Jane’s F/A 18 Operation Just Reward

Background: War in Iraq is almost certain. However the U.N. disagrees with the U.S.’s statement that a ground campaign is necessary. As such the U.S. military planners have begun developing a strategy to begin dismantling Iraq’s military using primarily air power. The USS Abraham Lincoln and her escorts have been given orders to support this effort from their station in the Persian Gulf. I have only recently completed my orientation and familiarization flights in the F/A 18E Super Hornet, but due to my achievements and prowess (but mostly because as a human-player Jane’s F/A 18 forces you) I have become one of the flight leaders in the squadron based from the USS Lincoln.




Our first mission is a game of cat and mouse with the Iraqi SAM operators. Under the current ROE’s we are not able to forcefully eliminate any Iraqi air defense unless they pose an immediate threat to our survival. Therefore, half of our flight today will act as bait, loitering in the area, tempting a SAM operator to lock-on, and thus allowing the other half of the flight to fire upon the offending air defense. I’m not sure that I like this plan that the higher-ups have come up with. Nevertheless, I load up my airframe with HARMS and a couple of fuel tanks, and pray.



All too soon the time comes and we launch off into an Arabian morning, the first combat mission for many of us.



Looking over the tail at the steel hunk that has been my virtual home for the past few weeks, I hope that everything goes to plan, and even better that the SAM’s refuse to play today.



The flight forms up and we whisk off toward the coast.



Of course, with a flight this long, our first order of business is almost as nerve-wrecking as the actual prospect of combat, Air-to-Air refueling. I’ve struggled in the past, hopefully today I can tank and continue. Any sour birds, or nuggets unable to take fuel will have to go back to the ship. And that will definitely cause some serious ribbing from our shipmates. After querying AWACS for a vector, I find the tanker on radar, and set an intercept course.



I can tell we’re getting closer to the coast when we start passing off-shore oil rigs. Several of them zip by some 3 miles below us.



Closing on the tanker I extend my probe and cross my fingers, if only today would be one of my better days…



After two or three attempts and misses, I manage to plug the basket, and perhaps even more miraculous, I take on a full load of fuel without backing out of the drogue even once. I still fight with my tendency to slide back and forth in the horizontal plane, but I’ve found if I focus less on the tanker and more on maintaining a steady heading my control inputs are much smoother and my flying less erratic. Today it would also seem that luck was on my side.



After fueling I slide to the right and watched as everyone else topped off.





We say goodbye to the tanker and fence in. Just as we are about to go feet dry I start getting hits from a Snow Drift radar. I can’t remember what specific SAM sites use this radar system, but it’s safe to say that somebody down there knows we’re coming, and is probably pointing a few missiles our way.



I make sure my master arm is on, and that my HARMs are queued up in TOO mode, while keeping a wary eye on my EW gear. Here things started to get a little hairy so I have less screenshots. A few minutes after crossing the coast, #3 called out SAMs in the air. I immediately gave the order to attack any threatening air defenses. Seconds later my flight was calling out their respective HARM shots.



I don’t know how, but apparently this guy forgot to stow his fueling probe after we tanked up, I’ll have to talk to him about that.



Not wanting to miss the party, I lock and fire all four of my HARMS one after another at each of the offending radar sites.



With our ordnance gone, I order the flight to form up for the journey home.



Arriving at home plate.





Downwind.



Lined up and dirty, looking for the ball…



I let my attention wander and quickly found myself taking a wave off signal. I stroke the burners for a second or two as I pull up and away from the deck.



The second pass is much cleaner. I arrive on deck with a fair 2 wire. There’s always room for improvement, but I’m just happy to have survived my first combat mission, and an air-to-air refueling to boot. What’s more, I even brought the aircraft back in one piece. I think they’ll forgive a 2 wire this time.



The BDA shows that all the members of our flight had remarkable hit percentages. Not bad at all.



All in all we destroyed 21 SAM system components, launchers, radars, and support vehicles, and took a huge bite out of the Iraqi’s air defense system.

I loved it! But then again, I usually love anything to do with this sim and the F/A-18.. :p

This stuff keeps reminding me I need to update my own AAR, lol.

Great AAR, are you using an older PC to negate the color banding?

No, at least not that old. I have a 8 year old Gateway laptop with a 1.6 Ghz turion x2 processor, 2 GB RAM, and a Raedon Xpress 1150 integrated graphics card with 128mb shared memory. Currently I'm using Windows 7 32 bit. I play JF18 @ 1024x780 (my native res is 16:10 1280x800) with all the in-game graphics options maxed. I have yet to play with any of the AA or AF settings, so they're all still at their defaults (which I believe is off).

When I first installed JF18 after upgrading to Win 7, I experienced both the color banding and the Air to Air slowdown just like I had when I originally tried this game under XP. I had graphical anomalies in several other older games as well. In a desperate attempt to fix some of the problems, mostly so I could continue playing F4AF, I downgraded from the Win 7 suggested drivers to Catalyst version 8.11. So far that seems to have solved the majority of my issues with most of my older games. I re-installed JF18 when I decided to give this sim another shot, updated with TSH 4.02 and by some small miracle everything has just worked.

I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones.

With the unprecedented success of our last mission, the brass has seen fit to task us with another high priority target. This morning we will be striking the main communications relay Northwest of Nasiriya. Specifically my flight is given the north most building as a target. Attack profile calls for an LGB drop from FL250.

Recon of the area shows that our target lies in the heart of a SAM ring. This could be tough.



I watch as my buddies launch off of cats 1 and 2.



I launch seconds later and climb into the dawn, quickly meeting up with the rest of the flight.





We make our way toward the coast popping in and out of the few cotton ball like clouds at this altitude



And of course we make the obligatory fuel stop to top off our tanks before heading into hostile territory. I thought that I was getting better at this, but today I had terrible trouble plugging and then staying in the basket. Maybe it was the difference between tanking from a Viking and a KC 135. Either way it took forever, and way too many attempts, but eventually I managed to squeak out full tanks.



Nearing the target area, I spot one of the friendly CAP aircraft, an F-15 prowling for any enemy fighters who might wish to challenge us. Even though the suspected aerial resistance is minimal, I feel much better knowing our Air Force buddies are watching our backs.



Just under 15 miles I locate the comm buildings and their associated antenna arrays on ground radar. I select EXP2 mode and zoom in on the area. At about the same time I start getting hits from both the Tin Shield, and Snow Drift radars. This could get interesting.



I designate the Northern most building and release on cue for a good hit.







One of the other pilots calls a SAM launch, and I waste no time clearing everyone to attack air defenses. I roll in on a site and launch my HARMS as well.





I don’t stick around to see if any of the HARMS hit though, I rally the troops and beat a hasty retreat. No comms building is worth the loss of any of my squad members!



After all the adrenaline of dropping precision munitions in a high-threat environment, the flight home is almost peaceful.





The sun even pokes its head over the horizon, bathing my jet in light and warmth.



I must admit that seeing our carrier group below is always a welcome sight.



As the ball comes into view I see that I am dangerously low. This requires an immediate application of power. I refuse to end a good mission with a rampstrike!!



WAVE OFF! FOUL DECK!

I growl angrily under my breath. I salvaged my approach only to have to go around again because somebody can’t get out of the way in time. This is almost becoming a pattern for me. Perhaps I need to slow my approach speed some more in order to allow some of the newer guys more time to get out of the way.





Take two. On the ball this time, but a little too fast.



This time however, I trap successfully and taxi to the bow to shut down.





Mission successful, all mission targets completely destroyed. Looks like I’ll be buying a round for the boys tonight, Steve caught a bit of ack ack while keeping the air defenses off my back. Thankfully though, everyone is back aboard safe and unharmed.

Great AARs thanks for sharing!

I’ve been away from JF18 for a little while, real life has not allowed me adequate time to do more than a few brief furballs in First Eagles for the past week or so. However, I’m back, albeit a little rusty from lack of currency.

Our mission for today is to support a U-2 spy plane. Apparently there are some sensitive sites that need to be photographed, but there is also an SA-10 SAM site situated close to the area in question. This particular SAM has the altitude to be a threat to the U-2. Therefore, we are tasked to lurk just beyond the perimeter of the air defenses, and destroy them if they become a threat to the U-2. HARMS and CBU’s are the loadout for the day. Perfect for taking out the radars, and then cleaning up the launchers.

I patiently sit on cat III, JBD up, poised for my run down the deck.



Seconds later I’m careening of into the air.



As we leave the protection of the fleet, my flight forms on my wing.



Six “bugs” carrying some serious sting.



Here I am moments before tanking up for the trip inland.



It seems the Air Force is putting on a show of force today. We pass several F-15 ‘s flying CAP’s. The threat from Iraqi MiG’s is supposed to be low, so I doubt they will see too much action though.



We begin our loiter time just beyond the reach of the alleged SAM sites. Nothing on the scope yet, but I pull up my HARMS in TOO mode and double check my Master ARM nonetheless.



At times is hard to believe that this barren looking land can be so deadly.



Before too long I begin getting hits from a Snow Drift radar. It looks like our friends are getting curious. I point my A/G radar that direction and come across a suspicious grouping of contacts. It definitely looks like it could be a group of SAM vehicles. I use my
EXP1 mode to get a closer look.



I get a “10” symbol on my EW page. They may not have actually found or fired on the U-2 yet, but I decide that they are definitely a threat. I order my flight in, cleared hot.



MAGNUM!!







The radars quickly drop off the scope. There might be launchers still operational though. I decided to take a closer look.



Sure enough, although the search radar has been destroyed, these launchers still appear operational.



I queue up my CBU’s and enter CCIP mode. Soon the trucks are nothing but scrap metal.



I call the flight back together and egress. I glance at my fuel gauges, and discover that I have spent more fuel than I had to spare
mopping up those SA-10’s. I am in desperate need of a tanker or this graceful bird will soon become a much less majestic brick.



My pulse increases, and I throttle back to conserve what fuel I have left. A query to AWACS reveals there is a tanker available. Okay, now I don’t have much time so I have to do this right. I close on the tanker and extend my probe all the while watching this precious liquid dwindle lower and lower.



Jumpy as a grasshopper on a hot skillet, I find it very hard to get my jet to behave. Finally, I managed to stick the basket and hold it long enough to get myself out of hot water.



As you can see, according to my fuel flow page, I had a little over ten minutes of flying left. A little too close for comfort.



I arrive home just as the sun is setting. Dirtied up I settle into the groove…



And make and almost perfect three-wire landing!



The BDA reveals that I put six SA-10’s out of commission today. However, in hindsight my press to target was extremely stupid. I should have been paying more attention to the most important gauge in the cockpit and gone home long before fuel became an issue. Our mission was solely to keep the air defenses off the U-2 ‘s back. Just because I still had ordnance hanging on the wings didn’t mean it was my duty to use them. A few SAM launchers are not worth my jet, or my life. Oh well, it didn’t kill me, and hopefully now I’m wiser for next time.



And for anyone who was wondering, the U-2 did succeed in his mission as well.

Mission 4-Protect the Predator

Today’s mission objective is quite simple. All my flight needs to do is make sure that the Predator drone stays alive. Our ROE is red. We may fire on any threatening aircraft.



It’s about midday when my Hornet blasts skyward.



We form up over the ubiquitous oil rigs.



I find the tanker on radar and prepare to form up for the mandatory re-fueling. We are on a tight schedule, and have to make this stop quick. However, we need the extra fuel in order to escort the drone through the entirety of its mission. We really have no room for error or sloppiness during this rendezvous.



Before we actually get a visual on the tanker, Shovelhead, our resident Hawkeye calls a pop-up target at mach 1.4, Angels 21. I turn into the bandit and manage to manipulate the radar enough to find him. Seconds later my wingmen start calling joy on the target.



We close for intercept, all of us flexing our fingers and double checking arm settings.



On a whim I switch to TWS RAID. Shovelhead called a single, but sometimes... Sure enough, looks like we have a group of two flying in close formation.



As soon as the tango’s reach the no-escape zone, I press the button once, then twice. Two slammers jump off the rails.



Unfortunately, I never see if the missiles hit, #3 calls out one more, a mig 23 in close. I flick the radar into AUTO ACQ and l line up on the small black dot on the horizon.



The tango beams and manages to break lock. As I search visually, my wingman calls tally on the bandit. I give him the OK for weapon release and pull out of the way, as he calls fox 3.



I release the rest of the flight to engage all bandits. We are getting swamped with enemy jets.
I roll left, aquire and launch again.



And a few heartbeats later, again.



I see a flash past the canopy, roll hard and pull to chase it. Finger on the pickle button, I hesitate for a millisecond, and am glad that I did as I recognize the distinctive form of one of my fellow hornets.



Relieved that I didn’t press the button, I take a second to gather my wits, and my SA.



We seem to be clear of bandits, and a bogey dope from Shovelhead confirms that we are safe for now. I reign in the troops and head to the tanker for some much needed fuel.



As we cruise, high above the barren country-side, I take status of the flight. I am surprised to find that we are missing #8. I’m not sure what happened, I completely lost track of everyone during our furball. I call HQ with the news and hope that they are able to locate her.



I release my crew and line up on the carrier. I’m on speed but not on centerline.



I’m not able to salvage the pass, and bolter.



The second pass goes smoothly and I ride in for a successful trap, albeit a 2 wire.



All in all, we made an impressive showing downing a total of 11 enemy aircraft!



Our accomplishment is tempered significantly by the report that Sharie Tate, #8, crashed and was killed. The situation is made much worse after it is revealed that the damage leading to the crash was likely caused by an errant maddog slammer launched by #6, Terrence Hodge. Our first operational loss, and a blue on blue. Not a good day.



And to add insult to injury, we found out later that despite or best efforts, the predator was shot down as well.



Hopefully we will be able to redeem ourselves on the next mission.