This mission approximates a strike that occurred later during the air war when Saddam Hussein, in an act of desperation, opened the oil manifolds that pump crude oil to ships waiting at an oil loading terminal off the coast of Kuwait. Instead of pumping the crude oil into ships, the oil was spewing into the Gulf, creating an enormous environmental disaster. War planners were tasked with coming up with a plan to stop the oil from flowing. After careful consideration, a strike against the pumping station that provided the positive pressure to the pipeline was slated. The strike was performed by F-111s using electro-optically guided GBU-15 bombs. Codenamed "Duck Mission", the strike was ultimately successful in stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf.
I utilized Fastcargo's awesome
F-111 Super Vark Pack (Version 2.4) in order to get the LGBs I used in the mission. I could not find an EO capable bomb such as the GBU-15, so I went with GBU-16s instead.
Heading north over the Gulf on the short flight to the island housing the pump station...
The skies south of Kuwait are quiet as the coalition air cover pushes all enemy activity to the north...
Soon the ground mapping radar starts to pick up the island...
At around 30 miles out, we transition from low level to 15,000' and turn on the ECM gear...
I select the GBU-16/B and the "Pave Penny" locks on to the target building...
At about five miles out, I hit the pickle button twice, sending two one-thousand pounders on the way...
For good measure I order my wingmen to attack as well. About 15 seconds later my bombs hit..followed a few second later by my wingman's...
It looks like we nuked the island! There is not a peep from the RWR and the entire mission was uncontested.
I drag the flight down to low level and exit the direction we came. Wingman #3 screams past the smoking wreckage of the facility...
The mission is an easy success. The F-111 is another awesome aircraft that saw action in the Gulf War and a personal favorite. I'm sure we'll see more F-111 action in future AARs.
BeachAV8R
