Welcome to a playthrough AAR of the grand campaign in Jane's F/A-18 Super Hornet simulator! I didn't see many (read: almost none!) JF-18 AARs round here so I thought I'd do one, and do it big! :p The entire campaign is roughly 30 missions, and kind of random in that you might get a different mission each time you play through. The unique aspect about the grand campaign is that there are several missions spaced throughout the campaign that if you lose that particular one, the entire campaign ends in failure and you have to restart at the beginning. No second chances!


BACKGROUND:

A Soviet leader has been elected/appointed that miraculously does not want a global communist revolution brought upon by war and suffering. This liberal-minded leader of the USSR is unfortunately assassinated at some peace conference, and the Soviet Union descends into anarchy and civil war as Soviet military hard-liners and freedom-loving Russian reformers begin a bitter battle for control. These two sides are named, coincidentally, the Red Russians and the Blue Russians, respectively. The United States has seen fit to deploy a carrier battle group to the waters off the Kola Peninsula, near Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The Russian city of Murmansk is located in the Kola Peninsula, and is a key strategical port for the Red Russian Navy, as well as suspected location for many of the USSR's nuclear stockpile, which makes this area of operations very significant.

We begin our story on the United States aircraft carrier, the USS Thomas Jefferson, and our first mission is to locate and escort away a snooping Red Russian TU-142 F Bear reconnaissance aircraft, attempting to locate the carrier battle group.

Aircraft loadout for this mission comprises of:

eight AIM-120C "AMRAAMs" radar-guided medium range air-to-air missiles,
two AIM-7MH "Sparrow" radar-guided short-medium range air-to-air missiles,
four AIM-9X "Sidewinder" heat-seeking short range air-to-air missiles,
and one 3300 pound fuel tank, attached to the fuselage on the underside.

All the weapons are completely for self-defense, as the Rules of Engagement (ROEs) state a weapons hold - in other words, DO NOT SHOOT unless fired upon.

We start out on the number 3 catapult, ready to configure the aircraft for takeoff:



Set weapons to safe, situational awareness page to data-link three (all friendlies and enemies on screen), SA page to scale 40 nautical miles, set air-to-air radar to range-while-search mode, six bars of elevation, 80 NM range, non-cooperative target recognition (NCTR) on, multi-sensor integration (MSI) on, azimuth scale 140 degrees, set horizontal situation indicator (HSI) on the central multi color display function, full color map mode, 40 nm scale, waypoint sequencing on, local time in the heads up display on, switch sensors to on, set bingo setting to 4,000 pounds.

Aside from some minor variations, this is basically what I will do for every takeoff check from here on out.

Satisfied with the before takeoff checks (BTCs), I push the throttles to full military power and release the brakes, which in JF-18 is the equivalent of saluting the cat officer and declaring i'm good to launch.

A few seconds pass, and then with a roar of sound and steam my Rhino accelerates to two hundred knots and claws upward for altitude.



Banking my aircraft right as I keep climbing, I head to the first waypoint at 350 knots for angels 5. As I get there, my wingman forms up aft on my starboard wing, and we bank left toward the next waypoint, this time climbing to angels 25 at speed 400.



Glancing at my SA page, I see the airspace around the CBG is absolutely cluttered. Dozens of aircraft are in the air, doing combat air patrols and other such missions. As our flight continues on, about 175 nm from waypoint two, I almost immediately notice a hostile contact has appeared, 80 nm and 15 degrees to port. Considering the contact is currently heading in the direction of the CBG and does not appear to be originating from the Russian border, I conclude this must be the Bear, especially since it's only doing Mach 0.6 and is at angels 25. But just to be on the safe side, I call AWACS, declare the contact, and they confirm it is hostile.



As we fly closer to waypoint two, still keeping a radar lock on the Bear, I note it has not changed heading at all. At this point I decide to turn parallel to the Bear so as to prepare for an intercept.

At 59 miles from the Bear, we are doing 385 knots and at angels 8.7, heading directly into the blazing Sun.



Time flies by and we are now 30 miles from each other. Our flight is at angels 23, still heading into a blinding Sun and now we are dealing with cloud or fog cover as well, making this practically a day-time instrument approach/intercept. Our closing velocity 816 knots.





Our two Super Hornets and the Bear close to within 10 NM, so I roll left and make a hard, tight turn to come up on the tail of the Bear.



We close up and intercept the Bear, nosing up on their starboard wing and edging past them. Must have spooked them, because they immediately turned away and headed in the opposite direction of the battle group.



Our mission completed, we turn back and head towards the carrier. We enter the pattern, and I release my wingman to RTB.
Coming around on to final, I make an almost-perfect approach and trap - grabbed the third wire, but left-of-centerline.

Moments just before trapping:




Mission #2 tomorrow!

Good times! Fantastic game for its day.

Much appreciated! Well done.



K´mute

MISSION BRIEFING:

The Red Russian faction, in addition to having a large stockpile of battlefield-deliverable nuclear weapons in the Kola Peninsula, has a few ballistic submarines in port at Polyarnyy, also capable of launching nukes. My orders today are to escort an F-14 Tomcat armed with a TARPS and go play candid camera over the submarine pen there. Deciding two escorts are better than one, I re-assign a wingman for me today. Always take a buddy with you on field trips, kids!

I start off in my aircraft like yesterday's mission. For this mission we are carrying:



six AMRAAMs,
two Sidewinders,
two High Speed Anti Radiation Missiles (HARMs),
and three 3300 pound fuel tanks.

This loadout is the default "Escort" layout provided. In hindsight, probably should have put something more useful than fuel tanks... <_<

BTCs are essentially the same as yesterday's, with minor variations in regards to weapons systems. Everything looking good, the throttles are pushed to full military, release the brakes, and wait for the cat to launch.



And there I go!



Raising gear and flaps, I bank right and climb for angels 5, and wait for my wingman to form up. He soon does, and we fly towards the other waypoint in this mission - the rendezvous point with the F-14. My wingman and I soon reach the point and quickly locate the package. They're circling, waiting for us. We check in, and the F-14 quickly accelerates toward Polyarnyy in the distance.



Our flight drops in behind the F-14 in a trail formation, and as soon as we see clear coasts and mountains, I pick up a hostile contact off to the north east. It's moving low and slow, which can either mean a transport or a helicopter. RAID identifies it as two targets, so it's likely a helo flight. Unfortunately, my RWR also notifies me of a Su-27 Flanker contact in the exact same direction. Even more unfortunately, both targets are pretty much directly in the path of the escort.



Deciding this counts as a threat to the mission, I select A2A mode, AIM-120s, and my computerized voice calls out, "Fox Three! Fox Three!"



My RWR beeps. A couple of SAMs have popped up directly in our path. Selecting A2G, and HARMs, I fire off one of them at the center-most, a "Tin Shield" contact. "Magnum!" is called out.



Getting closer to the sub pens, flying at angels 2.4, and now only scant feet behind and below the F-14, I lock up what appears to be an Su-27 contact from the east, and also note the multiple SAM and AAA contacts coming alive. I release my wing man to conduct air defense suppression and continue to fly with the F-14, both of us doing approximately 460 knots now.

Then it happens. The Tomcat starts popping flares and Betty starts screaming "FLARE! FLARE!" at me, so I whack the dispenser button for flares. At that moment, my RWR starts screaming at me - SAM launch at six o'clock! Rolling left and yanking back on the stick, I maneuver the aircraft to put the missile abeam and simultaneously deploy chaff bundles. I look around for the package, it's still popping flares and now diving for the deck, aiming for the sub pen in the distance. AWACS suddenly calls out with worse news: "New airborne targets bearing 173, seventeen miles!"

I look down into my RWR while trying to evade another SAM launch - there are now five Su-27 contacts on the screen. And just earlier I heard my wingman call out he's ejecting.



Sweating profusely, I put my head on a swivel and locate a Flanker on my 4 o'clock, trying to get in behind me. I immediately jack the throttles to full afterburner and try to get in around him instead.



It's not going great. After the mission I realize I'd forgotten to drop the fuel tanks - probably would have helped.



Finally, I get in a position where I can fire, and do so, releasing a 9X Sidewinder into his tailpipe.



Unfortunately, he dodges it, so I fire another one. By this point, I've taken several hits and emptied out my flares dodging all their heat-seekers.



Splash bandit! He goes down. Unfortunately, three missiles and several gun rounds slam into my aircraft, and I go down too, hitting eject.



Later it turns out the F-14 went down as well.

Dang nammit!

MISSION BRIEFING:

Despite the failure of the last mission and that one of our squadron's pilots, Vincent Nemeth is still Missing In Action, the campaign continues! Our tasking today is to "visually identify any ships running the Murmansk fjord blockade." The National Security Council back home has decided, that since Murmansk is such a vital part of the Red Russian strategy, and it's role as a logistics center for the Kola Peninsula, it must be blockaded to prevent the Commies from dispersing munitions and supplies from it.

Looking at the briefing map, looks like we'll be running a low level ingress and then diving for the deck around the entrance to the fjord to avoid enemy surface defenses. Default waypoint altitudes call for us to fly at 500 feet for the objective point. 500 feet? No problem! Taking a look at the map and intelligence sheets, supposedly there is only Tin Shield radar coverage with a possible SA-10B threat, along with the usual Red Russian air force threat.

Loadout for this mission:

two Sidewinders,
four HARMs,
six Slammers,
and one 4,800 pound fuel tank, mounted on the centerline.

Outside, it's 1625 local time, and the sky is a blazing mix of red and orange hues. Almost immediately, AWACS calls out three groups of new airborne contacts south of Murmansk, each one a bit further out than the rest.
In my Rhino, I conduct the usual BTCs and launch off the carrier, moments before my wing man does, and we head towards the first waypoint for angels 5 and 350 knots. Turning south we head down to angels 1 and a speed of 485, preparing for our high speed low level twilight search.




Halfway down to angels 1, we pick up the hostile contacts AWACS called out earlier. They're at least 80 miles away and high, so no need to worry just yet. As we approach waypoint three, the entrance to the fjord, surface defense threats are picked up. Let's see.. triple A, triple A... SA-13! This wasn't mentioned in the briefing! Way to go, intelligence. D:




We reach way point three (dropped centerline tank to gain some speed), my HARM TDC firmly on the SA-13. If it were up to me, I'd shoot one now, but unfortunately we have to give the enemy the advantage here. Damn ROEs. As we hit 500 knots and 500 feet of altitude, banking hard right to way point four, the SA-13 fires at me, I pop flares, and launch a HARM right back at him.



Swerving around bright green AAA tracer fire flashing past my cockpit, I head down for the treeline, aiming for just 50 feet above the ground.



As I start heading toward way point five, a "S6" SAM is launched at me. I'm not sure what an S6 is, but my countermeasure automatic deployment system thingy starts pumping out chaff.



All missiles evaded, I start heading toward way point six, north west and the hell away from this "low-level-visually-identify-don't-shoot-first-and-don't-get-shot-down" mess. On the way, I spot an SA-11 emitter contact on my RWR. Five seconds later, it launches a missile at me and I start mentally cursing intelligence again.



Dodged that only to see some enterprising young Red Russian SAM operator has launched another heat-seeker at my not-really-caring-behind as I continue to fly at dangerously low altitudes really fast. Flares pop out behind me anyway.



Another SA-11 is launched and evaded. Finally, a small period of peace as I encounter very little surface resistance as I clear the area. Then, four miles to way point six, a Su-27 launches at me. Fortunately, i'm still flying at around 200 feet, so the missile quickly loses radar lock. He tries again moments later, and again misses. Now en route to way point seven, the egress point, I order my completely-useless wing man to return to base and spend the rest of the journey furtively looking behind at me, trying to spot any Flankers sneaking up on me. None do.



Moments before another successful trap.

I'm not normally much of a fan of fixed-wing sims, but after having some playtime in Jane's F/A-18 myself, I did enjoy these AARs. As much as I love combat helicopters, there's not that sense of speed or urgency like in modern day combat jet sims - and the close-in dogfighting with cannon and Sidewinder's always looks like a real adrenaline rush. Sure seems like a real thrill if you can get into it and understand it all.

Nice work!

Amen to that. I played this sim a lot, and would usually take 4 or even 5 HARMs (leaving 4 AIM-120s and 2 9xs for air-to-air). Plus you rarely/never need external fuel tanks b/c most of the missions take place pretty close (unrealistically, even) to the carrier. Your AI wingies aren't so hot deploying stand off weapons against SAMs, so your best bet is to handle them yourself. I also fly a bit ahead or abreast of the plane I'm escorting, so I can engage the SAMs before they engage the package. You can also assign even 1 or 2 other plans in your flight, concentrate on taking out the SAMs, and sick your flight on the airborne threats. You can also often replace the centerline tank with 2 MK20s or, even you are flying high altitude, 1 TALD, which I think is supposed to fool the enemy. I would launch it and hang back a bit if I had time to spare.

Any other JF-18 veterans care to comment on the use of TALD, and on how the in-game enemy AI reacts to it?

Cool AAR. Never played JF-18, but had wonderful time in JF-15.

Great read! Very well done.

I haven't yet had the time to do some in-game testing of the TALD... I guess that will be my next after the SAM research!

EDIT: Turns out TALDs buy a few miles worth before the SAMs start shooting. In some cases, they even fire SAMs at the decoy. Trust me, I was surprised. :3