and cons. Graviteam automating much of the smaller unit leadership also has plenty of pros and cons. But when it comes down to it, especially in a simulation/game, I would rather have more control than less. At the end of the day, these are still computer programs, which are inherently prone to needing human intervention/guidance to run most optimally. One thing that I think graviteam does unequivocally better than CM is the special effects. I love seeing mud and dirt thrown by tank tracks and wheels of moving vehicles. I also love seeing those vehicles deform the terrain around them. The destruction models and physics are also excellent. Seeing bits of the tank blow off as it is hit by shells is a lot of fun to watch, and seeing a tank that has been hit and set on fire but still rolling forward under its own power is additionally great. I appreciate realistic gore as well, so seeing the effects of a flamethrower against its targets is a nice touch, and even the pool of blood and bloodied clothing of casualties is appreciated as well. Oh, and headlights on vehicles moving in low light.

I guess I'll jump in and be the stick in the mud who asks for more modern warfare content. I get that WWII will always and forever be the primary (by far) wargaming subject matter, but I think that CM excels at simulating conflict from the 1940's through to the modern day. And seeing how over saturated the market always is with WWII content, I would think that the less explored market for modern warfare might be a niche that BFC could gradually fill. By modern warfare, I mean anything post WWII that fits the CM model. Arab-Israeli Wars, Cold War conflicts (we already have one in the form of CMA)to include the various African Bush Wars that occurred throughout the later 20th century, and fun hypotheticals, such as a US invasion of Cuba in the early 1960s or a Fulda Gap game in the 80s. Then of course as the first page of this thread pointed out, modern warfare games (2010+) have a clear training potential to defense contractors/agencies. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much looking forward to the CMRT module (winter on the Eastern Front!) and I would love to see a CM game covering Kursk and even Barbarossa. I just hope they devote a little more time to semi/modern war as opposed to mostly developing WWII titles while producing modern war on the side.

ALPHA STRIKE An alpha strike is the term the US Navy uses instead of strike package. In general, it means a large strike against a high valued target. More specifically, it can refer to a strike comprising multiple squadrons, with aircraft totaling half the total number on an aircraft carrier. The practice was first developed in the 1960’s during the Vietnam War. VFA-86, all twelve aircraft, will conduct an alpha strike against Al Mout International Airport. The targets are: 4x Surface Ammo Bunkers 2x Runways These are the final targets that need to be neutralized in order to shut down the airfield for good. All twelve Hornets are equipped with the same loadout. 2x AGM-154C BROACH JSOW glide bombs, 1x AMRAAM and 2x Sidewinders for air defense. The Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a precision guided glide weapon designed to give aircraft a long-range precision strike capability. It is GPS guided, making it all weather and extremely accurate, and can be launched at ranges between 2-45nm. Additionally, because it is GPS guided, the weapon is fire and forget, allowing aircraft to immediately turn around and stay in safe airspace instead of having to loiter in hostile airspace to keep a target painted. The BROACH warhead is a two-stage warhead designed to penetrate hardened targets, similar to a bunker buster bomb. The warhead itself is 1000 pounds. The strike is given the go to launch at 0651 zulu, and by 0657 all twelve aircraft are in the air and en route. As the aircraft of VFA-86 make their way to the target, the airfield and airspace are under constant surveillance. If the enemy spots the incoming strike and tries to launch interceptors against it, there are 6 CAP Hornets that can interdict the interceptors. The U-2 orbiting high overhead should give plenty of advanced warning by spotting moving aircraft on the tarmac below. The flight time to weapon release is very short, only about 5 minutes, thanks to the standoff capability of the JSOW. The first six plane formation reaches the weapon release point and pickles (aviation shorthand for dropping a bomb) off 12 JSOWs. A few moments later, the second formation pickles off their JSOWs. No enemy aircraft are seen taxiing to the runway to intercept, and as the JSOWs close in on the airfield, no anti-aircraft fire is launched to interdict the weapons. It is likely that due to the cumulative effects of past air and Tomahawk strikes, the airfield doesn’t even know it is under attack. A few minutes later, and the weapons hit their targets. All weapons hit their targets, and the orbiting U-2 provides a quick battle damage assessment (BDA). Both runways are completely destroyed. All four ammunition bunkers are heavily damaged, and one of them is engulfed in flames. The air traffic control tower as well as other buildings are confirmed to be destroyed as well by previous Tomahawk strikes. Al Mout International Airport is now incapable of supporting fixed wing aerial operations. The way is now clear for the USS Wasp and the 2nd MEU.

Thanks! CMANO is pretty great. I didn't even think about the alternative stylized map symbols. I'm so used to the standardized NATO ones myself. I'll definitely consider it for future hybrid AARs though.

The short answer is: standardization. If all the vehicles in a stryker Brigade Combat team are the same, it creates a common maintenance pool, which cuts down on logistics and cost. Personally I think the MGS is more of a bad design than a bad concept. I heard that the Army was looking into an overhaul, but I can’t recall what the proposal entails.

Yeah any mission where you’re up against the Syrian special forces is likely to be a tough fight. They tend to be well equipped and motivated, but most importantly dug into good defensive positions. That airfield can be a real pain to take down. The Stryker MGS doesn’t carry many rounds. It’s one of its biggest issues irl. That, and they are notoriously unreliable due to the unmanned and automated turret/loader. If it’s any consolation, the Army doesn’t like them either.

SECOND STRIKE The second Tomahawk strike is quickly planned. Target responsibilities remain the same as the first strike, and the package is largely similar. Remaining SAM sites will receive 5 Tomahawks, while radar sites and strategic targets will receive 2. 48 Tomahawks are launched. The Tomahawks fired from the Bainbridge against the two remaining SA-5 sites impact their targets, silencing them for good. A couple of minutes later the rest of the Tomahawks hit their assigned targets. The strike is effective. All of the SAM sites are now either completely destroyed or so heavily damaged that they are now combat ineffective. Most of the targeted radar sites are destroyed or damaged as well. With this second strike, the Regimes ability to defend its own airspace over Al Mout has been greatly reduced. Now that the airspace over Al Mout is much more conducive, I order the U-2 to move in closer to begin direct observation of the city and surrounding area. This will aid in the airport alpha strike and the amphibious infiltration of the city by providing constant real time intelligence. Up till now all of my intel has been electronically gathered, whether it be from ELINT or radar. Getting eyes on with the U-2 will give me much better situational awareness. Flying at an altitude of 85,000 feet it will be safe from any known or unknown SAM threats. The Global Hawk is also on its way and, after arriving on station, will enter the airspace over Al Mout to provide direct intelligence to the Marine Landing Party. The U-2 arrives on station and gets eyes on the airport. One runway is undamaged, and the other is partially damaged. There are only a few aircraft spotted parked in open tarmac spaces. The rest are likely parked in the many hardened aircraft structures, which will be the primary target of the upcoming alpha strike.

Haha! Definitely a better idea than sitting around doing nothing and allowing your entire force to get obliterated by waves of Tomahawks. Oh they're on their way, but the way still isn't clear for them to land yet. Unfortunately for me the Abbudin regime has decided not to roll over and allow themselves to be blown to bits. More updates coming soon!

I'll refer back to the introduction for this.

FIRE IN THE SKY Initially, there are 4x F/A-18F Super Hornets in the sky split into 2 flights. Each Super Hornet carries 6x AIM-120C AMRAAM’s, which is an extremely good air to air missile. It has a range of 60nm, datalink capability, and once fired will guide itself to its target. This is important because it means that my aircraft can fire missiles at targets and then turn to maneuver defensively without the missile losing its lock. Enemy radar missiles do not have this capability, they must be guided in all the way to their target. This means that if the enemy is able to fire radar missiles at my aircraft, all my aircraft have to do is force the enemy plane to maneuver and the enemy missile will “go stupid,” or lose its lock and become harmless. Additionally, the Super Hornets can track, target and engage multiple enemy aircraft at the same time. For up close and personal dog fighting, the Super Hornets are equipped with the AIM-9X Sidewinder. This is a heat seeking missile that is highly maneuverable but has a short range of only 10nm. It is designed for dog fighting. Specifically, the weapon seeker head can be linked to the pilot’s helmet heads up display, known as a helmet mounted display, or HMD. This means that all the pilot has to do is look at the enemy aircraft, and the Sidewinder will lock onto it if in range. Even more impressive is the AIM-9X’s ability to be fired at “off-boresight” targets. This means that the Hornet does not have to be behind an enemy plane to fire at it, the enemy plane could be directly to the left or right, above or below, and the AIM-9X can still be fired at it. The Super Hornet and its armaments are very capable. I quickly order 2 more flights of Super Hornets into the air, bringing a total of 8 aircraft airborne (4 flights) which gives me a total of 48 AMRAAMs. Plenty to shoot down the incoming enemy aircraft with change left over. The Mig-25s quickly close with my Hornets, which begin lobbing AMRAAMs at a range of 50nm. Firing at less than maximum range will give the missile more energy to work with if it has to pursue a maneuvering enemy aircraft, increasing the chance of a kill against a plane trying to dodge the missile. The firing is not one sided. One of the SA-5 SAM sites struck by the first wave of Tomahawks is still functional and fires off 5 missiles at a flight or Hornets. This is a problem, but not a hopeless one. As long as the Hornets stay far enough away from the SAM site, a combination of defensive maneuvering and jamming should defeat the incoming SA-5s. The first volley of AMRAAMs closes with the Mig-25s. A number of the Migs are splashed (shot down) though many manage to dodge the incoming AMRAAMs. The Migs get a few missile shots of their own off, but these missiles soon fail to track as the Migs are forced to maneuver. Aerial battles are fast and tense. Aircraft quickly merge, and a fight of lobbed radar missiles shot at targets beyond visual range (BVR) quickly turns into a knife fight of within visual range (WVR) combat. The above image shows such a fight developing. Note the range scale in the bottom right. The aircraft going head to head are only 4nm apart, practically on top of each other as far as air combat is concerned. The Sidewinder is an excellent missile, and at short ranges such as these the chances of dodging the incoming missile is very low. The only real chance the Migs have at defeating the Sidewinders is by spoofing the sensors by popping flares. However, the AIM-9X’s sensors are designed to recognize and ignore aircraft-deployed countermeasures such as flares which is precisely what happens here. The Migs pop flares, but the Sidewinders still find their targets, splashing 3 Migs in quick succession. One of the dogfights that develops is so close that my Hornet is able to get directly behind one of the Migs and fire his guns at it. The maneuvering Mig is able to dodge the volleys of 20mm cannon fire, though this success is short lived. A moment later, an AMRAAM fired by the Hornets wingman slams into the Mig, splashing it. Approximately 3 and a half minutes after the air battle started, its all over. 12 Mig-25s have been shot down, and an additional 3 Mig-25RB reconnaissance aircraft were also shot down. For me the cost was (thankfully) only the taxpayer. 23 AMRAAMs were fired and 4 Sidewinders were fired. This is a very satisfying missile to hit ratio, slightly below 2:1. Ammo is cheap, lives are expensive. I’ve managed to come through this first direct battle with the enemy without suffering any casualties. I can only hope the rest of the operation goes this well. The first volley of SA-5s fired at my Hornets were defeated, but a second volley is fired. This time, the volley is coming from two different SA-5 SAM sites. While this is still manageable, it is a threat that needs to be dealt with. I order the USS Bainbridge DDG, part of Task Force Wasp to immediately engage these two SA-5 sites to knock them out for good. No additional aircraft are seen launching from Al Mout International. It is possible that the airfield is now too heavily damaged from the Tomahawk strike to launch aircraft. It is equally possible that the Abbudin air force has discovered discretion to be the better part of valor. Either way, I still plan to strike the airfield again, conducting an alpha strike with VFA-86 to make sure the airfield is out of operation. The Bainbridge fires off a volley of Tomahawks at the two active SA-5 sites. Meanwhile the destroyers of CSG 12 prepare to engage radar installations and additional strategic targets in the vicinity of Al Mout. These strikes, coupled with the alpha strike against the airport, will hopefully clear the way for the Marines to land in Al Mout.

No worries! Lively discussion makes this all the more fun.