Date: January 17
Time: 0300
Location: Persian Gulf
The air war has started. We’ve heard that Air Force and other coalition aircraft have crossed the border from Saudi Arabia and made their first attacks. The carrier air wing I’m embedded with have launched their first sorties. I spoke with aviators after their return from attacking Al Shaibah air field near Basrah Iraq.
Flight leader Adam Rybicki led a flight of 4 F/A-18 multi-role fighters.
Adam Rybicki
We briefed the flight and stepped to the aircraft just like any training mission. But there’s no denying the extra nervous tension when you know it’s not a training mission and the bad guys will be shooting for real this time. The mission planners gave us our recommended load out. It was a very multi-role load out including air to air, HARM and most importantly air to ground as that was our whole reason for going over the beach. We were recommended 3 bags of gas but opted for only 2 as the third tank was going to make us dangerously heavy at take off. We knew we had good tanker support this night and had no intention of loitering any longer than needed.
Above: The flight deck was a very busy place as most of the airborne assets were launching. Tankers, AEW and SAR assets were already airborne when this picture was taken. Above: The tanker track was very busy as several flights were checking in before turning inbound for their stations. Although hard to make out in the darkness, a four ship flight is off in the distance and a two ship flight of EA-6B Prowlers is being past just below. Above: A boom operator on an Air Force KC-135 captures this VFA-136 aircraft before heading to its target. Note the varied bomb load of AIM-9s, HARM and unguided bombs. Above: The F/A-18 pilot gets his own keep sake picture of the aerial refueling. Our flight had to do a race track pattern to get into position behind the tanker.
(Game note: I’ve learned that you need to be on the correct heading before contacting the tanker. If you call the tanker before turning to the ingress waypoint, the tanker will lead you over land and way off your way points. But by the time you make the turn and make the radio call to the tanker, you’re out of position to join on the tanker easily).
After tanking, we dropped back down to our assigned flight level 15 and pretty soon were fence in. It was reassuring to hear Cobra flight, our F-14 escorts check in on-station with X-Ray, the AWACs bird. So far the timing of all the different aircraft involved in the strike was right on. We didn’t want to push without escorts as bandit calls were already going out.
The night was certainly dark but with clear skies and a bright moon, we could clearly make out Failaka Island below us as we turned towards Kuwait. We quickly did some flight management to move to a combat spread, turn on ECM equipment, extinguish any formation lights as well as prepare the cockpit for combat. Master Arms were turned on and the aircraft readied for air to ground combat.
Now we’re fully feet dry and stuff starts happening real fast. AWACs is calling out bandits, the closest of which are 75nm hot. But we’re not too worried as we can hear the Air Force guys are engaging them. Some big guns below us put up triple-A. Fortunately the explosions were off a bit starboard and slightly below us, so we didn’t have to jink too far off our flight path. But pretty soon the EW indicator is lighting up with search and track radars. Then the SAM’s start coming up. I was going to count them just to know afterwards how many there were. I lost track after the first five but there were plenty more. So the flight is jinking and beaming all over the place. They all seemed to be fired ballistic because none seemed to track nor were they hard to defeat. We just pumped out chaff and put the missile on our 9 or 3 o’clock and the missile would just fizzle out.
Above: Mercury 1-1 defensive SAM! South of Um Qasr! (Game note: In almost all the non-fiction air combat books I’ve read, pilots always seem to talk about being able to see the SAM as critical to defeating it. And there is usually a plume of smoke, a blast of dust on the ground or a fireball in the sky that they can see. In JF18, the SAMs are invisible until the moment they hit you, but then it’s too late. So when I’m defending against SAMs, I quickly Alt-A to turn aircraft labels on. It’s one of the few cheats I allow myself. But if I’m fighting other aircraft, I turn them off. What do you guys think?)
Each time we defeat a missile, we try to get back on the right heading. But almost immediately and sometimes before we can, the next SAM launch is called out and we’re beaming again. Then to add to the pucker factor, bandits are now at 60nm. A couple more SAMs come up and we hear bandits now 51nm. This is getting serious so I call up AWACs and request assistance. I’m happy to hear them say they’re sending fighter support. About this time, I have a SAM radar site designated as a target. I ask my wingman to attack my target but he replies that he can’t. I roll wings level with the target on my nose and fire a HARM.
Mercury 1-1 Magnum. Then I go back to jinking. Shortly afterwards, the SAM’s radar disappears from the EW display. So I either got him or scared him into shutting down. Either will work fine because there is break in the SAM activity. This is good as we have a bigger problem. A bandit is now within 20nm. Earlier in the fight my flight was begging to chase Migs but I had to say no. Last thing I need is half the flight taking off and burning up precious fuel on Migs. But now I have no choice as neither the Air Force Eagles nor our own Tomcat escorts are getting these guys. I lock up the bandit and fire an AIM-120.
Mercury 1-1 Fox Three! Splash one bandit. AWACs later confirmed it was an Iraqi Mirage. While I was concentrating on the bandit, I wasn't paying enough attention to my altitude which was dropping. I don't know how low I got, but a SAM warning got my attention pretty quick. I called defensive SAM and started dumping chaff and manoeuvring again. This time the SAM seemed to be tracking. I pushed the throttles into after burner and pulled hard into the SAM when it got close enough. It didn't pass very close so maybe it wasn't tracking after all or maybe it broke lock. At the moment, I didn't care. I just made sure to get a bit more altitude to put more distance between me and the SAM's on the ground.
By this point, we're very close to the IP. We barely have time to get back in formation and on course for the next way point, but we manage it. At the IP, we make our final turn towards the target. I'm always worried about being able to find and lock up the target before over flying it. Luckily the target is a big easy to spot airbase. Using my FLIR targeting pod, I lock up my target which is the main hanger building near the middle of the airport. From our briefing and target imagery I knew it was a big target and I had set up my SMS program to drop both of my Mk84R bombs at once. I get targeting geometry lined up and pickle the bombs right on cue.
Above: Mercury 1-1 bombs away. Off West Above: Mercury 1-1, Shack! As I'm coming off target to the west, I can see the bombs impact in the FLIR display. Tremendous explosions light up the display. There are a bunch of secondary's from several Migs parked on the apron and whatever else was nearby. But after all that, the hanger is not destroyed! I can't believe it. A direct hit with both bombs. So I quickly devise a change of plans. I tell the second element to hit their primary targets. But I come around quickly and get my nose on the target again. I designate the main hanger building again and instruct my wingman to hit my target. He does so nicely and finishes off the hanger. After everyone comes off target and we reform, I have everyone check in with fuel, weapons and damage checks. No damage and still lots of fuel. Unfortunately, lots of bombs and targets left too. Unlike myself, the rest of the flight did not drop both bombs. I give the flight instructions to re-attack their primary targets and expend all their bombs this time.
(Game note: Probably everyone knows this, but I just realized it on this mission. I need to go into communications menus and tell them first what type and how many munitions to expend on the target. I often wondered why my flight would sometimes come home with bombs and not all the targets were hit.)
Above: Many fires burn brightly in the target area after VFA-136 Hornets hit Al Shaibah airfield on the night of January 17th. After this last bomb run, all the targets were hit. Now it was time to get out of Dodge City. We quickly got the flight rejoined but stayed in a combat spread. After fighting SAMs most of the way into the target area, we were expecting to have to fight our way out. We were relieved that no SAMs were launched on our egress. We did have some triple-A but after the rough inbound flight, out bound seemed like a cake walk. Before too long we were fence out. I called for another fuel check. Everyone was around 6.4 to 6.8 thousand pounds so we were in good shape. After a tough combat mission, it was nice not to have to tank on the way home. Trapping at night on the boat is stressful enough.
Above: Mercury 1-1 moments away from making a carrier arrested landing at night, one of the most challenging tasks in naval aviation. Fortunately the rest of the return flight was uneventful and everyone trapped safely. The only drama came when one of the aircraft in the flight boltered and had to go around for another try.
The debrief was encouraging. Everyone in the flight came back safely and the target was successfully attacked. Hopefully the next sorties will be a little easier now that some of the Iraqi air defence infrastructure has been taken out.